In Pa. governor's race, candidates run from being seen as an 'insider'

With the economy still in shambles and voters still in an angry mood, no one running for office this year wants to be seen as a political insider.

Not Democrat Dan Onorato.

Not Republican Tom Corbett.

Despite many years in politics and deep ties to his party's political establishment, each man is casting himself as the outsider candidate in the Nov. 2 election for Pennsylvania governor.

But doing so can present another challenge. The candidates also must demonstrate that they have the experience to be the state's chief executive. They must come off as "Mr. Outside, Mr. Inside."

Onorato, 49, has been in elected office for 18 consecutive years. He was a Pittsburgh City Council member and Allegheny County controller before twice being elected as the Allegheny County executive, first in 2003. His financial backers include many of the fund-raisers who backed Gov. Rendell's campaigns in 2002 and 2006.

But Onorato is putting his emphasis on things he has never done: He has never held a job in Harrisburg. That means, he says, that he isn't tainted by the cronyism and insider dealing that goes on under the Capitol dome.

"I think it's important to send somebody totally outside of Harrisburg to go up there and clean it up and change it," Onorato said on a recent visit to a nursing home in Northeast Philadelphia. "I don't have any ties up there. . . . It's a lot easier for me to change it."

Corbett's political life goes back to the 1980s. He was Western Pennsylvania coordinator for George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign, and was rewarded by Bush with an appointment as U.S. attorney for that part of the state. He helped coordinate Tom Ridge's 1994 run for governor, then was named by Ridge as acting attorney general. He was elected attorney general in 2004 and again in 2008.

But Corbett, 61, depicts himself as the true outsider because he has never held a legislative or executive branch position. He may run a state agency with 800 employees and a $86 million budget, but he sees himself as a watchdog on public corruption. His Bonusgate investigation has led to convictions or guilty pleas by 10 legislators and House staffers, and 13 other defendants await trial.