Looks like a pro-Obama outside group is coming in to rescue him from the "small town" flap. SEIU's new ad for Obama in Pennsylvania pushes back against Hillary Clinton on the "small town" controversy, using the energy issue as a pretext:

It's not exactly coordination so much as outright imitiating the themes in Obama's latest ads, that he doesn't take money from energy company lobbyists. But the imagery of ordinary, working-class people talking about how Barack Obama is different definitely seems to be a rebuttal to Hillary's own ad on the "small town" comments, which is running as her only ad in many parts of the state.

In a sign that the Obama campaign is still working to push back on the "small town" flap, the campaign has rolled out the endorsement of Oklahoma superdelegate Reggie Whitten -- with an official press release that includes the phrase "small town" in a good way twice.

"I'm from the small town of Seminole, Oklahoma: a city that is predominantly hard-working middle class citizens," Whitten says. "It is important that our next President keep small towns like Seminole in mind when he talks about our economy. I am very sincere in my belief that Senator Obama will do just that."

Gallup is just out with the most fine-grained polling analysis I've seen yet on whether Obama's "small town" comments have hurt him, and it finds that the answer for now is No.

Gallup looked at the support Obama has among the constituencies he was referring to in his remarks, and found that his backing has dropped among them slightly, but by statistically insignificant amounts. Gallup found:

* Among Democratic voters who make $24,000 or less, Obama's support has dropped three points, from 47%-44%.

* Among Democratic voters with no college education, his support has dropped one point, from 41%-40%.

* Among Democratic voters who say they are worried about money, his support has dropped two points, from 55%-53%.

* Among Democratic voters who say religion is an important part of their lives, his support dropped one point, from 49%-48%.

Gallup's conclusion: "It certainly appears that, as of April 14 interviewing, Obama's remarks have not hurt him -- either among the Democratic electorate as a whole or among the Democratic constituencies Obama was referring to."

One caveat: Hillary is likely to continue running her ad hitting Obama over the comments between now and next Tuesday. It would certainly count for something if the Hillary campaign succeeds in swinging some three percent of the vote with the comments.

But the above polling suggests this might not happen. Either way, we won't know for certain until the votes are counted -- and the exit polls are in.

Late Update: Today's Gallup tracking poll shows a slight contraction in Obama's national lead, from 11 points down to eight. We'll find out over the next few days whether this was just noise and Obama's lead expands again, or whether Clinton can make real inroads thanks to the "small town" comments.

Here's a glimpse into Hillary's ad strategy in the final stretch of the Pennsylvania primary:

In most of Pennsylvania's markets, the only TV ad Hillary is running right now is a negative one -- the spot hitting Obama over his "small town" comments, a political ad buyer who tracks buys in Pennsylvania tells me.

The buyer says that as of this morning, that ad -- and no positive spots -- are running in the Pittsburgh, Erie, Johnstown/Altoona, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton markets.

Meanwhile, the buyer says, in the Philadelphia and Harrisburg markets, Hillary's ad campaign is 50% negative -- she's running two spots, the new spot hitting Obama over oil companies, and another spot touting Hillary's plans to right the economy that doesn't mention Obama.

According to the buyer, the Philadelphia and Harrisburg markets add up to a bit over half the state's households.

Upshot: Nearly half the state's households are right now seeing only the "small town" spot, and the remaining half are seeing her economy spot and the oil spot hitting Obama, the buyer says.

Of course, this could still change at any time. Asked for a comment, Hillary Pennsylvania spokesperson Mark Nevins would only say: "We don't discuss our ad strategy. The colonel never gives away the secret recipe."

Late Update: There's still more: Ben Smith has obtained the script of a new ad hitting Obama that the pro-Clinton third party group American Leadership Project is set to run.

The woman who broke the Obama "small town" story for The Huffington Post may have come under relentless fire from some Obama supporters after the news broke, but she has one word to describe the response she's since received from the Obama campaign itself: "Classy."

I just spoke briefly with the woman, Mayhill Fowler, and she said that though she created the worst and most sustained controversy for Obama since Jeremiah Wright's sermons surfaced, Obama campaign aides haven't directed any anger or punitive action in her direction.

"They haven't denied me any kind of access," Fowler said. "From the time I started following them around last June, they have been a classy operation, and I still think they are. They haven't treated me any differently than before."

Fowler rejected charges -- voiced in the blogosphere and elsewhere -- that she'd deliberately broken the story to harm Obama on Hillary's behalf.

"There are still a lot of conspiracy theories out there, that I'm a Clinton campaign plant. None of that is true," she said, adding that covering the campaign was a great pleasure that consumes her "24-7."

