Could PA be in play at some point in the not too distant future? Looking at some of the #s it was leaning left by around 5 points 8 years ago (Kerry won it by 2.5 points but lost the election by 2.46). This time around it's only leaning left by around 2 points and the GOP has made some huge gains in the western part of the state, bordering WV and OH. Places like Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland County have shifted to the GOP by 20-28 points over the last 12 years. Are these places too small to make much of a dent or could the GOP in PA replicate some of the success it's been having in neighboring WV?
WV is heavily dependent on the coal industry and parts of Western PA are too, but Pittsburgh is more diversified and the Eastern part of the state has trended Dem and is bigger, too Ironically, PA has done more to destroy the coal industry than anyone thanks to drilling in the Marcellus shale. In short, I don't see PA being much like WV.
