Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Casey Jr. used Pittsburgh as his stage Tuesday night to rally supporters in a strategically critical push to win votes in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Casey, the state auditor general, also used the South Side campaign rally to attack his primary opponent, former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, on claims that Rendell failed in overseeing Philadelphia public schools while mayor and falters on support of traditional positions of the Democratic Party.
"This is a Democratic primary, but there are days when I'm campaigning across this state when I think I'm running against not one Republican, but two Republicans," Casey told more than 300 supporters at the IBEW Hall.
Casey, who supports increasing the minimum wage, claimed that Rendell sides "with the Republican opposition" in not supporting a minimum wage hike.
He accused Rendell of not telling all the facts about the Philadelphia school district, including that "the district was seized, that the test scores were in the bottom 1 percent and he left it there."
"When that happens, the people of Pennsylvania should know the whole story, and we are going to make sure we do that in this campaign," said Casey, who also has attacked Rendell on the school issue in campaign ads.
The Rendell campaign has responded that as mayor, Rendell appointed school board members but never had actual control of the school board. Rendell also has said the school district's money problems are part of a statewide dilemma.
Both Casey and Rendell are expected to spend much of their campaign time in southwestern Pennsylvania during the weeks leading up to the May 21 primary.
The Pittsburgh region -- along with the entire western side of the state -- could decide the winner between two eastern-based candidates -- Casey of Scranton and Rendell of Philadelphia, political observers said.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face state Attorney General Mike Fisher of Upper St. Clair, who is unopposed for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, in the November general election.
Last night's rally also gave Casey an opportunity to showcase his choice for a running mate, state Sen. Jack Wagner of Beechview, whom Casey endorsed for lieutenant governor on March 12. Wagner, who has a strong political base in this region, is among nine Democrats seeking the lieutenant governor nomination.
"The race in the Democratic primary can be won or lost right here in southwestern Pennsylvania," said political analyst Joseph Sabino Mistick, a Duquesne University law professor.
Assuming the candidates split the vote in the east, "the outcome will turn on what happens here," he said.
Southwestern Pennsylvania provided a winning margin in other Democratic primaries for governor over the past decade. In both the 1994 and '98 primaries, the candidates who led in the Pittsburgh region -- former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel in 1994 and former state Sen. Ivan Itkin in '98 -- won the Democratic nominations. Both Singel, a Cambria County native, and Itkin, of Point Breeze, lost to former Gov. Tom Ridge, an Erie Republican, in the general elections.
"Western Pennsylvania is always a key," said political consultant Larry Ceisler of Philadelphia. "It has the highest turnout rate in the state."
Ceisler, formerly of Washington County, said the region carries even more weight in this election. "It's an area where Bob Casey has to win by a wide margin. By the same token, if Ed Rendell is to win, he can't get whacked in western Pennsylvania."
Rendell, who was campaigning in Lancaster County yesterday, where he was endorsed by the Lancaster School Board, will be in Pittsburgh on Friday to launch a six-day swing through the southwest.
Since the first of the year, Rendell has spent about 50 percent of his time in the Pittsburgh region, including three weeklong bus tours, said Rendell spokesman Dan Fee.
"It's unbelievably important," Fee said. "That's why Ed has been out in the southwest so much and why we opened our office there in October."
