Obama ends Pa. tour here

U.S. SEN. Barack Obama concluded his six-day Pennsylvania bus tour in Philly yesterday, speaking to the state AFL-CIO, answering questions at a suburban high school and appearing on MSNBC's "Hardball."

He also made a new pledge - that former Vice President Al Gore would play a key environmental role in his administration.

Obama jabbed back at presidential rival U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton for her statement last Wednesday that she would fight on like "Rocky."

"We all love Rocky," Obama told the labor gathering. "The last time I checked, Rocky was fake. So is the idea that somebody can fight for working people, and at the same time embrace a broken system in Washington."

During his three appearances, Obama repeated many of his campaign promises: providing universal health care, creating new jobs and improving education opportunity.

At Strath Haven High School in Wallingford, Delaware County, Obama said he's been in discussions with Gore to place him in a Cabinet or Cabinet-like position to address issues of global warming.

"I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and will play a central role in figuring out this problem," Obama said.

Obama's bus tour has been bouyed by news that he's eroding what was once a huge Clinton lead in Pennsylvania.

A poll from Quinnipiac University yesterday showed Clinton ahead 50 percent to 41 percent. Just a few weeks ago she had a 12-point lead. Another poll released yesterday, by Public Policy Polling, actually showed Obama with a 2-point lead.

Here are some details on Obama's visit:

* He began his day speaking to the state AFL-CIO at the Sheraton Hotel, at 17th and Race streets. "I said it before and I'll say it again. I'm tired of playing defense. I know the AFL-CIO is tired of playing defense. We're ready to play some offense," Obama told the cheering crowd.

"We're ready to play offense for a decent wage. We're ready to play offense for retirement security."

He criticized the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and pledged to support workers. He promised to provide health care for all Americans and create jobs in the "green energy" sector.

"If we are spending $10 million a month in Baghdad, I know we can spend billions of dollars here in America putting Americans back to work," he said.

* After a stop at the Italian Market for some handshaking, provolone and salami - and an awkward encounter with a pushy guy who wanted to take a photo with him - Obama took questions during a town hall meeting at Strath Haven High School, in Wallingford, Delaware County.

A teacher from nearby Penncrest High asked about Obama's plans for urban development.

"Our cities have been neglected for a very long time," he said. "Historically, because a lot of cities voted Democrat, this administration's position was 'why invest in our cities?' "

A Swarthmore College student expressed her fears about ending the war too quickly and abandoning the Iraqi people. Stability for the Iraqi people, Obama said, will not come from military occupation. If elected president, Obama said, it would take about two years, on top of the additional five years the United States has already been in Iraq, before all the troops could be pulled out.

"If we can't get various factions in Iraq to settle their disagreements in seven years time, we won't get them to do it in 14 years time," he said.

* After Obama's it's-a-tough-town encounter with a South Philly photo seeker, he probably needed a little encouragement - and that's what he got on his final stop of the day, a taping of MSNBC's "Hardball" at West Chester University that carried all of the trappings of a campus pep rally.

And Obama – who's found college campuses his strongest base of support – was clearly the home team, entering through a wall of bouncing cheerleaders and past the college mascot Rammy to rock-concert shrieks.

Prompted by the host, MSNBC pundit - and Philly native - Chris Matthews, almost the entire auditorium screamed its support for the Illinois senator, while a mention of Clinton was greeted by loud boos.

During the hour-long appearance, frequently interrupted for commercials, Obama appeared to be on a low-key and relaxed charm offensive, perhaps befitting his overall lead in delegates.

The only statement that came close to breaking news was the revelation that as he's struggled with the stress of the long campaign, he's briefly fallen off the quit-smoking wagon a couple of times.

"But I was able to get back on because I've got a-9-year-old and a 6-year-old daughter, and I want to give them away at their weddings and see their grandkids," Obama said.

On the day that the Clinton campaign issued a reprise of its now famed "3 a.m. phone call" ad, Obama repeated that he believes that good judgment trumps experience, and he also invoked John F. Kennedy's mishandling of the Bay of Pigs invasion and his later successful approach to the Cuban missile crisis.

"His biggest mistake was forging ahead with military action that wasn't thought through," Obama said. "His greatest triumph was showing restraint."

Obama also held to earlier comments on his controversial former pastor, Philly-born Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whom he continues to call "a good man [who's] said some things that I deeply disagree with."

Matthews asked Obama if the Clinton campaign was making too much of his connection with Wright, who is on video saying that the United States brought 9/11 on itself and that the nation is responsible for AIDS.

"I think that's fair game in the sense that what my former pastor said was offensive," Obama said. "In politics whether I was black, white, Hispanic or Asian, someone would try to use it against me." But he added, "I do think it's important to keep this in perspective."

Matthews asked why Obama remained a church member if he had heard controversial remarks.

"What's happened is you took a loop and compressed the most offensive things a pastor said over 30 years," Obama said. "I never heard him say the things that were in those clips. This is a church that is active in AIDS, it's active in all kinds of things." *