Republican Ridge tries to set himself apart

An obscure six-term congressman from the extreme northwest corner of Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Ridge was having trouble getting recognized even after winning his party's nomination last May. His Democratic opponent, Lt. Governor Mark Singel, was better known -- having spent six months as acting governor while Robert Casey recovered from surgery -- and had a slight lead in the polls. Then Ridge and his Madison Avenue image-makers found an issue with resonance -- crime. Suddenly, Ridge was getting national press, battering away at Singel's base of support with a wave of negative television ads. Having emerged from the mud-slinging tied with Singel in the latest polls, the congressman from the 21st district is planning to launch a new round of television spots. This time, Ridge says the ads will be positive, trying to tell voters who Tom Ridge is and why he should be the Commonwealth's next governor. Campaigning in Philadelphia this week, Ridge was hundreds of miles and seemingly a culture away from his roots in the small city of Erie, the largest population center in his district. But the 49-year-old Ridge is confident that his background will be an asset in this election, helping him transcend the rural and urban political cleavages that often divide politics in this state. It was in Erie, an industrial enclave on the Ohio border, that Ridge was born in 1945, the son of a meat salesman who moonlighted as a butcher and a shoe store clerk. Ridge went to Harvard University. Drafted in 1967, Ridge went to Vietnam as an infantryman and was decorated for valor. Later, he got a law degree and served as an assistant district attorney in Erie before deciding to run for Congress in 1982. Although Singel has attacked Ridge, dubbing him the "candidate from central casting," because of his made-for-politics good looks and reportedly bland personality, Ridge has exploited his history as a prosecutor in his attacks on Singel's record on crime. Having established himself as the candidate of law and order, the GOP contender also believes his personal history demonstrates a strong work ethic and an ability to make compromises. Singel has accused Ridge of having a lackluster legislative record in Congress and of being a GOP hack. Ridge protests, pointing to efforts like a law that gives banks incentives to increase lending in poor neighborhoods. After working on the bill for four years with with Representative Floyd Lake (D-NY), Congress recently enacted it. Ridge said he will try to build a bipartisan consensus in the state house if elected. He also points to his efforts to obtain federal disaster relief for his district -- ravaged by tornadoes a few year ago -- as evidence of his ability to get things done. But political observers have criticized Ridge for sitting on the fence on a number of issues. Although he is a Catholic, Ridge supports abortion rights, but he also supports the tough laws restricting abortion in Pennsylvania. He has opposed bans on assault weapons, but he voted for the federal crime bill that contained a similar ban. And he said he will consider allowing riverboat gambling -- seen as a source of potential revenue for Philadelphia -- but he also said he is generally not in favor of the idea. Singel has taken similarly ambiguous stands on some of these issues, leading some to comment that it is hard to differentiate the two major party candidates. Ridge's attacks on Singel's crime record helped set him apart. And Ridge is hoping to further distance himself from his opponent by pushing two new issues in these crucial last two weeks of the campaign: jobs and reductions in state business taxes.

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