It might seem like political deja vu.
After the critical Democractic primary battle between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, Pennsylvania is gearing up for its role as a general-election battleground state.
Both Obama and his Republican challenger, Sen. John McCain, are likely to spend significant time and money in the state, Penn Political Science professor Richard Johnston said.
Pennsylvania is often highly contested in presidential elections, but its role this year will depend on the polls, he added.
According to Real Clear Politics polling averages, Obama has consistently led McCain by about 5 percentage points - making the state competitive, but not a dead-heat.
For this reason, the state may not be as contested as in previous years, with states like Ohio, Virginia and Michigan slated to be close races as well.
Penn Democrats president Lauren Burdette, a College junior, said she thinks Obama and McCain surrogates will campaign in the state in coming months, and the group is ready to host Obama surrogates.
"We really learned a lot from last semester," Burdette said, as the Penn Dems were caught off-guard by last-minute events and inconsistent venues.
But Burdette said she thinks Obama himself will be more likely to visit Philadelphia's suburbs than the city itself.
Philadelphia's suburbs are easier to visit than more rural areas and contain more undecided voters than large Pennsylvania cities, which are Obama strongholds.
The suburbs are also where both Penn Dems and College Republicans will be canvassing for candidates this fall.
College junior Zac Byer, the Penn College Republicans president, said his group is gearing up for phone banking and volunteer work for congressional candidates in nearby counties, as well as for the McCain campaign.
The College Republicans have an e-mail list of more than 1,000 contacts. The Penn Dems' listhas more than 3,000 names.
The potential power of youth turnout in Pennsylvania this year for Obama may be too much for Republicans to overcome, said Randall Miller, a St. Joseph's University professor and political analyst.
But Miller said Pennsylvania is key to McCain's chances for victory this fall, and his running-mate choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is evidence of that.
Palin, Miller said, is being used to appeal to former Hillary Clinton supporters, namely working-class voters and suburban women. Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary by 9 percentage points in April.
Paul Lindsay, the McCain campaign's Pennsylvania and Ohio director, said Clinton's victory was evidence that voters do not have confidence in Obama's experience to be president.
Despite McCain's hopes, Pennsylvania has voted Democratic every election since 1992.
But both candidates are prepared to fight for the state. After Obama and McCain named their running mates, each pair's first stop was in Pennsylvania.
