All aboard for Pennsylvania

The rest of America is about to get a crash course on the Keystone State.

That would be Pennsylvania, so nicknamed because of its central location among the original 13 colonies. It’s one of the country’s largest states -- in land mass and population -- but it has never fired the public imagination like California, Texas or New York.

But because Pennsylvania bided its time and didn’t muscle its way into the first frenetic weeks of the presidential primary process, it is about to be rewarded (or, some voters might think, cursed) with virtually unalloyed attention over the next 6 1/2 weeks from Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

The state, which holds its primary April 22, should be hospitable turf for Clinton. A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Wednesday -- fresh off her wins in Ohio and Texas -- gave her a 52%-37% lead.

Pennsylvania’s demographics parallel Ohio’s in many ways. It is slightly more populous, with about 12.4 million residents compared with 11.5 million in the Buckeye State, according to a 2006 Census Bureau estimate. African Americans make up a smaller segment of Pennsylvania’s population (10.7% compared with 12% for Ohio), Latinos somewhat more (4.2% compared with 2.3% in Ohio).

Economically, Pennsylvania is better off than its neighboring state, which could help Obama. Its median family income is higher, and, as of January, its unemployment rate was lower: 4.8% compared with 5.5% for Ohio.

But two other factors, which helped Clinton in other states, also come into play. Pennsylvania skews older -- as of the 2006 estimates, 15.2% of its residents were at least 65 compared with 12.4% nationally. And it is among the most heavily Catholic states.

With no other contest on deck between Tuesday -- when Mississippi holds its primary -- and the Pennsylvania face-off, the state will probably see a fair amount of the close-up politicking that marked the year’s early skirmishes.

Ed Pawlowski, mayor of Allentown, Pa., cracked to a local newspaper: “I’m anticipating Barack and Hillary will be washing my car at the [high school] carwash.”

And state Democratic Party Chairman T.J. Rooney summed it up this way for the Philadelphia Inquirer: “It could be like Iowa on steroids.”

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Frederick is one of the writers of The Times’ political blog, Top of the Ticket, at latimes.com/topoftheticket.