Rendell wins governorship
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Former Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell, who promised to shake up a state government that he said has stagnated under eight years of Republican leadership, was elected Tuesday as Pennsylvania’s 45th governor – becoming the first Philadelphian elected to the office in nearly 90 years. The Democrat defeated state Attorney General Mike Fisher, the Republican nominee, who polls had shown trailing by double digits throughout most of the general-election campaign. Two minor-party candidates – the Green Party’s Michael Morrill and Libertarian Ken Krawchuk – trailed far behind.
Pennsylvania voters also elected the state’s first woman lieutenant governor – former state Treasurer Catherine Baker Knoll, whom Democrats picked as Rendell’s running mate in the May primary. Fisher’s running mate was state Sen. Jane Earll.
“This election will be a turning point for Pennsylvania’s future,” said Rendell’s campaign spokesman Dan Fee from the downtown hotel where Rendell’s supporters gathered in anticipation of a victory party. Rendell planned to remain in his room until after Fisher called to concede and spoke to his supporters at a hotel in Pittsburgh, Fee said.
AFL-CIO President William George called the election outcome “a great victory.”
“Ed Rendell was the only candidate talking bout the issues – simple stuff, elementary stuff that every Pennsylvanian cares about.”
Rendell is the first Philadelphian elected governor since 1914 – a fact that underscores the historical tension between Pennsylvania’s largest city and the rest of this mostly rural state.
With 78 percent of precincts reporting, Rendell had 1,414,278 votes, or 55 percent, and Fisher had 1,102,933 votes, or 43 percent.
Rendell attracted national attention during his two terms as Philadelphia mayor, from 1992 to 2000, as he led the city from the brink of bankruptcy and set it on the path to economic recovery. Former Vice President Al Gore once hailed him as “America’s mayor,” and Rendell went on to serve as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 presidential campaign.
Throughout the gubernatorial campaign, the 58-year-old Rendell came across as the bigger candidate – a big man with a big personality, big money and big ideas for change.
He spent 20 months on a grueling schedule of 12-hour days that took him repeatedly to corners of the state where he was little-known two years ago. He defeated a supposedly tough opponent in the May primary – state Auditor General Robert P. Casey Jr. – by a landslide. He singlehandedly shattered the state record for campaign spending, raising more than $37 million as of Oct. 21.
Though a consummate politician with powerful connections in Philadelphia and Washington, Rendell portrayed himself as an outsider in Harrisburg who is not beholden to the dominant interests there.
Fisher, 57, boasted about being a Capitol insider after 22 years as a state legislator from the Pittsburgh area and election to two terms as the state’s top legal officer.
He was unopposed in the primary, thanks to early endorsements from GOP leaders that dissuaded other would-be candidates. That allowed Fisher to build up his war chest, which totaled $13.3 million two weeks ago, but left him in the background last spring while Rendell inundated voters with TV ads.
Fisher later ran ads attacking Rendell, but advanced few policy ideas of his own.
He promised to cut business taxes and carry on the Republican policies of former Gov. Tom Ridge and Gov. Mark S. Schweiker. But on the interlocking hot-button issues of school funding and property taxes, Fisher was vague, offering little more than a pledge to call the General Assembly into special session.
Rendell, a fiscal conservative and social liberal, touted a broad policy palette. Its centerpiece was a $1.5 billion plan to sharply increase state subsidies for public schools and slash local property taxes, drawing new revenue from the legalization of slot machines at racetracks and cuts in other spending.
Fisher also favored slots at the tracks, to raise money for low-cost prescription drugs for senior citizens.
Rendell’s wife, Marjorie, is a judge on the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Fisher’s wife, Carol, is an educational consultant.
Schweiker, a former lieutenant governor who was elevated after Ridge became national homeland security director last year, decided not to seek a full term as governor.