Eagles or Steelers? Flyers or Penguins? Phillies or Pirates? Meehan or Swann?

Is it ever to early to start picking sides?  Sure the 2008 election has not even hit its peak yet, but it’s never too early to start talking about 2010.  At least that is how it seems when you look at my inbox today. 

Earlier today, U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan announced he would be stepping down later this month.  Speculation started immediately that Meehan would be running for Governor in 2010.  I was able to get two Southeast political leaders to confirm that Meehan was indeed stepping down now so he could start getting involved and making friends for a 2010 run. 

We were also able to confirm with a source close to 2006 Republican nominee Lynn Swann that the Steeler great also is ‘very seriously’ considering another run for the office he lost against Ed Rendell. There are sure to be other candidates to enter this race for the GOP endorsement, but a SE v. West showdown seems to have a strong likely hood of happening.  Bill Scranton could also take another look at this race, but without the support of the Southeast Caucus his campaign would likely have little chance.

What would be interesting to watch is if the race came down to Meehan and Attorney General Tom Corbett.  Corbett owes much of his political career to Republican money-man Bob Asher.  Asher is known to be very fond of Corbett and has long envisioned him running in 2010.  Asher has a lot of time and equity invested in Corbett.  Could he really walk away from that?  On the other hand could he really not support the Southeast candidate? 

This will be interesting to watch.

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