By Thomas Fitzgerald and Robert Moran, The Philadelphia Inquirer –
PHILADELPHIA—Republican Mitt Romney plans a lucrative breakfast in Philadelphia on Friday, hitting the Union League in Center City for a series of receptions that organizers expect will generate $3.5 million to $4 million for his campaign.
Afterward, Romney is scheduled to appear at a GOP rally at the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in suburban Wayne, amid speculation that Pennsylvania may have fallen off his campaign’s target list of winnable battleground states.
The southeastern Pennsylvania swing is Romney’s first visit to the state since July 17, when he held a rally in Westmoreland County and a fundraiser in Pittsburgh. He has not done any extensive campaigning east of the Susquehanna River since June 16, when he took a bus tour of Weatherly, Quakertown, and Cornwall.
Romney’s plane landed about 9:10 p.m. Thursday, and he climbed down the steps and headed into a black Chevrolet Suburban 10 minutes later.
Romney’s return comes as recent polls show President Barack Obama with a double-digit lead in the state. The average margin in recent polls is 8 percentage points for Obama, according to the website Real Clear Politics.
Republicans say that the statistical models on which the pollsters base their surveys assume a higher Democratic turnout in Pennsylvania than is reasonable. GOP leaders say their own polling has the race much closer in the state, and they have not given up being competitive for Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.
