Tea Party left holding the bag?

The Pennsylvania Republican Party likes a nice orderly line of candidates who know their turn when it comes to running for governor or other statewide office.

That's not they way things are shaping up this weekend as the state GOP gathers in Harrisburg for its annual meeting, which may amount to a coronation for the candidacy of state Attorney General Tom Corbett for governor.

As the party votes to endorse a gubernatorial candidate tomorrow, state Rep. Sam Rohrer will be holding his "Mobilize for Liberty 2010" event in the room next door at the Harrisburg Hilton.

Corbett and Rohrer are the two best-known candidates for governor in the May 18 GOP primary.

While Corbett has emerged as a party favorite, Rohrer is courting support from "Tea Party" groups that have sprung up across the state and country with platforms stressing fiscal conservatism and libertarian rights.

Rohrer, whose legislative district includes Chester and Berks counties, said that his event was set up to compete with the GOP meeting to send a message and to contrast two ways of picking a candidate to run for governor.

"We're hoping that it's not an anointing," he said of the party's endorsement vote. "One is a process that is delivering potentially a candidate. The other is of the people who are really hoping to deliver a candidate."

Corbett has also reached out to Tea Party groups, which tend to be leery of being linked to party leadership or labeled as one large entity.

Corbett, who got his start as a prosecutor in Allegheny County, calls the movement "nebulous," adding that it has been difficult to determine what role it would play in the race. He noted that Tea Party groups don't trust the federal and state government or elected officials.

"He's been there a lot longer than I have," Corbett said of Rohrer's nine terms in Harrisburg. "So if anybody should be viewed as an outsider it should be me. I'm probably not the most popular person in Harrisburg, at least among the establishment."

That's a reference to the long-running political corruption investigation run by Corbett's office that has resulted in the indictment of several members and staff of the General Assembly.

Corbett and Rohrer want the same job but have been cautious about engaging in a public battle.

Corbett volunteers that Rohrer voted in 2001 for a large increase in pensions for retired state employees and in 2005 for a controversial pay raise for legislators that was later repealed due to an outcry by angry voters.

Rohrer says that Corbett should stay in his current role until the corruption investigation wraps up, and complains that his rival has not been specific enough on how he would deal with issues like economic development, property-tax rates and welfare policy.

With the race civil so far, it remains unclear what role if any Tea Parties will play.

Tea Party groups in November made national news when they chased a moderate Republican out of a race in a special election for the U.S. House in upstate New York.

The conservative candidate favored by the groups then lost to a Democrat.

In Massachusetts last month, Tea Party groups motivated to stymie health-care-reform legislation rallied successfully behind a Republican seeking the U.S. Senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy.

Rob Gleason, chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said he was open to working with Tea Party groups.

"We've reached out to them," he said. "We're working as closely as they want to work with us."

Gleason explained the lack of strong criticism between Corbett and Rohrer as a result of "their views [being] very similar."

In a candidate forum sponsored this week in Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Tea Party Coalition, Corbett and Rohrer both stood by the state Constitution article saying that the right to bear arms "shall not be questioned," promised to attack voter fraud if elected and pledged to not raise state taxes.

Tea Party members are "not finding a lot of fault with the Republican Party of Pennsylvania," said Gleason, who attended the Tea Party event and had his party help sponsor it. "Of course, I'm watching it closely. But I still think in the final analysis they will be supportive of our candidates. I hope so."