Ambridge is one of many factory towns in Pennsylvania hurt by the worsening economy. Vince Pisano, a plumber, backs Barack Obama.

By MICHAEL POWELL

ALIQUIPPA, Pennsylvania - Voting for the black man does not come easy to Nick Piroli. He is the first to admit that.
Mr. Piroli, a 77-year-old retired steelworker, says a couple of his friends will not vote for Senator Barack Obama.
“I’m no racist, but I’m not crazy about him either,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe ‘cause he’s black.”
He winces at himself. “We was raised and worked with the black, the Serb,” he said. “It was a regular league of nations. And the economy now, it’s terrible.”
“I’ve got to vote for him,” Mr. Piroli said finally.
Him? “The Democrat, Obama,” he replied. “I can’t be stupid.”
Mr. Obama’s Republican opponent in the presidential race, Senator John Mc- Cain, has placed a sizable electoral bet that he can sweep predominantly white, working-class Beaver County and a dozen more Pennsylvania counties like it.
But in the Beaver River mill cities - where the biggest steel mills were long ago shuttered - and in rural hamlets like Economy and Hookstown, more than a few Democrats say they intend, however reluctantly, to support their party’s nominee. Many Democrats, and a few independents, wonder if Mr. McCain is too old and his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, too unsophisticated to take his place if necessary.
Such sentiments could bode ill for Mr. McCain, who hopes for a surprise victory in Pennsylvania to rescue his presidential bid.
And they are consistent with poll findings that show white voters moving toward Mr. Obama’s camp.
But as he tries to halt that movement, Mr. McCain may have an opportunity. Thirty-five interviews here about race and presidential choices revealed voter uncertainties about Mr. Obama.
In Ambridge, Olga Permon, a 71-yearold steelworker’s widow and a lifelong Democrat, considers the field: Mr. Mc- Cain- A grouchy old man. Ms. Palin- No way. What about Mr. Obama- Her pause went on and on. “He scares me,” Mrs. Permon said. “The coloreds are excited, but my friends and I plan to write in Hillary’s name.”
This is not welcoming territory for Mr. Obama. In the Democratic primary, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton beat him by 40 percentage points in Beaver County. Democrats outnumber Republicans here, but voters in presidential elections have gone either way.
Still, a worsening economy has worked to the Democrats’ advantage. Mr. Obama and his running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., drew 8,000 to a rally in Beaver a month ago. Union members go door to door each weekend, rounding up votes.
G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said Mr. McCain’s advisers “looked at the huge margin here for Hillary Clinton in the primary and figured, ‘Hmm, we have a shot.’ But it’s going to be very difficult here for him to get the margins needed to offset the cities and the eastern suburbs.”
Vince Pisano, 47, a union plumber in Ambridge, reflects that challenge. As he sits on his porch, he considers the collapse of the economy and the dwindling of his retirement account. He is firm for Mr. Obama, but many people he knows are not. “Close friends, real close, tell me they can’t get past his race,” he said. “If Obama were white, this would be a landslide around here.”
Ms. Palin has taken a lead role in wooing culturally conservative counties like Beaver. She held a rally here, and the crowd cheered when she spoke of her opposition to abortion.
“She’s what we need, a live one,” said Steve Matoic, a truck driver wearing a camouflage jacket and an American flag bandanna.
Support for Palin, however, is not universal. Grace Ruscitti, a retired schoolteacher, stood on the porch of her modest bungalow. She was still upset about Mr. McCain’s choice of Ms. Palin. “That was an insult to our intelligence,” she said.
Certainly, Mr. McCain has deep reservoirs of support here. The Reverend Chris Noyes, a Presbyterian minister in Beaver Falls, estimates that two-thirds of his congregation supports the Republican ticket.
The Republicans have also poured money into advertising. Until early October, the McCain campaign had outspent the Obama campaign in Pennsylvania.
A union distributes a leaflet here titled “The Truth About Barack Obama,” which says: “Is he a Christian- Yes. Was he sworn in on a Bible- Yes. Was he born in America- Yes.”
Still, doubts about Mr. Obama persist. Rita Ratjer, a steelworker’s widow, says she does not plan to vote.
But Peggy Doffin, 79, lived through the Great Depression and fears another coming. Once she was a strong Clinton supporter and not a fan of Mr. Obama’s. Then she listened to his speech at the Democratic National Convention and, she said, “chills ran down my back.”
“Race just don’t matter to me any more,” she said. “But a lot of Democrats out there” - she shrugged - “we’ll find out on Election Day, won’t we?”