Obama team appeals to Pa base

Obama's campaign arm expounded on the political memo it released this morning, talking this afternoon with Pa reporters about their short and long term plans for the state. Here's a preview of a writeup I'm doing for tomorrow:

Expect to hear a lot about blue collar jobs, tax breaks for the rich and women and health care when President Barack Obama's reelection campaign in swing-state Pennsylvania kicks off in earnest later this year.

The Democrat's campaign has been in the state for months already -- it expects to open its 20th office statewide by next week -- and is using the de facto kickoff of the GOP presidential primary season to both stir up his base and preview attacks on Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney. The president began the attacks in a speech Tuesday, linking Mr. Romney to a GOP budget plan he called "thinly veiled social Darwinism."

On Wednesday two top Obama campaign aides gave the localized pitch, saying Mr. Romney's past at Bain Capital and his opposition to the $60 billion auto industry bailout put him out of touch with blue-collar Pennsylvania voters. One of the pressure points looks to be Bain's takeover of Kansas City steelmaker GS Industries, which paid dividends to investors before going bankrupt in 2001, costing more than 700 steelworkers their jobs.

"It's been quite clear as a corporate buyout specialist that Romney is comfortable with profiting from companies he bankrupted and outsourcing jobs," said Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt.