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Cunningham looks to paint Onorato as ‘the insider candidate’

BETHLEHEM—If you ask Democratic insiders to name the early favorite to win their party’s gubernatorial nomination, most don’t hesitate: Dan Onorato, they say. The Allegheny County Executive has held the political and media status of “front-runner” since right after Gov. Ed Rendell won a second term in 2006, with news reports repeatedly describing him as a leading candidate.

But Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham thinks that’s ridiculous. And in his likely campaign against Onorato, Cunningham will look to turn what has been seen as an advantage into a political liability.

“Dan Onorato’s the insider candidate,” Cunningham told pa2010.com. “If you’re looking for the big money guy, with all the connections to the big law firms and hundred-thousand dollar donors, by all means that should be your guy. But I still have hope that politics is about all the people, something beyond who’s got the most connections to people who are writing big checks.”

During an interview at a Main Street coffee shop, the former Mayor here complained—in some ways correctly—that perceptions of Onorato as the Democratic front-runner are fueled by nothing more than the media’s focus on money and the whisperings of a small, political insider class. Many of the same insiders consider Cunningham an underdog, and by portraying Onorato as an establishment candidate, Cunningham is clearly looking to use the dynamic to his advantage.

But his efforts to paint Onorato as an establishment candidate are likely complicated by the simple fact that Onorato has never been a Harrisburg politician, and ties to those insiders may be difficult to paint directly. Cunningham and other Democrats are quick to note that Onorato is close to John Estey, Rendell’s former chief of staff. The two were law school classmates. Beyond that, concrete attempts to define Onorato as the “insider” candidate may founder early.

In a recent phone interview with pa2010.com, Onorato dismissed outright the contention that he is an establishment candidate, and sought to turn the tables on Cunningham for going negative early.

“First of all, it’s interesting that people are already trying to go negative on my candidacy,” Onorato said. “If and when I announce it, I’ll keep it positive. I’m probably the only [potential] candidate that’s not tied to Harrisburg, and the only candidate for true reform,.”

“That’s what I’m about,” he added. “I’m about results, I’m about getting things done. … I’m about as far of an outsider as you can be from Harrisburg.”

If money is all that measures a candidate’s insider support, Cunningham at least has a point. Onorato has more than $4 million in campaign cash, significantly more than any of his potential rivals.

Chris Borick, a pollster and political science professor at Muhlenberg College, said Cunningham’s line of attack would be difficult to pull off without the same kind of campaign cash for which he is criticizing Onorato.

“[Cunningham] could try to play that small-town outsider avenue, and use things like that when he labels Onorato as an ‘insider candidate,’” Borick said. “But it will be a challenge. Half of it is just getting people to hear you and know who you are. It’s going to take resources.

“It’s a Catch-22,” he added. “You can claim that this guy’s got more money, more resources, he is positioned as the insider candidate. But the flip side is, who’s going to hear it if you don’t have the resources to get the message out there?”

April 20, 2009 at 3:32 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Dan Onorato, Don Cunningham

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