BARACK OBAMA is one of those out-of-towners who have now discovered that Pittsburgh is beautiful. The New York Times reported Thursday how the prospective Democratic Party nominee, who grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia and lived much of his adult life in large cities, is "now acquainting himself more deeply with his country and finds himself unusually surprised by some of his findings." He has unexpectedly come to love Texas during his campaign travels, he said, and went on: "I've been struck by how many beautiful places there are in the country that you don't necessarily think of as beautiful. Pittsburgh, for example, is a really handsome town with the rivers and the hills." It would be good if his legion of young supporters were moved by this compliment to see for themselves. As always, the old city needs young residents.

PITTSBURGH actually needs more residents of any age. The Census Bureau reported last week that Pittsburgh fell two spots to 59th in population among the nation's 262 largest incorporated places. In 2007 the city's population was 311,218 -- a loss of 2,450 from 2006. Trailing one behind Aurora, Colo., population 311,794 -- whose civic motto might be "Where the Heck Are We?" -- is enough to give us the small-fry feeling. However, the fragmentation of the region works against us. In March, the Census reported that the seven-county Pittsburgh metro area -- Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties -- remained the 22nd largest in the country with 2,355,712 residents. That's a bit reassuring, but it was still a loss of 7,502. People, we still need people.

PERHAPS WE could duct-tape residents to their chairs so they can't leave. It's amazing what can be done with duct tape, as has been demonstrated by a couple of Pittsburgh's most endangered species, young people. Sharon Dranko and Joshua Humm, both 18 and graduates of Center Area High School, each won $3,000 for college by winning the "Stuck at Prom" contest sponsored by Henkel Corp., a duct-tape maker. Their duct-tape creations of a fuschia hoop-skirted gown and a zebra-striped tuxedo beat all others, but only after a recount. They were in second place initially, but it was found that in the e-mail voting, fake addresses had been used to unfairly boost their chief rival. We are No. 1 in duct tape! And we are beautiful!