Oct. 12--Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has nearly closed the deal in Pennsylvania, as anxiety over the economy overcomes lingering concerns about his inexperience and qualms about his race, according to more than three dozen political operatives, pollsters and analysts across the state.

A surge in Democratic voter registration is also helping.

Some Republicans in the state say privately it is all but impossible for Republican Sen. John McCain to win Pennsylvania. Others are hopeful but nervous. Still, many remain optimistic, noting that the race has been marked by wild swings in the polls.

Internal campaign polls show McCain trailing by only single digits here and the GOP continues to pound away at questions of character to argue that Obama is a risky choice.

Nonetheless, independent Pennsylvania polls have picked up sharp movement in Obama's direction since the financial crisis rocked the country. Obama had a lead of 13.8 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics average of state polls as of Friday, up from 2 points in mid-September.

"What we're seeing is that economics trump culture," said Chris Borick, a pollster and political scientist at Muhlenberg College. "As push has come to shove, those cultural issues and identity politics fall by the wayside."

Indeed, recent surveys have Obama making inroads with the white working class voters who once were cool to him, especially the culturally conservative Democrats in Northeastern and Southwestern Pennsylvania who voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the April primary.

Harry McGrath, the Democratic chairman of Lackawanna County, said, "Even the older, more conservative Democrat is starting to come around," he said. "I think race has become less and less an issue as the economy and the crisis with home mortgage foreclosures have come to the forefront."

By all counts, Pennsylvania, with 21 electoral votes, is once again in the crosshairs in the final weeks of a presidential campaign. The state has been among the leaders in TV advertising, with $27 million spent through the end of September.

When the McCain campaign pulled out of Michigan on Oct. 2, aides said they would make up for it by flooding the zone in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Republican county officials and other party activists here say they have noticed more McCain staffers in the state, and the campaign's travel plans indicate they are continuing to compete.

All told, McCain has spent all or part of 17 days in the state, with 24 different stops, since the beginning of June. Obama has spent all or part of seven days in the state, with 17 separate stops, including the four rallies in Philadelphia on Saturday.

Some analysts even believe that Pennsylvania is on the verge of losing its status as a perpetual battleground state and becoming a Democratic lock.