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John Baer: Jockeying for votes is tough for guv-race dark horses

I LIKE dark horses. They can challenge conventional wisdom and enhance any race. So, this week I spent a little time with two dark horses in next year's race for governor, Republican congressman Jim Gerlach and Scranton's Democratic mayor, Chris Doherty; though I must say that seven of the eight candidates probably fit the category.

In the running for governor, for now: Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty (left) and Rep. Jim Gerlach.
In the running for governor, for now: Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty (left) and Rep. Jim Gerlach.Read more

I LIKE dark horses. They can challenge conventional wisdom and enhance any race.

So, this week I spent a little time with two dark horses in next year's race for governor, Republican congressman Jim Gerlach and Scranton's Democratic mayor, Chris Doherty; though I must say that seven of the eight candidates probably fit the category.

Only sweepstakes favorite Tom Corbett, the Republican attorney general from Pittsburgh running on the I-bust-pols-in-both-parties platform, seems a good bet.

So I ask Gerlach if he'd run for lieutenant governor. You know, east-west, dark hair-white hair. A balanced ticket. "No," he says. "I've made it very clear. I do not intend to be a candidate for lieutenant governor."

Do not "intend," of course, leaves wiggle room. Minds change. Arlen Specter said that there were no circumstances under which he'd seek re-election as a Democrat - until there were.

Gerlach, 54, isn't seeking re-election to the U.S. House seat he won in '02 and has survived in as the only Republican congressman in Philly's 'burbs. He's part boilerplate GOP (pro-life, pro-gun, pro-traditional marriage) and part not. According to Washington Post vote tracking, he votes with his party 84 percent of the time.

That's one of the lowest percentages in the state delegation, in either party. Most are more partisan. Philly's Bob Brady votes with Democrats 99 percent of the time. Republican Joe Pitts, of Berks and Lancaster counties, votes GOP 94 percent of the time.

Still, Gerlach sounds GOP themes of cutting taxes, cutting government and eliminating waste in welfare. And he told a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon Monday that he wants to "turn Harrisburg upside down and change its culture."

Yeah, well, who doesn't?

At least he's familiar with the culture. He spent four years in the state House and eight years in the state Senate before getting elected to Congress.

I ask who in his lifetime was the best governor. He says Dick Thornburgh, for making government "more efficient" and bringing "integrity" to the office.

Thornburgh backs Corbett. And this is part of Gerlach's problem. Name GOPers line up behind the AG, who also has the advantage of having run statewide twice and owning an ongoing public pulpit.

Gerlach challenges this latter asset, saying that Corbett faces conflicts by raising money from people his office investigates. But darts about the AG's being both prosecutor and politician so far haven't stuck.

Can Gerlach catch Corbett? I don't see how, absent some fatal stumble. Still, Gerlach's a pro and running hard. Perhaps that can place him on the ticket.

(State Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks County, the most conservative person on the planet, also is running.)

Scranton's Doherty is maybe the least known of the unknown Democrats running, and when I ask if he'd consider lieutenant governor, he hedges. "Not right now," he says - which translates into, yeah, sure.

Doherty, 51, was just re-elected to a third mayoral term. He announced for governor one week later. He's pro-choice, pro-"common sense" gun control and pro-gay rights.

When I ask who's the best guv of his lifetime, he says Ed Rendell, because of investments in cities.

Rendell backs Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato but tends to endorse everybody. The Doherty campaign notes that Rendell recently told the Scranton Times that Doherty and Onorato have the "best experience" to be governor.

Doherty stresses jobs, with a twist: attract jobs by creating places to live, something he says that he's done in Scranton with revolving loans and investments. He points to recent national attention from, among others, BusinessWeek magazine, which just named Scranton the best city in the state to raise kids.

No mention how Scranton does in keeping them once grown.

Doherty's pitch is, "I've got a recipe and a resumé" (he also served on Scranton's city council, as did his father) to translate city success into statewide success.

His media guy, Mark Nevins, says that Doherty is like Michael Nutter in the '07 Democratic mayoral primary: "He wasn't the lead guy, but people started listening to him."

Nutter came from behind to win that five-way race with 36.6 percent of the vote. Doherty, too, is in a five-way with Philly's Tom Knox (who finished 2nd to Nutter), Onorato, Pittsburgh's Jack Wagner and Montgomery County's Joe Hoeffel.

The problem is that a city race is contained, visible, affordable. It's running a corner store compared to heading a corporation.

But, hey, Onorato/Doherty sounds like a ticket: west, east, ethnic, ethnic.

So let's see where these dark horses are by the time we get to the backstretch. *

Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.

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