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By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA Staff Writer
roarty@politicspa.com

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Tom Corbett on Saturday easily won the state Republican Party endorsement over GOP opponent Sam Rohrer, completing what many observers considered a forgone conclusion for most of the last year.

“Today, we take another step back to taking Harrisburg back,” Corbett told the audience of about 400 party officials gathered in downtown hotel ballroom for the party’s winter meeting. “Not in the name of a political party, but in a common cause to bring real reform to Harrisburg.”

The attorney general emerged as the favorite of party officials in 2008 after his surprisingly comfortable re-election victory that year and seemed to lock up near total support from committee members soon thereafter.

But Rohrer, whose campaign held an event in the same hotel and simultaneous to the GOP’s endorsement meeting, as expected vowed to continue his campaign. The state lawmaker, in fact, said Corbett’s endorsement is helpful to his own grassroots-oriented run.

Corbett’s speech after he accepted the endorsement focused on what has become the theme of his campaign: He has the track record and leadership experience to prove he can reform state government while reducing the burden it places on job creation.

“I am running for governor because it’s time for leadership in Harrisburg that does the right thing for the right reasons during the most challenging times,” the newly endorsed candidate said. “We need leadership that won’t delay, leadership that will act decisively. leadership that not only knows how to say yes, but has the strength and courage to say no.”

Much of his track record of reform stems from his office’s investigation, known as “Bonusgate,” into state legislators allegedly using public money and resources for political purposes. So far, 25 people connected to the House Democratic and Republican caucuses have been indicted in the investigation, with more expected as early as the spring.

The attorney general pairs this statement of principle with the argument he’s the most electable Republican candidate, a fact all of the early polling on the gubernatorial race supports. The latest poll, a Rasmussen Reports survey taken mid-week, shows him with a 20-point lead over each of his possible Democratic rivals.

The state party endorsed Corbett despite pleas from some committee members, many of them Rohrer supporters, to hold an open primary. The vast majority of the committee members resisted that call, moving forward with a process that publicly identified how each member voted.

Corbett defended the endorsement process afterward. The Republican committee members who voted for him Saturday, he said, are themselves elected by rank-and-file Republicans to help determine which candidates the party should support.

“What you saw in there was democracy in action,” he said.

Critics “may not have understood” how the process worked, the attorney general added later.

Rohrer and his campaign, however, said they understood perfectly. In interviews and through the array of speakers at the candidate’s campaign event, the message was clear: Party officials made a mistake not letting primary voters solely determine who the nominee should be.

“The Republican establishment today got it wrong twice,” said Peg Luksik, who spoke at Rohrer‘s event. The GOP U.S. Senate candidate herself on Saturday wasn‘t endorsed by the party, which officially backed Pat Toomey instead.

The endorsement’s implications didn‘t seem to bother Rohrer or his campaign, either.

“Maybe one of the biggest turning points in this campaign was the endorsement of Tom Corbett by the Republican State Committee,” said Jeff Coleman, senior strategist for the campaign.

The lack of support from the party’s establishment “energizes” Rohrer‘s supporters, said Coleman, who has helped construct a campaign calibrated to appeal to, at least in part, base conservatives and grassroots activists.

The state lawmaker’s event featured speakers, including “Joe the Plumber” and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), geared toward attracting activist support. The first-half of the event was as a training seminar for Rohrer supporters to become adept at using social media, like Twitter and blogging.

In an interview, Rohrer said Saturday’s action doesn‘t change his campaign, although he thinks now that it’s over discussion the media will shift more toward issues.

“Today, we turned on the green light, and now the momentum and action starts,” he said.

3 Responses

  1. CONGRATULATIONS Mr. Corbett and Mr. Toomey.
    Hey – faithful reader – Do you have a reading perception problem? The article says – right after her name – that Bachman is (R-Minn).

  2. We need to stop endorsing candidates until after the primary. We need to let the people choose and then endorse their choice.

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