Romney looks to raise $3.5 million or more in Phila. area

Republican Mitt Romney plans a lucrative breakfast in Philadelphia on Friday, hitting the Union League for a series of receptions that organizers expect will generate from $3.5 million to $4 million for his campaign.

Afterward, Romney is scheduled to appear at a GOP rally at Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, amid speculation that Pennsylvania may have fallen off his campaign's target list of winnable battleground states.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania swing is Romney's first visit to the state since July 17, when he held a rally in Westmoreland County and a fund-raiser in Pittsburgh. He has not done any extensive campaigning east of the Susquehanna River since June 16.

Romney's plane landed about 9:10 p.m. Thursday, and he climbed down the steps and headed into a black Chevrolet Suburban 10 minutes later.

Romney's return comes as recent polls show President Obama with a double-digit lead in the state. The average margin in recent polls is 8 percentage points for Obama, according to the website Real Clear Politics.

Republicans say that the statistical models on which the pollsters base their surveys assume a higher Democratic turnout in Pennsylvania than is reasonable. GOP leaders say their own polling has the race much closer in the state, and they have not given up being competitive for Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes.

The Romney rally at the military school is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., with the doors opening at 9:30.

- Thomas Fitzgerald
and Robert Moran