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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

HARRISBURG — The two GOP gubernatorial candidates espoused a similar limited-government, reduced-taxes message Friday night at the state Republican Party winter meeting, with each saying state government needed to create a less hostile business climate for the economy to rebound.

Attorney General Tom Corbett and state Rep. Sam Rohrer shared the stage for a first-of-its-kind gubernatorial forum from the state Republican Party, held just a day before the party’s endorsement meeting. Corbett is almost certain to receive the party’s official endorsement Saturday.

The forum featured just two questions each for the candidates, with one of them coming as a video from YouTube.

Corbett, re-elected as attorney general in 2008, said he has a track record of keeping promises from the campaign trail. His promise this year centered on limiting state spending, which he estimated should be about $2 billion less, and to help state government become a friend, not enemy, to businesses.

“I will lead this state back to greatness,” the attorney general said. “I will return this state to where it should be, to do what’s right for the people of Pennsylvania, to do what’s the right for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania.”

Rohrer said the state has ignored its problems for far too long, including a poor business and labor climates. He also cited his plan to eliminate property taxes as a way to stimulate the economy.

“Instead of putting roadblock in front of small business and job creation, actually befriend them,” Rohrer said.

The state is broke, the lawmaker said, and its financial situation must be dealt with “boldly.”

“Folks, the budget condition of this state must be dealt with firmly … or we’ll become another California,” Rohrer said.

Each candidate said the state made a mistake accepting federal stimulus money, with Corbett clarifying later that he thought the money had too many strings attached. The attorney general said he would like to have seen the money invested in a capital account to help pay for major infrastructure projects.

The answers between the two men were similar throughout, which the attorney general noted by the time of the second question. Corbett told the crowd that there are “very many similarities between the positions that Sam and I have.”

Rohrer has tried to position himself as more conservative than Corbett, and the attorney general’s comment sought to remove any perceived policy differences between them.

Afterward, the state lawmaker rejected the notion the two candidates are the same. The attorney general’s campaign has already changed his message to match his his own, Rohrer said.

“He’s already become more like us as we’ve gone along,” he said.

Before committee members entered the dining room, the Corbett campaign put copies of this week’s Rasmussen Reports poll on their seats. The poll showed the attorney general beating each of his possible Democratic gubernatorial candidates in a hypothetical matchup.

Corbett’s electability is one of his campaign’s main arguments.

Rohrer has positioned his campaign to appeal to the party’s grassroots activists, embracing the fact most party officials have unified behind Corbett’s candidacy. The anti-establishment message is also calibrated to appeal to tea party activists, although campaign officials are quick to point out they think Rohrer‘s message is one that can attract a wide spectrum of support.

Corbett also unveiled a plan to send a series of reform bills to the legislature, including per-diem reform and eliminating WAMs.

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