Urban issues get short shrift from Democratic Presidential Candidates

Politico reports on the Democrats lack of attention to urban America:

This lopsided treatment is not simply happenstance. Rather, it underscores a broad shift in voting patterns from the 1960s and 70s. Back then, the Democratic and Republican platforms went on at great length about urban issues. Now that more voters live in suburbs and exurbs—and since big cities have become almost monolithically Democratic—the more competitive and vote-rich areas miles outside urban cores reap the lion’s share of attention from candidates.

Philadelphia is a case in point. The city is expected to go overwhelmingly for Obama, so political observers say the battleground in the April 22 primary is populous suburban Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley, a mix of older communities, dwindling farmland and sprawling subdivisions. General elections follow the same pattern.