Trying for an upset in the Pennsylvania primary, is hoping he can defy the odds and reel in the state’s major blue-collar vote - a feat he has not yet accomplished, especially in this part of the country, so far this election season.

Obama is taking this newfound mission across the Keystone State, and while his recent trips to farms, bars and bowling alleys may only make him look more “effete,” as Maureen Dowd put it, the Illinois Senator is winning over some.

Teamsters president Jim Hoffa, leading his own convoy across the state to support Obama, says he is the candidate who can best bring about change.

“There’s a despair out there that we can’t change things, we’ve been beaten down,” Hoffa said, noting that the workers’ anger is NAFTA.

“People remember Clinton and NAFTA, and I think when we talk about changing NAFTA, I think that Barack Obama has more credibility,” he said.

Barack Obama is running as an outsider, which he subtly reminds voters.

“For over two decades, what we heard from the Bush administration is … you’re on your own,” Obama has said, no doubt aware that two decades he refers to also encompass the eight Bill Clinton years in The White House.

In Indiana, another state with a critical blue-collar voting population, Obama gave a speech yesterday demanding that company shareholders have a say in how much their executives get paid, further pushing this populist message.

He wants Congress to pass legislation he has sponsored requiring businesses to have a non-binding vote by shareholders on executive compensation.

But can his economic ideas and outsider appeal possibly spur him to a win in the Pennsylvania primary, where Hillary Clinton maintains a strong edge?

Maybe not, but blue-collar workers skeptical of Obama should note that when it comes to reaping benefits of economic growth, they’re outsiders too.

There have been 20 debates now, and it’s starting to feel it. We have heard the respective political views and observed the nuanced styles of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama time and time again.

In a fairly predictable 90-minute clash, the surging Obama was content to sit back, counterattack and score field goals here and there, rather than go for a touchdown and risk backlash.

For her part, Clinton articulated her major positions well, but tried to highlight the differences with her rival, reaching at times to do so and showing some signs of bitterness in the process.

In short, it was a low-scoring contest and a virtual draw.

Last night’s debate Cleveland State University didn’t alter the complexion of the Democratic race, but it was educational as always and included its fair share of entertainment and fireworks.

The Democrats sparred over negative campaigning, health care, NAFTA and much more a week before the key Texas and Ohio primaries.

Clinton repeated angry claims that Obama mischaracterized her stances on health care and NAFTA in political mailings to voters in Ohio.

“I have a great deal of respect for Sen. Obama, but we have differences,” she said. “In the last several days, some of those differences in tactics and choices that Sen. Obama’s campaign has made in fliers and mailers and other information that has been put out … have been very disturbing.”

The mailers, which Obama defends, claim that Hillary Clinton’s health care plan would force people who don’t want insurance to buy it.

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