Thomas Fitzgerald: Kane: Politician? Yes. Candidate? Maybe

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, whose Union army burned its way across Georgia in late 1864, knew how to close a door.

No, he said 20 years later, he would not run for president no matter how hard Republicans begged. If a political party nominated him, he would not accept it. If his name made it onto a ballot anyway and he was elected, he would not serve.

Ever since, the Shermanesque statement has been the gold standard for disavowing political ambition. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, however, seems to prefer playing coy.

"I love my job as attorney general. I think it's the right time and the right place for me right now to represent the people of Pennsylvania," the Democrat told reporters in Pittsburgh recently when asked if she would run for governor in 2014. Key words: right now.

Kane helpfully added that she has been getting "quite a bit of encouragement" to run for governor.

Clearly, this is a politician who knows the value of cultivating good buzz.

Seven months into Kane's term, talk persists that she will make a go of it. Fans say she could scatter the Democratic contenders currently in the field and have a clear and decent shot at defeating Gov. Corbett, who is struggling with historically low approval numbers for an incumbent.

The (wishful) thinking has been especially prevalent among Democrats who fret that several of the party's leading candidates for governor are, like U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, from the Philadelphia region, putting the party at a disadvantage.

Despite her just-doing-my-job protestations, Kane has at times acted like a gubernatorial candidate, and events have conspired to put her in the spotlight.

"Everywhere Tom Corbett turns, there is Kathleen Kane playing the foil to him in a savvy way," said a Democratic strategist who is not working in the governor's race.

Last month, Kane declared she could not in good conscience defend the state's law prohibiting marriage between people of the same sex. She stage-managed the announcement before a cheering crowd at the National Constitution Center, and earned national media love for her stand. Courageous! Hero of history!

Earlier, she held a news conference to reject Corbett's lottery-privatization contract. It is the kind of bureaucratic decision that is usually handled in a statement. Corbett said he had never highlighted the vetting of state contracts when he was attorney general, and conveyed that he felt Kane was trying to show him up, much like an umpire who is berated by a star ballplayer.

And, of course, Kane won her job last year in part by stoking the suspicion that Corbett, while attorney general, dragged his feet on the investigation of Jerry Sandusky. She did not give specific evidence, but the issue did allow her to highlight her own record as an assistant district attorney with a history of sex-crimes prosecutions.

Kane's campaign slogan in 2012 was "a prosecutor, not a politician," though she has proven an adept practitioner of the latter's art. To date, she has not made any moves toward running for governor next year, and most political pros in the state do not expect such a campaign.

The primary is just nine months away, and good politicians know that there can be a fine line between good timing and off-putting opportunism.

Still, Kane is a young woman in a state political culture that remains dominated by older men, and she comes from Northeast Pennsylvania - Scranton specifically - a potent base for statewide Democrats. She also has the top law enforcement post in the state, a good stepping-stone.

It's not for nothing that they say A.G. stands for "almost governor."