During the past few weeks, when Pennsylvania was in the national spotlight for the Democratic presidential primary election, Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., benefited from endorsements from prominent Pennsylvania politicians.

But one endorsement came from someone unexpected.

That endorsement went to Obama from Dan Drinker, 22. His younger brother, Will, posted his endorsement video on YouTube. The video has been picked up by many left-leaning blogs, giving Dan, who has Down’s syndrome, more than 3,500 results on Google.

“I have always thought my brother to be an excellent judge of character, and I feel his opinion is as valuable as the most famous or respected political authority because he speaks the truth and adds nothing more,” Will wrote on dandrinker.com, a blog he maintains. The blog began as a project to record Dan’s transition out of high school.

On March 30, Dan visited Penn State, a campus his brother said he “loves,” to see Obama speak at Old Main lawn.

Before the speech, Dan visited the Obama regional headquarters, walked across the Old Main lawn and visited the Nittany Lion shrine.

While Dan is from Philadelphia, he feels a special connection with Penn State.

“He feels very much like it’s his town,” Will said, adding Dan watches every Penn State game and chants “We are . . . Penn State” and “Zombie Nation.”

Because of his Down’s syndrome, Dan is unable to attend college.

“If Dan were able to go to college, he would unequivocally choose to go to Penn State,” Will wrote in an e-mail. “In his own way, he is something of an honorary alumni.”

After its creation, Dan’s blog evolved into an ongoing documentary about him, Will said. The Web site now has dozens of photos and videos of Dan, and Will said it gets hundreds of hits a day. It covers several aspects of Dan’s life including work, politics and girls.

At one point in the endorsement video, Will asks Dan if he thinks Obama cares about people like him.

“Yeah . . . I’m a Downsy,” Dan said.

At first, Will was afraid of criticism the video might receive because of Dan’s mental condition. However, he said he later realized such criticism was part of politics.

“We welcome it,” he said.

Keeping this in mind, Will wrote next to the YouTube video, “We won’t be removing any comments … please consider that Dan reads all his comments and how in his community, the ‘R’ word cuts as deep as the ‘N’ word.”

While the Drinker brothers both enjoyed going to Obama’s speech, it was not the only thing they did while visiting Penn State.

Will and Dan went to a bar and a party one night at Penn State, Will said.

“Dan was wing-manning for me,” Will said.