Don Cunningham

It's no secret that Don Cunningham wants to be governor. For months now, the Democratic Lehigh County Executive has been putting out feelers to political insiders across the state, trying to build support for a 2010 bid for the governor's mansion.

But first, he has to hold onto his current job.

Cunningham is up for re-election to a second 4-year term this year in Lehigh County, making him the only one of nearly a dozen potential gubernatorial hopefuls who has an election to win before eyeing the big job. With Democrats outnumbering Republicans in the county by more than 30,000 voters, it's a race local political watchers expect him to win, but one he insists he's not taking for granted. A loss would surely cripple his chances in 2010.

"As county executive, I always say you can't get a promotion if you're not doing a good job, so you need to stay focused on doing a good job in your own backyard," he told PolitickerPA.com in a recent interview.

No Republican candidate has entered the race-yet. County GOP chairman Bill Platt II said at least two potential candidates had expressed interest in running, though he said it was too early to share their names.

"He won't be running uncontested," Platt said. "We're not just putting a throw-in in there, a sacrificial lamb."

HARRISBURG -- Rumored Democratic 2010 gubernatorial candidate Jack Wagner, just re-elected the state's auditor general, made two of his positions clear Wednesday at a Capitol press conference.

He's against lining lawmakers' pockets with taxpayer money, and he's in favor of keeping schools safe.

Those stances don't exactly separate him from the myriad other rumored gubernatorial candidates, or, for that matter, any politician. But Wagner, in his capacity as auditor general, spoke strongly about each topic in front of reporters Wednesday.

The auditor general released the findings of his office's audit of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which blasted the department for not vigorously enforcing a law designed to keep schools safe. He also took time to ask the General Assembly to issue a "moratorium" on its scheduled cost-of-living adjustment raises, which he said is necessary during difficult economic times.

In less than two weeks, Pennsylvania's political and business elite will descend on Manhattan for their annual power-party blowout.

Yes, it's that weekend when the decision makers of the Keystone State congregate in New York for the Pennsylvania Society, a philanthropic and social organization that is more than a century old and boasts such past presidents as Andrew Carnegie and Charles Schwab. Originally intended, by some accounts, as a way for high-profile Pennsylvanians to come do their expensive shopping and dining together, the annual weekend has in recent years become the hot-bed for state political gossip and jockeying, where candidates come to woo the people who can help put them in high office-or keep them out.

Only one major event, a dinner on Dec. 13, is officially held by the Society, which maintains its focus as a charity group and is careful not to sanction any political events during the weekend. But before and after that Saturday night dinner, politicians of all stripes will shuffle throughout the city, and two elections are sure to be at the forefront of the political chatter: the 2010 races for governor and U.S. Senator.

"It's what people do there," Gov. Ed Rendell, who will host his own party after the dinner, told PolitickerPA.com. "They'll be sizing up [the candidates]."

Some see the weekend as the apex all of political networking events, where candidates are made and unmade.

"It's a tremendous opportunity to meet people from all across the Commonwealth at once," said Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, who is considering a run for governor.

Others caution against giving too much credence to the early political maneuvering.

"It'll be a lot of sound and furor signifying nothing," Rendell said. "It's too early. It's fun to talk about it. It's fun to gossip. But it's too early."

Log on to PolitickerPA.com the weekend of Dec. 12 for up-to-the-minute coverage of the weekend's insider political talk.

PHILADELPHIA-As the state's leading Democrat, it's not surprising that Gov. Ed Rendell has close relationships with many of the party's candidates hoping to replace him in two years. He has worked closely on legislative matters with some, while others have been major campaign contributors.

But until Democrats pick their candidate to run for governor, Rendell says he'll try to stay above the fray.

"It's likely that I won't support anyone directly in the primary," he told PolitickerPA.com.

Though he attended a fundraiser here for Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham late last month, Rendell said he did so only under the condition that the money was used for Cunningham's re-election bid next year-not for the gubernatorial run he is considering.

In both parties, a crowded field of candidates has been lining up the replace Rendell, whose second term ends in 2011. Cunningham and Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, considered by some to be the early Democratic front-runner, are both said to be close to Rendell. Other candidates have bankrolled Rendell's political career. Tom Knox, the millionaire Philadelphia businessman who is running, has given Rendell's campaigns money dating back to his time as Philadelphia's mayor. Tom Wolf, Rendell's former Revenue Secretary who has signaled an intention to run, has also been a past contributor.

"Given friends like that, how could I support anyone?" Rendell asked.