Fowler confirmed that a number of people shot the episode on their cellphones and at least one person filmed it with a video camera -- meaning that it's likely that video of the controversial comments themselves is still lurking out there.

One final tidbit: Fowler rejected the idea that the people Obama made his guns and religion remarks to were rich.

"I'm not sure that it's completely come out, but these were not really wealthy people."

Here, less than 24 hours later, is Obama's Pennsylvania ad responding to Hillary's spot from yesterday hitting him for the "small town" comments...

The spot shows Hillary getting booed for criticizing him, with a narrator saying:

"There's a reason people are rejecting Hillary Clinton's attacks. Because the same old Washington politics won't lower the price of gas or help our struggling economy. Barack Obama will represent all Americans. He offers a new approach."

Full script after the jump.

Read more »

Obama drops a new mailer in Pennsylvania that was forwarded our way.

It displays Obama talking to a crowd of hard hats, portrays him as the real foe of special interests that are hurting ordinary Americans, and hits Hillary for taking big bucks from Washington lobbyists and PACs. Click on the images below to enlarge...

This is something of a closing message for Obama as the two duke it out over the economically struggling voters that have been the subject of so much discussion of late in the context of Obama's "small town" comments. It speaks to these voters by mocking Hillary's defense of lobbyists as follows:

"She says they represent `real people.' Do they represent you?"

Today's Gallup tracking poll gives Barack Obama an 11-point lead over Hillary Clinton, his widest margin ever in Gallup's polling. Here are the numbers, compared to yesterday:

Obama 51% (+1)
Clinton 40% (+0)

The poll was conducted entirely after the "small town" controversy first erupted, a further indication that the whole flap has yet to actually harm Obama's poll numbers.

From a novel Obama campaign fundraising email that seeks to raise money off the dust-up over the "small town" comments...

A few days ago, Barack spoke about the frustrations that working people in this country are feeling and said what we all know is true: that many people are bitter and angry because they believe their government isn't listening to them.

...our opponents have been spinning the media and peddling fake outrage around the clock. John McCain's campaign, which will continue the George Bush economic policies that have devastated the middle class, called Barack out of touch and elitist. And Hillary Clinton, who is the candidate who said lobbyists represent real people, didn't just echo the Republican candidate's talking points: she actually used the very same words to pile on with more attacks.

Hillary campaign spokesperson Phil Singer attacked the email on today's campaign conference call, arguing that Obama had misrepresented his own comments by focusing on his claim that folks are "bitter" rather than on the guns and religion part.

"They are trying to recast what Senator Obama said and focus on the least controversial elements," Singer complained.

But the Clinton camp didn't address the letter's charge that Hillary and McCain are using identical language to hit Obama over this.

Late Update: Here's audio of this morning's Clinton campaign conference call:

A Clinton campaign source confirms to me that roughly 100 mayors from all over Pennsylvania will be endorsing her today at noon -- and a bunch of them will hit Obama over the "small town" comments.

Some twenty of them will be at an event in Harrisburg today, and number of these will pick up the "small town" refrain -- an effort by the Hillary campaign to get local officials who represent these small-town folks to keep the story going.

"These are the men and women who represent the people Senator Obama so casually dismissed as clinging to guns and religion," a Hillary campaign source says. "These mayors know better."

Obviously, the endorsements of individual lower-level officials don't mean much in isolation, but the Clinton campaign is hoping that a whole bunch of them echoing her criticism of Obama will add up to a chorus of sorts.

Late Update: As expected, 19 mayors actually showed up to the event today. I've asked the campaign how many of the 100 mayors had previously endorsed her; if the campaign answers, I'll keep you posted.

The Pennsylvania polls are coming fast and furious today -- and while most show a slight uptick in support for Hillary, they all appear to indicate that Obama's "small town" comments are not yet causing any big movement.

• The new CNN poll of polls shows a slight uptick in Hillary Clinton's Pennsylvania lead from late last week, but only from a four-point lead to a six-point lead. The new figure: Clinton 49%, Obama 43%.

• Meanwhile, the new Rasmussen poll has Clinton leading Barack Obama by nine points, not significantly changed since a week ago:

Clinton 50% (+2)
Obama 41% (-2)

As for primary voters' reactions to the "small town" comments, 51% disagree with the remarks, but on the other hand only 37% of respondents said it represented an elitist view, versus 48% who did not think so.

• A SurveyUSA poll finds that a majority of people in the Harrisburg area -- the just the sort of blue-collar place we might concern ourselves with -- were not offended by the remarks, with Democrats not offended by a 62%-33% margin.

