By Sandra Basu
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 23

Delegates: 78

Chairman: Alan Novak

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1996 Election:
Clinton – 49%
Dole – 40%
Perot – 10%

The last time Pennsylvania Republicans were on their home turf for a national convention was in 1948. The site, then as now, was Philadelphia.

But GOP officials here, as elsewhere, hope the similarities end there for this year's presidential standard-bearer, Texas Gov. George W. Bush. The candidate nominated at the convention 52 years ago, New York Gov. Thomas E. Dewey, had a big lead in polls when he left Philadelphia, but ended up losing to the Democratic nominee, President Harry S. Truman.

State Republicans were energized before this year's convention by the widespread mention of Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Ridge as a vice presidential prospect. Ridge, a Vietnam veteran who previously served six terms in the U.S. House, narrowly won his first term as governor in 1994 but gained enhanced prominence with his re-election landslide in 1998.

As perhaps the leading abortion rights supporter on Bush's vice presidential "short list," Ridge drew fire from many in the party's large constituency of anti-abortion activists - who warned that his selection could disrupt the delicate party unity that Bush had worked so hard to craft.

But that sentiment is not shared by Ridge's home-state allies. State Rep. Stanley E. Saylor, an early Bush supporter who opposes abortion rights and considers himself a "progressive conservative," said that Republicans need to unite behind Bush rather than argue over potentially divisive issues such as abortion.

"While it is an issue, it isn't the only issue. The bottom line is, if we get caught up in one issue we may fail to achieve others. . . .We need to get a Republican elected as president," Saylor said.

Ridge, who also received some mention during 1996 presidential nominee Bob Dole's vice presidential selection process, will be an honorary co-chairman of the Pennsylvania convention delegation, a position also bestowed on Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum.

Specter, like Ridge, is moderate on social issues, while Santorum is conservative. Santorum faces a tough campaign this year as he bids for a second Senate term.

Although Pennsylvania officials moved the state's presidential primary this year from April 25 to April 4, they stopped short of joining the "front-loading frenzy" that created the pileup of state primaries in early March. As a result, the competitive phase of the campaign was long over by the time Pennsylvania voted, and Bush defeated Arizona Sen. John McCain by 73-23 percent.

Though the state's 78 delegates are officially uncommitted, "well over 90 percent are Bush delegates," said state Republican Party Communications Director Lauren Cotter Brobson.

State Republican Party Chairman Alan Novak is chairing the Pennsylvania delegation. The goodly contingent of congressional delegates includes Reps. Bud Shuster (chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee), Bill Goodling (retiring chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee), Phil English, Joseph R. Pitts, Patrick J. Toomey and Curt Weldon.

Other delegates from the party establishment include Republican State Committee Vice Chairman Eileen Barbera Melvin; Republican National Committee members Robert Asher and Christine Toretti; state Republican Party Deputy Chairman Renee Amoore, a top Ridge adviser on African-American issues, who in July was named assistant secretary of the Republican National Convention; Bush state campaign Chairman David Girard di-Carlo; and Tracey Specter, Sen. Specter's daughter-in-law.

There are a few delegates who started the campaign working for candidates other than Bush. Among them are Allegheny County Councilman Tom Shumaker, a former western Pennsylvania coordinator for McCain's campaign, and party fundraiser Fred Anton, who chaired former Cabinet secretary Elizabeth Dole's short-lived presidential campaign in the state.

Rep. Donald L. Sherwood isn't a delegate, but he is attending the convention. He is facing a stiff rematch in the 10th District against Democrat Patrick Casey, son of the late Democratic Gov. Robert P. Casey.

PENNSYLVANIA NOTABLES: State Republican Party Chairman Alan Novak, the delegation chairman; Gov. Tom Ridge, an honorary delegation co-chairman; Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, honorary delegation co-chairmen; Reps. Bud Shuster, Bill Goodling, Phil English, Joseph R. Pitts, Patrick J. Toomey and Curt Weldon; Dick Yuengling, owner of the Yuengling beer company in Pottsville, which claims to be the nation's oldest brewery.