PHILADELPHIA_In a wandering speech that jumped from the recent riot in North Carolina over the shootings of black men by police to the need for health care reform to plans to build a wall separating the United States from Mexico, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivered a speech Thursday night to a crowd of thousands of voters in Delaware County.
For the second time in 10 days, Trump addressed a Delaware County audience, this time in 1.4-square mile Chester Township, touting a broad platform that included repairing violent, inner-city communities and bringing manufacturing jobs back to the country _ and specifically, to Pennsylvania.
Throughout the near hour-long speech at the film production facility Sun Center Studios, the real estate mogul hardly veered off-script, remaining largely politically correct and only taking a few jabs at Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
With unrest still bubbling in Charlotte, N.C., and across the country over recent police-involved shootings, Trump stayed neutral, offering support for the officers now dealing with the onslaught of riots and black communities that are affected by the violence.
"The rioting in our streets is a threat to all peaceful citizens and it must be ended and ended now," Trump said to the audience, filled with thousands of voters, many of whom wore "Make America Great Again" hats and hoisted Trump-Pence signs over their heads. "The main victims of these violent demonstrations are law-abiding African Americans who live in these communities and only want to raise their children in safety and peace with a good education."
And, he said, "The problem is not there too many police, the problem is that there are not enough police ... Our men and women in blue need our support, our thanks and our gratitude."
Trump's second visit to Delaware County in less than 10 days underscores just how crucial Pennsylvania _ most notably, Philadelphia and its suburbs _ has become this election.
With one-third of the state's voters residing in Philadelphia and its neighboring counties, the candidate who clinches the five-county region, political analysts say, could have a near-guaranteed path to the White House.
But the 70-year-old presidential hopeful faces difficult odds: In the 2012 election, four of five the counties _ all but Chester County _ voted for President Barack Obama. In the election before, in 2008, all voted Democrat.
Still, political analysts say, the Keystone State _ and Southeastern Pennsylvania in particular _ is not impossible for Trump: A Sept. 8 poll from Quinnipiac University found Clinton led Trump by only five percentage points in the state.
"Can he win? Yes, but he's got a huge uphill battle," said G. Terry Madonna, the veteran pollster who directs the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College.
"Make no mistake about it, it's going to be a tough slog here. He's down with 48 days to go. That's a tough thing to make up."
