Candidates for Pennsylvania governor spent $56 million in 2010 race

Led by Gov.-elect Tom Corbett, who turned out to be a Republican fund-raising machine, the candidates for Pennsylvania governor spent a combined $56 million in the primary and general elections.

Corbett, the state attorney general, who was widely considered the election favorite from Day One, raised $25.5 million in 2009-10.

That was a record for a state GOP candidate, but it fell short of the all-time standard - $42 million - set in 2002 by Ed Rendell, the departing Democratic governor.

Democratic nominee Dan Onorato, who won a four-candidate party primary in May, raised about $21 million during his marathon run.

The state record for total candidate spending is $71 million in 2002.

Thursday was the deadline for final campaign-finance reports from the 2010 election to be filed with the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Corbett and Onorato, the Allegheny County executive, submitted their reports at the deadline. Details of contributions and expenses were not immediately available.

Republican fund-raiser Charles Kopp, legal adviser to the Corbett campaign, said Corbett was aided by the perception in political circles that he was the likely winner.

Donors, he said, wanted to be seen as having helped him regain the Governor's Office for the GOP after eight years of Rendell's tenure.

"Nothing attracts like a perceived winner," Kopp said.

Another key factor in Corbett's fund-raising was the help he received from the Republican Governors Association, which Kopp said was flush with cash because of the perception that this would be a good year for Republicans nationally.

In installments every few weeks, starting on Aug. 23, the Republican Governors Association gave Corbett a total of $6 million.

Pennsylvania is one of few states that has no limits on the size of donations from individuals and political action committees.

Jack Treadway, a retired Kutztown University professor and leading independent analyst of state politics, said he wasn't surprised that no candidate came close to matching Rendell's individual record.

Rendell, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, "is a unique politician in this state," Treadway said. "You wouldn't expect other people to raise the kind of money he raised."

The record 2002 spending was for three major candidates. Besides Rendell, they included GOP nominee Mike Fisher, now a state appellate judge, and Democrat Bob Casey Jr., now a U.S. senator.

Political fund-raisers said throughout the campaign this year that harsh economic times made it difficult to separate potential donors from their money.

Given the state of the economy, Treadway said he was impressed the candidates had done as well as they had.

Democratic State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who has announced he intends to run for state auditor general in 2012, raised $6.5 million in his primary run for governor.

Democrat Jack Wagner, the current auditor general, who cannot seek a third term, raised $1.2 million in the gubernatorial primary. Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel raised $800,000. Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty raised $444,000 in a brief campaign.

On the Republican side, Corbett was opposed by State Rep. Sam Rohrer of Berks County, who raised $701,000.