A few counties will play pivotal role in whether Pa. goes red or blue

As the summer campaign season gets under way, experts point to a few counties that just might decide what column Pennsylvania shows up in on Election Day.

Pollster Terry Madonna says Pennsylvania’s all-important swing voters in the presidential race reside in a handful of counties:

“Four in the southeast part of the state, in the Philadelphia suburbs — Chester, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties,” Madonna says. “Then, in the Lehigh Valley, Northampton and Lehigh counties; and then, up in the Poconos region, a small but growing Monroe County.”

The Philadelphia suburban counties have the largest number of voters.

NewsWorks political blogger Dick Polman calls them the key to the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania, he says, “is one of those places that [Romney] would love to just take away from Obama. And the key to winning Pennsylvania for anybody is the suburbs around Philadelphia.”

Pennsylvania hasn’t gone red since 1988, but Mitt Romney will be pushing hard against President Obama this year, says Polman.

Polman expects the campaigns to spend heavily on advertising in the Philadelphia market, with more cash flowing in from super PACs.