Of course it is way too early to start openly campaigning for Governor, but no doubt Democratic wanna-bes are thinking about it.  The names you hear most seem to be Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Auditor General Jack Wagner, former head of DEP Kathleen McGinty and millionaire Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox.

The name missing from most short lists may be the biggest name of them all.  U.S. Senator Bob Casey may be the one to come in and unite the forces behind one front-runner.  It is no secret that Casey has a love for Pennsylvania and has long dreamed of filling the same shoes his father once did in Harrisburg. 

Casey was convinced by Democratic leaders to seek the U.S. Senate seat, but it was no secret that was not where his heart was.  While sources close to Casey say he has grown to like the office, his true ambitions seem to still be in Harrisburg.  Casey is in perfect position to seek the seat in 2010.  His senate seat does not come up until 2012 and would not need to step down from his current office to run for the governor’s office.

So while the chances of Casey admitting he would be interested in the seat this far from the election are none, don’t forget to include his name in your short list. 

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke): Getty Images PhotoDENVER--With U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Nanticoke) locked in a tight reelection battle with Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, a county executive just outside his 11th Congressional District says the longtime incumbent needs to make sure voters know and understand his record.

"I think Congressman Kanjorski has a strong record of helping that part of Pennsylvania," Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham told PolitickerPa.com this morning. "It's critical that he reinforce that record.

"Paul has been a good Congressman, but it's going to take him telling people what he's done," Cunningham added.

DENVER--Soaking in his first convention as a delegate, Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham this morning told his fellow delegates that it was time to make history.

"If we go back to our boroughs, our cities, our townships and our jobs, we will be a part of history," Cunningham said during the delegation breakfast.

Saying U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) election would be a "seminal event" in the country's history, Cunningham, a 2010 gubernatorial hopeful, praised Obama's message of hope over fear.

"Within Barack  Obama, there is vision, there is direction, there is greatness," Cunningham said.

This article is by Dan Hirschhorn in Philadelphia and Alex Roarty in Harrisburg.

Even while they insist their energies are fully focused on electing their prospective party's nominees for president, members of the state's political establishment are quietly eyeing the next big elections in Pennsylvania: the race for governor and the race for senator in 2010.

With a bevy of political insiders set to convene over the next two weeks for their annual political conventions-Democrats in Denver next week and Republicans in St. Paul the following week-it's certain that prospective candidates for the two offices will be putting out feelers for support, though they'll be doing so quietly.

Prospective candidates for both offices will be present at both conventions, and though they assured PolitickerPa.com they were more focused on November's presidential election, most acknowledged it would be nice to have a who's who of state politicians in one room.

"I would say that next week in Denver I'll spend a lot of time talking to other ... Democrats from across the state about intentions and gauging their reaction and support," said Don Cunningham, the Lehigh County Executive who is considering a run for the Democratic nomination to succeed Gov. Ed Rendell.

"I'm not hosting any formal receptions or anything like that," Cunningham was quick to add. "I'm just going to be an active, regular part of the delegation. I know a lot of folks already, and I'm hoping to get to know more."

A few hours after PolitickerPA.com reported on the crowded early field for the 2010 governor's race, the man who still has 2 1/2 years left in the governor's mansion said that anything and everything could change between now and that distant election day.

In an interview with PolitickerPA.com, Gov. Ed Rendell said all of the potential candidates to succeed him have their political upsides, as well as their downsides.

"It's far too early to discuss who is a serious candidate and who isn't, because between now and 2010, in politics that's like years," Rendell said. "Good things can happen to people, bad things can happen to people. Some outside event can make someone's candidacy; some outside event can break someone's candidacy."

Rendell, a two-term Democrat, said his party has a "very good" field so far, but cautioned that each potential Democratic candidate could make trouble for another.

Gov. Ed RendellPennsylvanians won't cast their general election ballots for the next governor for more than two years. But with attention squarely focused on this year's presidential race, a large field of potential contenders are already lining up, each one sizing up his chances to succeed two-term Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell.

It's a surprisingly crowded field for how far away the election is, a field political watchers and analysts describe as impressive on both sides of the aisle. And with neither an incumbent nor a state household name in yet in play, most are forecasting a race that will be difficult to predict, one in which almost anyone could come out on top.

"It's an election that could go any way at the moment," said G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster. "I don't see a clear favorite or even a clear party."

Longtime political consultant Larry Ceisler said: "I think you're going to have a lot of people running, and I think whatever I'm saying today, I will probably refute in 2010."

If there are any favorites at this early stage, there's also disagreements on who they are.