2 Democrats nab Pa. offices

HARRISBURG - Venture capitalist Rob McCord of Montgomery County has won the race for the open seat of state treasurer in Pennsylvania.

With about 90 percent of precincts reporting McCord, a Democrat, had 56 percent of the vote. He defeated Republican bond lawyer Tom Ellis.

Democrat Jack Wagner won re-election as state auditor general, 60 to 31 percent.

The race for attorney general remained too close to call with just under 92 percent of precincts reporting. Incumbent Tom Corbett, a Republican, had 51 percent of the vote; Democratic challenger John Morganelli had 47 percent.

Morganelli had accused Corbett of mishandling an investigation into alleged corruption in the Legislature.

McCord's ability to advertise heavily on TV appeared to give him a leg up in the treasurer's race, which featured two newcomers to state politics hailing from Montgomery County.

Treasurer Robin Wiessmann agreed not to seek a full four-year term when she was appointed to fill a vacancy created by Bob Casey's election to the U.S. Senate.

Each of the row offices carries substantial responsibility and an annual salary of about $142,000. The attorney general is the state's chief law-enforcement officer; the treasurer manages billions of taxpayer dollars, and the auditor general is taxpayers' fiscal watchdog in state government.

Corbett, 59, a former federal prosecutor for western Pennsylvania, built his first-term record as attorney general around the ongoing corruption probe.

Morganelli, 52, now in his fifth term as Northampton County's district attorney, criticized Corbett for not naming an independent prosecutor to lead the probe.

In the treasurer's race, McCord raised by far the most money in the row-office campaigns - at least $5.6 million - compared with less than a half-million by Ellis.

The treasurer is responsible for about $12 billion to $17 billion of taxpayer money. The treasurer also is a voting member of the boards of the two major public employee pension funds, which have combined assets of about $100 billion.

Competition from little-known Libertarian Party candidates - York County lawyer Marakay Rogers for attorney general, retired professor Berlie Etzel, of Clarion County, for treasurer and Wilkes-Barre businesswoman Betsy Summers for auditor general - account for the percentages not adding up to 100. *