Corbett announces he'll run for governor

PITTSBURGH - Tom Corbett got more votes than any other Republican in state history when he ran for reelection as attorney general last year and withstood the torrent of Obamamania that swept away many others in his party.

That success appears to make Corbett the early GOP favorite as he sets out to claim a higher office: governor of Pennsylvania.

Corbett, 60, officially began his campaign for May's gubernatorial nomination with a balloon-festooned rally last night at a downtown Pittsburgh museum that, over the summer, drew audiences mainly to see the six Super Bowl trophies won by the hometown Steelers.

Deriding what he called overspending by Gov. Rendell's administration, he promised fiscal restraint and told several hundred applauding supporters at the Senator John Heinz History Center that "we must learn to do more with less."

"It will require new leadership," he said, "and it will take a spirit of cooperation."

With the primary eight months away, Corbett joins U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach of Chester County as the only Republicans so far in the race to succeed Rendell, a Democrat, who after two terms in office cannot run again.

"I think he's an honest guy; I think he has a good heart," said rally-attender Maury H. Burgwin, a Pittsburgh management adviser who said he had known Corbett since they worked together on George H.W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1988.

Corbett promised that, if elected governor, he would "move quickly and effectively to restart Pennsylvania's stalled economy." A onetime teacher, he said he would improve public education - not by spending more on schools, as Rendell has done, but by finding ways to "spend smarter." He said he would remove "red tape" to encourage business development, and said he would continue the work he has done as attorney general to combat illegal drugs and public corruption.

Corbett, who was born in Philadelphia and grew up in the Pittsburgh suburbs, will head out today on a 10-day tour of Pennsylvania ending Sept. 24 in the Philadelphia suburbs.

He starts with several advantages over Gerlach, who has proven himself a tough campaigner in four battles for election to the House but has never sought votes beyond the Philadelphia suburbs.

Corbett has the bigger name across the state, and he appears to have the greater share of party leaders in his corner.

Political scientist Jack Treadway of Kutztown University said Corbett turned heads last November when he got more than three million votes in trouncing Democrat John Morganelli to gain his second term as the state's chief law enforcement officer.

"The Republicans got hammered, but he won," Treadway said. "That makes him the Republicans' top vote-getter, without question. . . . I don't know how Gerlach overcomes the advantages Corbett has from running statewide."

Gerlach has said that if Corbett ran for governor, he should resign as attorney general, and that Corbett's Bonusgate investigation of the state legislature raised a conflict of interest for him as a candidate.

Corbett's office has charged a dozen current and former House Democratic legislators and staffers with conspiring to use taxpayer money and resources, including bonuses, to help advance Democratic political campaigns.

Saying he is continuing to look into how both Republicans and Democrats handled staff bonuses, Corbett has cast the anticorruption arrests as a major accomplishment of his tenure.

But Gerlach has said Corbett cannot fairly investigate Republican officials while asking for Republican support for governor.

Corbett replies that he is not taking any political contributions from the legislature. Brian Nutt, his campaign manager, said Corbett had no intention of quitting as attorney general.

"He was just reelected as attorney general, and the same argument [that he should resign] was used in the campaign last fall," Nutt said. "The voters spoke loud and clear."

When Pennsylvania begin electing attorneys general in 1980, it was broadly assumed that the job would become a stepping-stone to governor. But three previous attorneys general who ran - all Republicans - fell short.

James C. Roddey, chairman of the Allegheny County GOP chairman, who introduced Corbett at the rally, said in an interview that a primary race might benefit the winner by hardening him for the fall battle against the Democratic primary winner.

Likely Democratic candidates include state Auditor General Jack Wagner, also a two-time winner of statewide office; Dan Onorato, the Allegheny County executive; and Tom Knox, a former Philadelphia mayoral candidate. Also considering a run are former U.S. Rep, Joseph M. Hoeffel, now a Montgomery County commissioner, and Chris Dougherty, the mayor of Scranton.

Though Corbett purports unofficially to have raised $1.5 million to date, Roddey says he'd need to raise "$20 million minimum" for the general election. That doesn't even count the primary.

"He has never been a [big] fund-raiser, and hopefully this time he can concentrate on that," Roddey said.

Though most in GOP politics see Corbett as the front-runner, it's far too early to write off the race, said Daniel M. Shea, a political scientist at Allegheny College.

The test will be in who can raise the most money.

Shea said of the contest: "I would hate to say it's over before it began."