By Tom Fontaine
Herald Staff Writer

His local supporters say Mercer County is "Casey Country" and that their man, Bob Casey Jr., is the candidate to trust in the Democratic race for governor.

Casey, 42, made a couple of campaign stops in the Shenango Valley Wednesday, first trying to shore up his union base locally with a stop at the Local 1016 hall in Wheatland before heading to Sharon's Quaker Steak & Lube for some wings and retail politics.

It was Casey's first gubernatorial campaign stop in Mercer County this election year, but his name is familiar here -- and not just because he has been elected state auditor general twice. Casey's father, former Gov. Robert P. Casey, is revered by some in this area for fighting to save Sharon Steel during the late-1980s and early-1990s.

Casey Jr. raced out to an early lead in the polls and picked up early, key endorsements from the State Democratic Committee and the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and Pennsylvania State Education Association. But during the past month Casey has plummeted in the polls, falling behind a surging Ed Rendell in recent polls by as much as 10 percentage points.

Casey's detractors say he has not campaigned enough outside the state's largest cities and went negative in a spot-ad blitz against his opponent, former Philadelphia Mayor Rendell, instead of focusing on issues and proposed remedies.

Casey, who is in his second term as state auditor general and is the state's highest ranking Democrat, has said he has simply been trying to keep Rendell honest.

Casey has offered plans for economic growth, but he has centered his campaign around promises to provide more equitable funding for education, significantly expand the state low-cost prescription drug program, raise the minimum wage above the national level, and enable patients to sue their health maintenance organizations for unlimited damages.

Casey said the state has to "get the right priorities."

Quoting former Vice President and Democratic icon Hubert Humphrey, whose picture hung behind Casey at the union hall, Casey said, "The test of a society is how it treats those in the dawn of life and those in the shadows of life."

Casey was accompanied by his running mate, Lieutenant Governor candidate Jack Wagner.