PA. GOVERNOR'S RACE Third-party candidate gets a higher profile

The legislative pay-raise debacle is driving Russ Diamond's campaign.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- For a political gadfly on a quixotic quest to become Pennsylvania's next chief executive, Russ Diamond enjoys an unusual degree of statewide celebrity.
Diamond's role as the founder of PACleanSweep, a group targeting incumbent lawmakers because of last year's legislative pay-raise debacle, has made him a media fixture since July. That profile grew larger last week, when he announced his independent bid for governor.
But in a state where third-party candidates for governor are historically symbolic, Diamond will have hurdles to overcome if he wants to have any impact on the governor's race.
Signatures
For one, he'll have to gather more than 67,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the Nov. 7 general election. He also will have to show voters that he has substance.
"If he's on the ballot and then he's on stage in a debate and performs well, we'll find out what kind of impact he'll have in this race," said Thomas J. Baldino, a political science professor at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre.
Diamond, an Annville businessman, joins two minor-party hopefuls who will be nipping at the heels of Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and his likely Republican opponent, former Pittsburgh Steelers star Lynn Swann.
Regardless of the hurdles, analysts say voter discontent over the pay raise makes the time ripe for third-party campaigns.
"The timing is highly favorable for third-party candidates," said Michael Young, a retired public affairs professor at Penn State's Harrisburg campus. "If you look at the state and local level, there are clearly recurring cycles ... characterized by the very kinds of conditions we have right now -- voter anger, perceived failures in the political system."
The best showing by a third-party candidate in recent history was Peg Luksik with 13 percent of the vote as the Constitution Party's nominee for governor in 1994.
Diamond previously made unsuccessful bids as a Libertarian for Congress and the state House of Representatives in 2004, winning 2 percent and 17 percent of the vote, respectively.
Others in the field
The field this year also includes Marakay Rogers, a York attorney nominated by the Green Party, and Hagan Smith, a Butler County construction contractor backed by the Constitution Party. The Libertarian Party does not have a candidate, but is looking for one, chairman Chuck Moulton said.
Rogers says her platform focuses on universal health care, opposition to the death penalty, and an $11-an-hour "living wage," and she does not plan to make the pay raise an issue. Smith, on the other hand, says it is part of his campaign, and he has often heard from people who are angry about it.
"They're angry about a corrupt government in all three branches," Smith said.
But Diamond is "unquestionably" the minor-party candidate to watch, Young said, noting that Diamond's emphasis is on changing state government, similar to Ross Perot's federal reform platform in the 1992 presidential race.
"He has a clear public personality and image, and he has some ideas, radical though they may seem," he said.
At the same time, any popularity Diamond might enjoy in the early stages of his campaign could diminish closer to the election, as the horse race between Rendell and Swann gains greater prominence in voters' minds, Baldino said.
"People who initially thought they'd vote for a third-party candidate may not because they realize they're wasting a vote," he said.