House Democratic Leader Todd Eachus suggested yesterday that Republican Tom Corbett take a cue from his counterpart in Virginia and consider resigning as attorney general if he runs for governor next year.

Last month, Virginia's head prosecutor, Bob McDonnell, stepped down to seek the state's top office, saying it wouldn't be fair to the taxpayers to keep one office while pursuing the other.

Corbett "will have to judge, when he actually announces his candidacy, whether he can balance the two, both from a political point of view and from the efficacy of taxpayers," Eachus (D., Luzerne) told the monthly luncheon of the Pennsylvania Press Club yesterday in Harrisburg.

But Eachus fell short of calling on Corbett to step down. Nor did Eachus accuse Corbett - as some Democrats have suggested - of partisanship in his 26-month-old corruption probe known as Bonusgate.

"The attorney general's got to proceed with his investigation the way he sees fit," said Eachus.

Pat Toomey is sounding more and more like a candidate for the U.S. Senate.

The former congressman drew resounding cheers Saturday when he told the state's largest gathering of conservatives that he is "very, very likely" to announce that he will challenge incumbent Arlen Specter in the 2010 Republican primary.

Toomey came close to beating Specter in the 2004 primary.

In his speech to the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, he sharply criticized Specter for voting for the federal economic stimulus package and other big spending bills supported by Democrats.

He said Pennsylvania's senator should stand up for the GOP ideals of lower taxes and smaller government.

Toomey is all but certain to face opposition in the primary from others, including fellow conservative activist Peg Luksik of Johnstown.

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Democrats in Washington are bent on "lurching the country to the left," Pat Toomey was saying, with their "serial bailouts" favoring big government over individual freedom and responsibility and, of course, the $787 billion stimulus and its "pig odor."

Murmurs of assent greeted the conservative former congressman as he built his case, but the crowd of 250 at the Franklin County Republican Party's annual spring dinner burst into applause only when he called out Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) as the Democrats' chief enabler.

"The fact is, Arlen Specter made this happen," said Toomey, president of the national limited-government activist group Club for Growth. "I think a Republican senator from Pennsylvania ought to govern based on the conservative ideas at the heart of the Republican Party, and that's why - Arlen, are you listening? - it is very likely that I will become a candidate for the United States Senate."

Toomey came within 17,000 votes of beating Specter in the 2004 Republican primary, and he had been laying the groundwork for a campaign for governor next year - until Specter provided one of only three Republican votes for President Obama's stimulus bill, and landed back in trouble with his party's right wing. Then Toomey changed his goal.

Pennsylvania AFL-CIO president Bill George said yesterday that he and other labor leaders have told Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) that they would help him survive a primary challenge next year if he supports legislation that makes it easier to unionize workers.

"If he's there for us, we'll be there for him," George said in an interview. "We would do everything we can to make sure he wins," he said, including efforts to persuade union members to register as Republicans so they could back Specter at the polls.

A Johnstown conservative who unsuccessfully ran for governor three times will challenge Sen. Arlen Specter next year for the Republican nomination.

Peg Luksik, 53, is best known as a right-to-life advocate who founded a charity to assist single mothers.

Her entry into the GOP primary could divide conservatives if former Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, who narrowly lost to Specter in the 2004, decides to run as well.

Luksik said that wouldn't affect her campaign.

"(Toomey) told me he wasn't running in February. I'm assuming I can take him at his word," Luksik said.

Toomey, 47, declined to comment.

"But he's still seriously thinking about the run," said Nachama Soloveichik, communications director of the Club for Growth, a limited-government group Toomey heads.

State Superior Court Judge Jack Panella will apparently run unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state Supreme Court this spring.

Panella's expected opponent, Philadelphia Judge Teresa Sarmina, said Monday she has decided to put party unity ahead of her own ambitions and withdrew from the race.

''I just re-evaluated where I was,'' she said. ''And for the betterment of the party, I decided to withdraw for another day.''

Panella, of Palmer Township, netted the state Democratic Party's official endorsement at a meeting in suburban Harrisburg in January. At that meeting Sarmina announced she planned to run without the party's endorsement and mount a primary challenge.

Pennsylvania Republican Chairman Rob Gleason predicts the "over-reaching liberal agenda" of President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi creates an opportunity for growth for the GOP.

In a recent interview, Gleason suggested the Obama's administration's staggering spending, spiraling national debt and higher tax proposals will lead to voter backlash. In office almost two months, Obama has shepherded through Congress a $787 million economic stimulus bill and proposed a $3.6 trillion federal budget.

When the stimulus bill passed last month, Gleason said it was time to stand up against "bloated government and uncontrolled spending policies."

Gleason of Johnstown rejected the notion that Pennsylvania has become a "blue," or Democratic, state. But he acknowledges these are tough times for the GOP.

Another special election is needed for the Pennsylvania Legislature now that Republican Rep. David Argall has won a Senate seat.

No date was immediately set for an election to fill Argall's 124th District seat, which is in parts of Berks and Schuylkill counties.

Unofficial returns from Tuesday's special election show Argall with 62.4 percent of the vote to 37.6 percent for Stephen Lukach, a Democrat who has conceded defeat and says he won't run for Argall's House seat.

Argall and Lukach were vying to replace Sen. James Rhoades, who died in October. The Senate district covers all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos.

State Rep. David Argall overcame a blizzard of negative ads in recent weeks, then a real snowstorm Monday, to win the late James J. Rhoades' seat in the state Senate on Tuesday.

Argall declared victory at 10:45 p.m. to a cheering crowd at his campaign headquarters in Tamaqua.

''I just wish that Jim Rhoades was here to see this,'' Argall said. ''He was a friend for a very long time.'' Flanked by his family, he hugged his mother and asked supporters to ''please keep Jim and his whole family in your prayers, because they've been through a terrible ordeal.''

Argall noted to cheers of ''Sen-a-tor, sen-a-tor,'' that he won every county in the district -- ''from Tower City to Camelback Mountain. I couldn't ask for more than that.''

Final but unofficial tallies gave Argall 20,786 votes to Schuylkill County Clerk of Courts Stephen M. Lukach Jr.'s 12,551.

Pat Toomey, who six weeks ago said he had turned his attention toward a possible run for governor, now says he is considering a repeat bid for U.S. Senate.

The about-face by the former Lehigh Valley congressman comes as three other Republicans continue to pursue the governor's mansion in 2010 and with conservatives itching to put up a credible challenge to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter.

Specter's support for the economic stimulus bill last month has left the party hierarchy on the fence over whether it will back the five-term lawmaker again next year.

''Unfortunately, the recent extraordinary response of the federal government -- more corporate bailouts, unprecedented spending and debt, higher taxes -- is likely to make things worse,'' Toomey said in a statement Monday