• And a new Susquehanna poll has the race narrowing since a month ago, but with a very high undecided number:

Clinton 40% (-5)
Obama 37% (+6)

Late Update: The Susquehanna poll came out yesterday, but the interviews actually predate the "small town" comments.

Late Late Update: The SurveyUSA poll was just of the Harrisburg region, not the state as a whole.

Howard Wolfson, on a conference call with reporters just now, offered the campaign's first defense of the Hillary campaign's new ad attacking Obama over the "small town" comments.

Asked if the ad signaled a new level of negativity in the campaign that could damage Dem hopes for the fall, Wolfson said:

"The issues raised in the ad are important issues. There's been a great deal of concern about his remarks in California. He has offered several different explanations for them, none of them quite satisfying."

Wolfson continued that the ad "mirrors the reactions of many Pennsylvanians," and added that those voters believe that Obama's comments "condescended to them."

Early polling, however, may suggest that it's not yet clear whether the comments are taking hold with the broader electorate in the state.

One other telling quote from Wolfson on the "small town" comments: "It's something that we intend to continue to discuss, because it's important."

Hillary chief strategist Geoffrey Garin told us in an interview over the weekend that Obama's "small town" comments were fair game for use in a political ad, and Hillary has now gone up with a new spot in Pennsylvania doing just that....

The ad features ordinary Pennsylvania residents expressing their displeasure with Obama's comments, with one saying she's "very insulted" by them, and another castigating Obama as "out of touch."

The ad also hits the religion button pretty hard, with the narrator stressing that word when reading Obama's original quote. The ad also includes this from a Pennsylvanian:

"I'm not clinging to my faith out of frustration and bitterness. I find that my faith is very uplifting."

Full script after the jump.

Read more »

The Obama campaign continues its push-back on criticism of his "small town" remarks with this new robocall from a key surrogate, Mayor John Brenner of York, PA.

The call, which was pumped into PA homes today, argues that Obama has "got it right" about the economic frustration and bitterness reigning in hard-scrabble small-town America. Give it a listen...

The Obama campaign has been working to move the debate away from one over his claim that folks "cling to guns or religion," and on to an argument over whether his characterization of the state of mind of the economically anxious is accurate.

In other words, Camp Obama wants the debate to be framed as whether Obama was right to say that voters are "bitter" about their economic circumstances and what caused them, which segues neatly into a debate with John McCain about the GOP's economic policies and what they've wrought. The robocall does this.

One other point: With the Clinton camp arguing to super-delegates that Obama's "small town" comments render him less electable this fall, the Obama camp has another challenge: Signaling that they're taking aggressive steps to deal with the political problem they've got -- without appearing to be worried about it. It seems fair to say that the Obama campaign has thus far succeeded at this.

Full transcript of the robocall after the jump.

Read more »

Obama picks up the support of Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the campaign announces.

Rooney releases an open letter detailing his reasons, and the letter is mostly boilerplate, but in it, he does assert that this is an unusual move for him. It's something that could conceivably reassure blue collar voters put off by the "small town" comments.

Rooney's full letter after the jump.

Late Update: It needs to be said that this endorsement could be a big deal in western Pennsylvania, among the sort of voters that comprise Hillary's base. Obama spokesperson Sean Smith emails over the following:

Dan Rooney is an institution in Western Pennsylvania and understands the people and the region better than almost anyone. When he says that Barack Obama is one of us, it sends a very powerful and meaningful message to a lot of people.

Read more »

Camp Obama's push-back on Hillary's criticism of his "small town" remarks continues this morning -- in a speech before the Alliance for American Manufacturing in Pittsburgh, he again acknowledges error, but also gently mocks Hillary's efforts to appeal to working class voters this weekend by tossing back a shot...

Now it may be that I chose my words badly. It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. But when I hear my opponents, both of whom have spent decades in Washington, saying I'm out of touch, it's time to cut through their rhetoric and look at the reality.

After all, you've heard this kind of rhetoric before. Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you. They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer.

But if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the PACs and lobbyists, ask yourself, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over?

In addition to trying to re-frame the battle over this as an argument over whether Americans are "bitter" or not, poking fun at Hillary for this sort of staged politicking is a key component of Team Obama's push-back on the "small town" brouhaha (though Obama did some similar politicking in a bowling alley).

Full text of his prepared remarks after the jump.

Late Update: Clinton spokesperson Phil Singer responds:

With all due respect, this is the same politician who spent six days posing for clichéd camera shots that included bowling gutterballs, walking around a sports bar, feeding a baby cow, and buying a ham at the Philly market (albeit one that cost $99.99 a pound). Sen. Obama's speeches won't hide his condescending views of Americans living in small towns."

Read more »