Pennsylvania

Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania by only 4 points, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Of the 1,519 likely voters in Pennsylvania polled, 50 percent support Obama and 46 percent support Romney. That's an 8-point swing in Romney's favor from the previous Quinnipiac poll of Pennsylvania, which showed Obama with a healthy 54 percent support and Romney with just 42 percent.

The Washington Post reports: 

Among the nine key swing states, Pennsylvania is the closest thing to a must-win for President Obama.  Until the first presidential debate, he was comfortably ahead in the Keystone State.  But two polls taken either entirely or partly after the debate show Obama’s lead having dwindled to just 3 percentage points or less.

In Pennsylvania, Republican Tom Smith is facing an uphill battle against Democratic senator Bob Casey, the son of the beloved former governor. But in four of the five most recent polls of likely voters, Smith, a 64-year-old farmer and coal mining businessman from Western Pennsylvania, has been within single digits of Casey, including a Quinnipiac poll released last week showing him trailing the incumbent senator by just six points.

President Barack Obama is far ahead of Mitt Romney in three important swing states, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac. Obama leads Romney by 12 points in Pennsylvania (54 percent to 42 percent), by 10 points in Ohio (53 percent to 43 percent), and by 9 points in Florida (53 percent to 44 percent). Obama also has an advantage over Romney in those states on many issues, including who would be best to handle the economy.

Of the ten swing states, unemployment dropped in only one--Ohio--in the month of June. And things got worse in 6 of the ten swing states, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This write-up from the Hill on a recent Pennsylvania poll is pretty similar to many others these days:

On his personal website, former congressman Artur Davis confirmed at least some of the recent rumors surrounding him—that the lifelong Democrat, the man who endorsed Barack Obama for president early in 2007 and seconded his nomination at the Democratic party convention in 2008, now considers himself a Republican. Here's Davis on his switch:

Vice President Joe Biden, who has been out on the campaign trail in Ohio, visited Hogfather's Old Fashioned BBQ in Washington, Pennsylvania on his way to the Pittsburgh airport.

Rick Santorum is leading in his home state of Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac poll:

The Republican presidential primary race in Pennsylvania is tightening, according to the findings of a recently released Franklin and Marshall poll: