Fantasy football players have put the odds of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers meeting in Super Bowl XLI at 200 to 1.
But sports fans can preview a showdown between the two cities just by following the governor's race between former Philadelphia mayor and Democratic incumbent Ed Rendell and his opponent, former Steelers wide receiver and Republican candidate Lynn Swann.
Soon after announcing his candidacy, Swann was neck-and-neck with Rendell, with a 45 to 43-percent lead in mid-January according to Rasmussen polls. Since then, Swann has fallen in the polls. While he still enjoys a lead in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, he now trails the governor by about 20 points.
Two issues have dominated much of the campaigning: tax relief and gun control. Swann has proposed a new business and property taxation system that he said would finally deliver the tax relief that Rendell has not been able to give the state in his time as governor, according to his Web site.
Rendell countered in a debate between the candidates that the plan is a "disaster" that would take years to implement and cost the state government $6 billion.
In terms of gun control, Rendell is currently supporting a "one gun a month" program to prevent purchasers from buying arms in bulk and selling them to criminals illegally. Rendell has publicly asked Swann to join him in support of the program.
Swann declined the offer, saying that there are sufficient gun laws already and that "guns don't cause the crime."
Swann has also drawn attention to Rendell's involvement in the now-repealed state legislative pay raise. While Rendell has admitted his fault, calling the pay raise "a mistake" in a debate, Swann has not let the governor off easy, hounding Rendell on the issue in each of the three debates.
Rhetoric has colored the campaigning on both sides. Swann has called his opponent a status quo-maintaining career politician, while Rendell has attempted to paint Swann as a political novice with too little experience to lead the state.
"I believe in reform and I believe in results," Swann said during the third debate in Pittsburgh. "My opponent also believes in the two R's. He believes in rhetoric and he believes in Rendell."
"It's not that he has no ideas," Rendell said, at the same debate. "It's that he has bad ideas."
Race was not injected into the campaign until last Thursday, when Swann, who is black, released ads on three Philadelphia radio stations accusing Rendell of attacking politicians, including former Mayor Wilson Goode in 1987, based on race.
"For too long now, career politicians like Ed Rendell have taken us for granted," the ad said. "Remember how Ed Rendell attacked Mayor Goode by calling him a liar, incompetent, deceitful? Now he's doing the same thing to another African American, Lynn Swann."
Swann has said that he is not worried about poll numbers, instead focusing on turning out the Republican and conservative vote.
Rendell has insisted that this is his last political campaign and, despite rumors based on his nationwide popularity, he is "not very interested" in running for President in 2008.
"This is out year, our best chance to overcome the Republican turnout," Rendell said at a rally in Logan Hall last Tuesday. "The Democrats are getting their backbone back."
