Obama hops a train, hoping he’s on track in Pennsylvania

LANCASTER, PA —  . -- A candidate who bills himself as a new-era politician turned Saturday to the durable locomotive -- like many candidates before him -- to try to boost his chances in Tuesday’s primary.

Rolling along the Philadelphia area’s Main Line and on west to the capital in Harrisburg, Sen. Barack Obama greeted thousands at train station rallies and from the platform of a patriotically decorated antique rail car.

While far from Harry S. Truman’s legendary 1948 “whistle-stop” tour -- a journey that covered nearly 22,000 miles -- it offered an image Obama’s campaign hoped might have special connection in a state with one of the nation’s oldest populations and a storied history of railroading.

The stops drew young and old, rural and suburban, as did the more impromptu gatherings where the train slowed but did not stop.

The day-long, 100-mile journey was made for television -- even more so than most on the presidential campaign trail -- as the Illinois Democrat’s train stopped in four towns and slowly crawled through others.

“The train is leaving the station. I need your help,” Obama shouted to supporters as he slowly rolled through Wayne.

The trip’s main mission was to help Obama deliver his closing argument to a state that is viewed as a must-win for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But it also presented a glimpse for the broader electorate of a candidate seeking to project himself into the general election.

“You do have a choice in this primary,” he said in Wynnewood, making his pitch as a Washington outsider.

While the day was mostly built for its images, Obama still lobbed a few shots at his opponents from the side of the tracks on a trip that actually ran on schedule. Obama traveled with his top Pennsylvania endorser, Sen. Bob Casey.

As he first boarded the “Georgia 300” lounge car -- one that in the past has carried Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton -- Obama asked whether he could pull a handle to trigger the locomotive’s whistle.

“Am I allowed?” he asked before tooting the whistle a couple times inside a Philadelphia train station.

By later in the day, Obama had developed greater whistle confidence as he stood on the back platform of the end car.

“Get on board the change train,” he told a crowd gathered along the tracks in Parkesburg before pulling the whistle twice.

Each stop featured music from Obama’s new endorser, Bruce Springsteen, including “Land of Hope and Dreams,” a song that talks about a train that carries all kinds, including “saints and sinners,” “losers and winners” and “fools and kings.”