McCain in PA: 'I know momentum'

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., greets supporters as he enters a campaign rally at the University of Scranton in Scranton, Pa., Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

by Jill Zuckman

WALLINGFORD, Penn. - Trolling for 21 electoral votes in suburban Philadelphia, Sen. John McCain on Sunday brushed off the polls that show his opponent leading and said he could feel a victory coming on Tuesday.

"My friends, I've been in a lot of campaigns, I know when momentum is there," McCain told a cheering crowd gathered at the Strath Haven High School. "This enthusiasm, this kind of welcome, we're going to win Pennsylvania. We're going to win this election. I sense it and I feel it and I know it."

Delaware County, however, has been trending Democratic in recent years. Voters here chose Sen. John Kerry over President Bush in 2004 despite being a historically Republican enclave.

Nevertheless, the McCain campaign hoped to deny Sen. Barack Obama the cushion that voters in the outer suburbs could provide him.

"We're going to win here and we're going to bring real change to Washington. We've got two days, knock on doors," McCain urged the crowd. "With your help we can win. We need you to volunteer, we need a new direction. We can fight for it for the next two days and we can win."

McCain was spending Sunday campaigning in two states that went for Kerry in 2004, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. After Wallingford, he headed for Scranton and then planned to fly to Manchester and drive to Peterborough for his last town hall meeting of the election season.