What if John Heinz hadn't been killed?

HARRISBURG - It will be 10 years ago this Wednesday that the late U.S. Sen. John Heinz died in a fiery midair collision over suburban Philadelphia - an accident that probably changed the course of both Pennsylvania and national politics for at least a generation.

For example, many believe that had Heinz lived, he would have easily won the governor's office in 1994. Either Tom Ridge, then a Republican congressman from Erie, or Mark Singel, then the outgoing Democratic lieutenant governor, would have succeeded him in the U.S. Senate. And Rick Santorum would probably still be a congressman from suburban Pittsburgh.

There is also a belief that if Heinz had lived, he would be president of the United States, instead of George W.

Moreover, health care and the costs of prescription medication would probably have emerged as major political issues in a very different way. And the U.S. Internal Revenue Service would have undergone sweeping changes or simply been abolished.

Based on information gathered in private conversations with former Heinz staffers and recollections of personal interviews with the late senator, a 'what if' scenario is here presented to consider the possibilities on: 'If John Heinz had lived.'

It is generally believed that Heinz badly wanted to be governor of Pennsylvania. And he was organizing a gubernatorial campaign before his April 4, 1991, death, three years before the gubernatorial primary election.

Heinz believed it would have been an easier trek to the White House via the Pennsylvania governor's mansion than from one of Pennsylvania's two U.S. Senate seats.

The late U.S. senator was the proverbial 5,000-pound gorilla of Pennsylvania Republican politics. Nobody would have messed with him or attempted to interfere with his political goals. Moreover, most Democrats really liked him.

Thus, if Heinz had lived and run for governor in 1994, as expected, there would have been no GOP gubernatorial primary election that year. Former state Attorney General Ernie Preate and Ridge would have been pushed aside that year for the 5,000-pound gorilla in the form of a tall, athletic and charismatic Pittsburgher with loads of available campaign cash and a name that all Americans know well.

'It's damned hard to beat someone whose name is on the counter of virtually every diner and on almost every supermarket shelf in America. It was the proverbial household word,' one former Heinz staffer mumbled during the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia last summer.

And there is a belief that if Heinz had lived, he would have sought the presidency in last year's election, again using his name recognition, money, charisma and popularity to neutralize all others including George W.

But Heinz died. As result of that tragedy the late Gov. Robert Casey faced a major dilemma over the interim U.S. Senate appointment.

Singel, then lieutenant governor, really wanted the nod. However, that would have meant state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubilirer, an Altoona Republican, moving up to the lieutenant governor's office. Casey is said to have found the possibility politically distasteful.

Instead, the governor tapped state Secretary of Labor and Industry Harris Wofford to serve as interim U.S. senator and run in a special U.S. Senate election set for Nov. 5, 1991. Republicans nominated then U.S. Attorney General and ex-Gov. Dick Thornburgh as their candidate.

And during that special election campaign, Wofford thumped hard on health care as an issue. It was a sleeper issue, but big enough for Wofford to upset Thornburgh.

Bill Clinton, then governor of Arkansas, adopted that issue for his 1992 presidential campaign and thrust it into national politics.

But there were other political twists to Heinz's death.

Wofford was soon viewed as a patrician and quickly developed a reputation for really bad constituent service. 'That's why there are House members,' one Wofford aide snidely quipped. 'Senators should be only involved with the major issues.'

However, Wofford succeeded the past master of U.S. Senate constituent service. Heinz delivered on veterans affairs issues, solved individual Social Security problems, and generally adopted the problems of constituent seniors as his own.

Plus, Heinz had a passionate distrust of and deep disrespect for the IRS. And he seemed to delight in helping constituents with tax problems. He was preparing to push for a major overhaul or abolition of that agency when he died.

Heinz was a centrist Republican, loved by organized labor and Democrats.

Moreover, he was not afraid to oppose his own party on key issues.

Wofford was a liberal patrician who didn't match with his conservative Democratic base in Pennsylvania. He also played too long and too hard on his association with the late President John Kennedy. Wofford simply failed to realize that many of Pennsylvania's voters weren't even born when JFK was assassinated.

Thus, when then U.S. Rep. Rick Santorum challenged his re-election bid in 1994, Wofford went down with a hard political thud.

It all happened because Heinz was flying from Williamsport, Lycoming County, to Philadelphia for a hearing on Medicaid fraud. As the plane approached Philadelphia, pilots of the plane carrying Heinz weren't sure if the landing gear was down. Ironically, Heinz was a very accomplished and skilled aviator.

A nearby helicopter visually confirmed the gear down, but flew close to determine if it was locked in place.

The helicopter flew too close and the aircraft collided, killing Heinz, all four pilots, and two kids on a school yard below.

Because Heinz died the following has happened: