Both major candidates in the race for Pennsylvania governor received good news yesterday -- one in the form of an injunction against the sale of the Hershey candy company and the other from a cross-party endorsement.
Republican candidate and State Attorney General Mike Fisher succeeded yesterday in winning an injunction against the sale of Pennsylvania-based Hershey Foods Corp. Fisher has said that the sale of Hershey would take jobs from Pennsylvania, and he is petitioning the court to allow state review of the sale.
And Democrat Ed Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia, got a boost yesterday from State Treasurer and former candidate for governor Barbara Hafer, who crossed party lines to support him.
Hafer briefly ran against Fisher for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, but she dropped out early in the primary race.
"I remain a proud Republican," Hafer said yesterday as she shared the podium with Rendell at a rally in Center City. "I support Gov. Schweiker and President Bush, but I am also an independent thinker."
The Rendell campaign expects Hafer's support to win votes in western Pennsylvania and also with female voters, according to campaign spokesman Dan Fee.
Political analysts agreed that Hafer's endorsement was a coup for Rendell, though they said it probably would not win him many votes.
"Most people believe that endorsements by high-profile officials are important but not significantly contributory to defeat or victory," said analyst Terry Madonna, head of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Millersville University.
The endorsement will be detrimental to Fisher, though, Madonna said, because "he has to explain why someone he ran on the ballot with twice has endorsed someone in another party."
Analyst Joseph Mistick, a Duquesne University law professor, said the endorsement "certainly spells the end of Barbara Hafer's elected career -- and it may very well mean that she's shifted her sights to an appointed Cabinet position in the Rendell government."
Rendell said yesterday that Hafer turned him down when he offered her a Cabinet post. Hafer herself said that she would not accept a position even after her term as treasurer ends.
Fisher spokesman Kevin Harley, meanwhile, said Hafer's endorsement of Rendell is completely irrelevant.
"It'll make absolutely no difference whatsoever," Harley said. "We don't believe that she'll affect a single vote or move a single dollar."
Harley said, though, that he expects the Hershey sale injunction to work in his candidate's favor.
Fisher could indeed come out of the Hershey situation looking very good, Mistick said.
"I think Mike Fisher has the chance to be the hero, and if he can do so while maintaining a credible legal position then he will have found one of those rare things in politics, and that's a move that is both politically and governmentally desirable," Mistick said.
Madonna agreed that the current Hershey situation spells good news for Fisher, but he also said that the issue is not crucial enough to make or break Fisher's campaign.
Fisher gained a "good bit of momentum in his court appearance," Madonna said. "It's been a real plus for his campaign... [but] Hershey's not a life-or-death issue for Fisher.
"Fisher's problem is that he's down about 12 or 13 points," Madonna continued.
Mistick concurred, saying "It's Ed Rendell's campaign to lose."
