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Corbett hits Wolf hard in first of 3 debates

HERSHEY, Pa. - Behind in the polls, Gov. Corbett went on offense Monday night in the first televised debate of the Pennsylvania governor's race, defending himself as a steady steward of taxpayers' money while characterizing Democrat Tom Wolf as an untested entity with vague promises.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, left, and Democrat Tom Wolf shake hands at the end of a gubernatorial debate hosted by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, in Hershey, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, left, and Democrat Tom Wolf shake hands at the end of a gubernatorial debate hosted by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, in Hershey, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)Read more

HERSHEY, Pa. - Behind in the polls, Gov. Corbett went on offense Monday night in the first televised debate of the Pennsylvania governor's race, defending himself as a steady steward of taxpayers' money while characterizing Democrat Tom Wolf as an untested entity with vague promises.

"Everybody makes mistakes," Corbett said when asked to reflect on his first term. "Have I communicated the best? Probably not." But he said he had "changed the culture of Harrisburg from tax-and-spend" to fiscal responsibility.

Wolf, a York businessman, said economic growth in Pennsylvania has lagged behind neighboring states as the national economy improves, while property taxes are increasing and the education system is struggling. "What we're doing is not working," Wolf said. "I'm talking practicality, not ideology or partisanship."

He said he wanted to make the state income tax fairer by taxing unspecified higher earners more, to dramatically increase the state's share of funding for schools, and to impose a 5 percent tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale.

Corbett argued that Wolf's expensive ambitions would make a tax increase inevitable. "We just have to figure out what it is," the governor said.

Wolf said he did not have "enough data" to specify at what income level a household would be subject to higher income taxes under his proposal. But he said news reports that it could be as low as $60,000 were wrong.

Asked how much more the state should spend on schools, Wolf said he wasn't sure.

"How much money is that going to take? I don't know. But it's not enough to say, we're going to spend more or we're going to spend less. What we need to do is say, we need to have a public education system that delivers."

Corbett and Wolf faced off for 45 lively minutes in a town-hall style debate before an audience of 1,900 at a Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce and Industry dinner at the Hershey Lodge. The encounter was broadcast live statewide on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.

The debate, at least in theory, offered a much-needed opportunity for Corbett to try to reset a race in which he has been the underdog from the beginning.

In six independent public polls taken since the end of July, Wolf, the Democrat, has led by an average of 17.3 percentage points. The latest, a Muhlenberg College-Allentown Morning Call survey of likely voters released Sunday, found Wolf with 52 percent support, to 31 percent for Corbett. More than half the Wolf backers in that poll said they were motivated more by "dissatisfaction" with Corbett than enthusiasm for the challenger.

Veteran pollster G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall College said Monday night that Corbett had been "assured and forceful" in the debate, calling it "by far the best performance" he had seen from the governor. The question is whether it is too late before the Nov. 4 election, he said.

"Their hearts were with Corbett, but now he won back their minds," Dave Patti, president of the Pennsylvania Business Council, said of business people, adding that the performance convinced many that the Republican has a fighting chance. "He's the Tom we know. The business community likes stability and predictable policies."

Partisans differed over who had made the better case Monday night. John Brabender, Corbett's media strategist, said that "Republicans are starting to come home, and getting into October, this race is going to tighten" - and that the governor's forceful debate performance could only help.

A Wolf surrogate said Corbett was painting what she called a falsely rosy economic picture of the state despite its lowered bond ratings and tepid ranking for job creation.

"There is only one person on the stage who has increased taxes on Pennsylvanians, and that's Tom Corbett," said Katie McGinty, herself a former gubernatorial candidate, who now heads Wolf's Fresh Start political action committee, referring to a wholesale gasoline tax raised as part of the transportation funding package Corbett pushed through the legislature.

Wolf, who served as revenue secretary to then-Gov. Ed Rendell, arrived at the debate with an advantage not only in poll numbers but in campaign financing. The Democrat has about $1.7 million more cash on hand than Corbett, according the latest reports from each side.

For the three-month period that ended Sept. 15, Wolf's campaign said it raised $9.6 million and spent more than $6.2 million, leaving it with about $6.5 million in the bank for the final drive.

Corbett's campaign said it raised and spent just over $8 million in the same period, and had about $4.8 million on hand as of Sept. 15.

Formal campaign-finance reports, with detailed donor information, are due to be filed Tuesday with the secretary of state in Harrisburg; the Wolf and Corbett campaigns provided advance summaries to reporters.

No incumbent Pennsylvania governor has lost reelection since 1974, the first election cycle after the state constitution was changed to allow second terms. From World War II until that point, the governor's office alternated between the two parties every eight years.

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