PLAYING SOFTBALL: Lieutenant Governor candidate Jim Matthews rallies local support. : Mary Patel

Matthews, the former chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, hopes to tap into sentiment from his former bailiwick, the state's third largest county, to pull enough votes away from Gov. Ed Rendell to win in November.

Last week, Matthews dropped by the Union League to push their ticket at a lunch with the Republican Hannah Penn Club. Introduced by Michelle Leonard as the conservative brother of MSNBC talk-show host Chris Matthews, the candidate said he is a reformer who will earn his $134,000 salary as the lieutenant governor and not vote himself a pay raise in the middle of the night.

Matthews says he is dying to debate the incumbent, Democrat Catherine Baker Knoll, and is irked that it doesn't seem as if that's going to happen.

"You will see a very vigorous campaign over the next five months," he said. "Lynn and I have an advantage because we will split our labor. I'll be in one county and Lynn in another. The governor can't do that because he's not letting his lieutenant governor out of the house.

"When she introduced Rendell as Edward G. Robinson, he knew it was time to keep her locked up. But the reality is—as they say—she is a cheesesteak away from being governor. So it is an issue."

Not to appear too harsh to his genteel audience, Matthews backpedaled. In a fit of magnanimity, he said, "She is actually a wonderful lady, but you will not see her, and I will not have the opportunity to debate her or appear with her. Frankly, I think if I debate her, I will lose votes so I am not about to do that. That is the proper thing to do out of respect for her and her family."

Jeff Coyne, Baker Knoll's campaign manager, said the lieutenant governor has no compunction about debating Matthews.

"She will debate her opponent," he said, "when the opportunity is right."

In addition to the salary, the office commands a large staff and a mansion, which begs the question of the necessity of the office. Even though he is running for the office, Matthews agrees the position isn't needed. "In many states, there is no lieutenant governor," he said. "They could do away with the office tomorrow, and the way it has been handled by previous administrations, it is just a ceremonial office.

"As lieutenant governor, you serve as president of the Senate, and you are just the director of traffic. You are a traffic cop on the Senate floor. You do not have a tiebreaker vote opportunity with legislation, only with procedural matters. The office is important in the fact that it is the next person in as governor although it could be replaced by making it the majority leader's spot."

So why would he want the gig?

"The position is also chair of the Board of Pardons, which is very meaningful. Current leadership has offered more pardons in the last three-and-a-half years than in any eight-year period. We are very active with pardoning now and I would like to see about that."

(Coyne pointed out that the Board of Pardons has five voting members including GOP Attorney General Tom Corbett.)

The lieutenant governor is also the chair of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management board that looks after disasters, said Matthews. "Ours is unresponsive, particularly with [Hurricane] Katrina. That's where I can do the most good. I have a great government security program in Montgomery County and I want to do that on a state level."

(Coyne responded that the Pennsylvania National Guard went to New Orleans immediately after the hurricane.)

"You're going to hear a lot of nonsense from the incumbent's side in the next few months," Matthews said. "The new blood people want in leadership can only help Lynn and I. We are outside the Harrisburg mainstream and we are not career politicians."