Core supporters stuck with their candidates

Brouhahas had little influence in race, polls indicate

PHILADELPHIA - Two million Pennsylvania voters played to type yesterday, hewing to the demographic loyalties set forth in earlier contests: Older, Catholic, and working-class white voters stuck with Hillary Clinton, and new, highly educated, and black voters went for Barack Obama.

Exit polls and interviews with voters suggested that the disruptions to the race - including controversies over Obama's pastor, his comments about small-town bitterness, Clinton's claims of facing fire in Bosnia, and a high-profile debate that touched on all those subjects - had little influence on the hardened demographic divide within the Democratic Party.

"I don't believe they changed anybody's mind," said State Representative Louise Bishop.

Despite early efforts to eat into each other's bases of support, both campaigns eventually stuck to their core demographic groups. In the final days, they focused on mobilizing turnout in areas of strength: Obama in big-city Philadelphia and its affluent suburbs, Clinton in the state's working-class northeast and its rural, conservative center.

In Wynnefield, a largely African-American middle-class neighborhood in West Philadelphia, the flow of morning voters appeared to be dominated by Obama supporters, who expressed little concern that the local ward leader, Mayor Michael Nutter, was one of Clinton's most vocal supporters.

"I think Clinton had the chance when her husband was in office," said Jacqueline Coles, 63, a retired social worker. "I don't think things will change that much with her."

One of seven voters made their debut on the Democratic rolls with this election, and those new voters went for Obama by a margin of 60 percent to 38 percent, according to the exit polls, conducted for the Associated Press and television networks.

"It's a big increase - oooh, that's wonderful to see," said Louise Moss, a judge of elections in Wynnefield, expressing surprise as she spotted the change in the voter rolls over last fall's mayoral vote.

One of the new arrivals, Andrew Riley, stood just outside as he received instructions from a campaign worker on how to cast his first vote for Obama - press button No. 1, and only that one - as demonstrated on an oversized pink ballot.

"He showed in the debate that he can handle the pressure," said Riley, a high school senior who turned 18 in December and registered to vote in March. "There is no doubt that he is ready."

The new voters also include Republican converts such as Michael Gatcha, of Bear Creek near Wilkes-Barre, who said he and his wife changed their registrations to back Clinton; it was the first time he had ever voted for a Democrat. "We were sold out by Bush," said Gatcha, a retired UPS employee who thought the country was losing its sovereignty through its trade deficit and illegal immigration.

Economic issues dominated the concerns of Pennsylvanians, with over half identifying them as the most important facing the country and nearly 90 percent saying the country is in recession.

"It's gas prices the way he said in the commercial the rich is getting richer and the poor are getting poorer," said Enoch Ankrah, 41, who works in the shipping and receiving department of a Wonder Bread bakery in Northeast Philadelphia. "I've got a daughter in college, a son in private school. I can't buy things for myself."

Those who said that the economy was the country's most important issue picked Clinton by a 13-point margin. "She's telling the truth about everything, you know?" said Robert Wharton, a 58-year old Scranton truck driver who believes Clinton is the only one talking candidly about how to turn the economy around.

Fewer voters made their decision in the contest's last week than had in previous states, according to exit polls, and those who did so in Pennsylvania chose Clinton over Obama by a margin of 16 points. The high turnout suggested a barrage of negative attacks launched by both candidates over airwaves and into mailboxes in the contest's final weekend did little to alienate voters.

"In the Philadelphia media market, politics is tough. That stuff doesn't turn people off," said Representative Joe Sestak, who represents a suburban district. Sestak, a Clinton supporter, said the campaign's canvassing showed a move toward his candidate in the race's closing days. "What you saw was the pragmatic side of Pennsylvanians. They still believe in the idealism, but hope is not a strategy."

A majority of those who voted said that they believed Obama would be the party's eventual nominee, and many voters said their picks were determined not by specific issues or leadership traits but on what they learned from watching the candidates in extended combat.

"I was thinking about Hillary, but they helped kick themselves out. I didn't like the games she was playing. She started out good and she started sliding downward," said Shirley McDonald, a Philadelphia postal worker.

"She's a fighter. She'll fight for anything," said Joanne Benedetto, 61, a teacher in Sewickley, an upscale Pittsburgh suburb. "She wants this presidency more than anyone else, and I sense that."

Scott Helman of the Globe staff contributed to this report.