Maybe betting the farm on PA as his tipping point isn't a good move for Trump. Although it isn't exactly clear what other path is easier. It could be that Obama was a bad fit for the state (clinging to their god and guns) and Clinton is reversing the recent trend.
Not to mention that she does have some "home state roots", decimated Obama in the primaries based on running on a "jobs and economy" platform versus an "anti-war" platform in a state with a high percentage of military veterans ("Deer Hunter" Country) with an aging blue-collar population in most regions of the state outside of metro Philly where the economic recovery of the '90s under Bill Clinton was real after 12 years of economic collapse. Additionally, she topped it off the night before the '08 Dem primary with the famous shot of doing a boilermaker in a bowling alley with a burly union worker somewhere outside of Pittsburgh.
I think you're right that she does have street cred in many parts of PA that Obama did not, and she has added to that because of the repugnance many swing voters in the Philly 'burbs feel towards the current Republican candidate.
Trump can do a McCain and go "all in" for PA, but yeah not sure what other options are out there unless he can get the race down to 3-4% in national polling (Assuming equal distribution in swing states).
