Rubio: "Pennsylvania's in Play"

Conservative Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who defied the pundits and political odds to win his senate race in 2010, came to Delaware County Thursday night to stump for Mitt Romney.

Rubio, a darling of the tea party movement, told a wildly enthusiastic, overlfowing crowd that Pennsylvania is in play in Tuesday's election.

Rubio told hundreds of cheering GOP faithful who packed a ballroom at the Barnaby's on MacDade Boulevard in Ridley Township that not only is Pennsylvania now in play, but that Mitt Romney will win the state on Tuesday.

Rubio also told the crowd that both Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan are coming back to the state before Tuesday's election.

Romney will appear at a rally at Shady Brook Farm in Lower Makefield Township Sunday.

Tagg Romney, Mitt Romney's oldest son, is also scheduled to appear today at the Delaware County GOP Victory Center/campaign headquarters.

Rubio appeared with 7th Congressional District Congressman Pat Meehan.  Meehan, who is running for a second term, told the crowd that the Democrats also think Pennsylvania is now in play because they are sending Vice President Joe Biden into the Philadelphia area to campaign again before Tuesday's election.

Speaking to a wildly partisan and energized crowd in the heart of Delaware County, Meehan said when it comes to the work of getting the vote out, there's no better group of people than Delaware County Republicans.

The event drew hundreds of GOP faithful from every corner of the county from Radnor to the Delaware State line.

Judging not only by the star power coming to the region this weekend, but also by the flood of TV commercials now appearing on Philadelphia TV, both parties are re-evaluating their strategies in Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia suburbs in particular.

On Thursday, a GOP startegist for Pennsylvania told Patch that the Romney campaign is spending over $1million on ad buys in the state this week. That's in addition to the superpac money that's being spent on TV commercials that support Romney.  The Obama campaign is also spending money to buy TV commercials. Until this week neither campaign had spent much on TV in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or any other PA television market.

The GOP faithful at Thhursday night's rally are clearly energerized by Romeny's increasing poll numbers in swing states. Many told Patch that they believe Romney has a strong shot at winning Pennsylvania, which went heavily for Barack Obama in 2008.