John McCain is on a tour to “forgotten places” this week: stops where Republicans don’t always look for votes. He’s looking to make headway in small towns and rural areas where Barack Obama’s Snobgate remarks didn’t go down so well. But his remarks in Youngstown, Ohio today sounded like they could have been aimed at Hillary Clinton:

As you might recall, it was a different story last year, when I could claim the unqualified support of Cindy and my mother – and Mom was starting to keep her options open. Back then, there were some very impressive frontrunners … there was a very formidable second tier of contenders … and then there was me. As I recall, a few pollsters even declared my campaign a hopeless cause, and there was no margin of error to soften the blow. But a person learns along the way that if you hold on – if you don’t quit no matter what the odds – sometimes life will surprise you. Sometimes you get a second chance, and opportunity turns back your way. And when it does, we are stronger and readier because of all that we had to overcome.

Yes, McCain is trying to bond with these voters by analogizing to his own hard luck story. But this is Clinton’s pitch as well. At bottom, both are trying to overcome Obama’s novelty by presenting themselves as tried-and-true leaders. So far it’s worked a bit better for McCain than Clinton. But a win today for Clinton will allow her to posit that she is now the “stronger and readier” candidate for Democrats.