By Kevin Ferris
The Pennsylvania race for governor is the anomaly in a tumultuous election year.
It's a campaign season where many of the mighty have fallen, and where fresh faces have rocked the political establishment.
Yet here, mostly under the radar, Attorney General Tom Corbett, the Republican, and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democrat, quietly plod along in the quest to succeed Gov. Rendell.
Part of the subdued tone is about temperament. Each candidate is personable enough, but neither lights up a room with a million and one ideas as Rendell did - a plus this year for taxpayers, since big ideas often cost big bucks.
But on the political side, this race isn't much different from Corbett's two quiet runs for attorney general. They were little noticed, except for this one glaring fact: He coasted to reelection in 2008, the Year of Barack Obama, with the most votes ever received by a Republican in Pennsylvania. He may be quiet and even-tempered, but his efforts to put corrupt lawmakers in jail had caught voters' attention.
Onorato has his own accomplishments to tout, but he is relatively unknown outside the Pittsburgh area - hence the TV ads on how to pronounce his name.
Not surprisingly, then, the steady and measured Corbett who won big twice has had a consistent lead in the polls. Tuesday, Quinnipiac had him up 15 points. And he is ahead on fund-raising, too. So, he has reason to be reserved.
"It's the classic front-runner strategy," says G. Terry Madonna of Franklin and Marshall's Center for Politics and Public Affairs. "Don't do anything to shake up the environment, don't make a mistake."
Corbett has had his glitches - his much-panned statement on the unemployed - but nothing major enough for Onorato to capitalize on. Worse, says Madonna, is the Democrat has no "overarching theme."
"Rendell was a bigger-than-life figure, with a bigger-than-life agenda," Madonna says. The former Philadelphia mayor won by touting economic development, education reform, stadiums. Today, given the recession, the deficit, and voters' aversion to tax hikes, Onorato can't offer anything new.
"So the campaign is not about big ideas," Madonna says.
But it is about big frustrations, over the economy, jobs, government spending, taxes.
"That's what I get everywhere I go in Pennsylvania," Corbett told me last week. "And 99 percent want to see spending and taxes cut to help move the economy along."
The message was no different last weekend when Corbett walked through the Italian Market to shake hands. He encountered few Republicans, but plenty of voters were willing to listen.
John Giordano Sr., 80, was working the cash register at the family store on Ninth Street, P & F Giordano's Fruit & Produce.
"Democrats are destroying businesses," Giordano, a lifelong Democrat, told me after Corbett moved on. "There are so damn many taxes."
And the economy isn't helping either. "We should be mobbed here," he said, pointing to mostly empty aisles, "but people just don't have the money."
Giordano said he hopes Corbett can make a difference, and it's this mix of frustration and hope that is giving the low-key attorney general the edge this year.
But is Mr. Low-Key up to the job? He would have a pension crisis on his hands from Day One, and there could be huge fights over budgets, spending, and taxes with legislators, special interests, and unions.
Madonna says don't be fooled by the quiet demeanor. "He's a career prosecutor," Madonna says, "and traditionally they're not easy to push around."
Corbett himself cites his courtroom experience as good preparation for being governor. "You go in and you fight," he says. "You advocate for a position or your client."
"But," he adds quickly, "you don't have to be heavy-handed or mean-spirited."
Certainly the legislature, its ranks thinned by indictments and corruption convictions, is familiar with how Corbett operates. And while the Bonusgate investigation may not have won him many friends there, he is optimistic about working with lawmakers.
"I'm going to go into it dealing with them straight-up," Corbett says. "I'll say, 'Here's how I see it.' We'll listen to them, and hopefully we'll work through things to do what's in the best interest of Pennsylvanians."
But he's not taking the tough times lightly.
"You don't get into this race not knowing how very difficult it's going to be," Corbett says. "The challenges are tremendous, but they can be viewed as opportunities to make some change."
The key? "You have to be willing to make decisions and stick to your guns," he says.
Judging by the polls, the guy quietly making his way around the commonwealth may get a chance to do just that very soon.