Muslim American activists campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primaries, which Sen. Hillary Clinton won by a comfortable margin. One local Muslim leader called the city, where 34 mosques are located for 70,000 Muslims, a "Mecca for United States Muslims," according to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news service.
Kasim Rashad, president of the United Muslim Masjid mosque, said, "I think overall Muslims have hope, and Muslims and African-Americans are going to vote for Obama based on the whole campaign strategy of hope, that this guy will be a change for the better. After all it can't get any worse," he says.
Sen. Obama is an Afro-American who is the son of a Muslim but is a Christian. The current campaign has included an e-mail campaign against him with false charges that he is a Muslim.