"The Electric City," so named for the claim that it ran America's first electric street cars, glows with politics at wattage disproportionate to its population, about 72,000.
You'll recall the attention Scranton got during last year's presidential race because Hillary Clinton spent some of her childhood there and Joe Biden was born there.
In years past, two sons of Scranton, former Republican Gov. William W. Scranton and the late Democratic Gov. Bob Casey, took stabs at running for president; then their sons, William III and Bob Jr. (now U.S. senator), each ran for governor.
Gov. Casey's former press secretary, Scranton native Vince Carocci, has said kids in Scranton traded political candidates' cards the way other kids traded baseball cards.
Theories vary. Some say the collapse of coal, iron and rail made government and politics a profession of first and last resort. Maybe so, but former Scranton Mayor Dave Wenzel, who wrote a book, "Scranton's Mayors," told me this week, "It might be in the water."
Either way, the legacy lives.
Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty is now the sixth Scrantonian in 48 years to run for governor (two Scrantons, two Caseys and former state attorney general Ernie Preate). The 51-year-old Democrat announced yesterday, one week after he was re-elected to his third mayoral term.
Probably drinks lots of water.
He's right out Scranton's central casting: Irish Catholic, one of 11 kids, son of a city councilman, went to Scranton Prep then Holy Cross and then helped run a family business selling religious items. He also served on city council before he was first elected mayor in 2001. He's married with six kids. Shockingly, he's not a lawyer. Scranton's overrun with lawyers. One native once told me, "Up here you practice law or you work at Wendy's."
For the uninitiated, Scranton's in the state's northeast corner. It was anthracite central for a generation. Its population in 1940 was double what it is today. It's 94 percent white, 20 percent 65 and older, and has a median household income well below the state average.
But Doherty says the city's coming back. He notes Money magazine names Scranton one of the top 10 real-estate markets in the country, and Business magazine calls Scranton one of the state's best places to raise a family.
On a conference call, he said he's running for governor because of his "passion for cities and small towns" and the need to revitalize them in order to revitalize Pennsylvania.
He breaks the Irish-Catholic-Scranton social-issues mold. He says he supports abortion rights, which apparently wasn't widely known in "Casey Country" until reported in September by the Scranton Times. He says he supports "reasonable" gun laws such as restricting handgun sales to one a month. He even embraces gay marriage: "I believe all people deserve the right to be happy."
He enters a crowded field as an unknown. But the good news for him is nobody's known. A Franklin & Marshall College Poll last month showed no Democratic contender - not Allegheny County Executive Director Dan Onorato, state Auditor General Jack Wagner, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel, Philly businessman Tom Knox or Doherty - with more than 10 percent of statewide Democratic support.
The primary is next spring. Republican candidates are Attorney General Tom Corbett and U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach. Berks County state Rep. Sam Rohrer is expected to join the race.
Don't be surprised if all the candidates end up in Scranton - for some of the water.
Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.
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