Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge enjoys a 25-year friendship with presumptive presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain, R. Arizona. The two were both first elected to Congress in 1982 and they became fast friends because of their shared Vietnam experience.

Ridge, the first non-officer elected to Congress out of the Vietnam era, was an infantry sergeant on combat patrol when he won a Bronze Star for Valor in Vietnam. McCain, a Navy jetfighter pilot, spent five years in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison camp after his plane was shot down by the North Vietnamese. Gov. Ridge – he prefers to be called that instead of Mr. Secretary from when he was President Bush’s Cabinet – served as the first to head the newly-formed U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “You earn the title, Governor, because the people have elected you. You’re not simply appointed,” he explained. Now the president and CEO of Ridge Global, a Washington-based consulting firm, Ridge is one of several co-chairman for the McCain for President Campaign. He was interviewed after a recent Republican State Committee meeting in Harrisburg at which the Pennsylvania GOP endorsed Sen. McCain after his string of Super Tuesday victories.

Insider: After Super Tuesday, every one knows that John McCain had turned his campaign around. When did you as a co-chairman realize that something was about the change, about to happen?

Ridge: John has been my friend for 25 years. When I went to visit him last summer, after his campaign had imploded, he said he was disappointed, but that he had been through worse things in his life and laid out a strategy that included winning in New Hampshire and South Carolina and staging a comeback.

I went to New Hampshire three times for him last year and there was a noticeable difference each time. The size of the crowds increased. The enthusiasm got greater and greater. I think it had to do with his doing more than 100 town meetings and that people who knew him and respected him there since his 2000 win were still for him.

Insider: How did you weather that period from last summer until New Hampshire?

Ridge: We all took encouragement from the upbeat, positive, relentless engagement of the candidate. His work ethic and energy were phenomenal. He was outspent by some of his rivals three or four to one, but they didn’t out-campaign him. Plus the issue of character, conviction and courage played a greater and greater role as actual voting neared and the early polls faded over time. He never wavered, he never doubted, he never gave up. Unless you understand how the Vietnam experience shaped John, you probably can’t appreciate that.

Insider: Approaching the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary, do you expect to be here a lot campaigning for Sen. McCain?

Ridge: I’ll do whatever I can to help my friend get elected. We’ll be back before and after the primary, I’m sure.

Insider: What about the money machine? What do you see yourself doing between now and the convention?

Ridge: I don’t know. Whatever they ask me to do. John’s role now will be to unify the party as best he can and then catch up on financing (with the Democrats). We need to be more aggressive in fund-raising. Most of the attention will be on building a campaign organization and unifying the party.

Insider: Have you been surprised by the amount of money the two Democratic front-runners are raising?

Ridge: I am astonished, bewildered and, frankly, envious. They both are drawing tremendous crowds. You have to admire the unprecedented response people have had to the Obama campaign both in attendance and money. Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to regard him as a political phenomenon. He’s brought excitement to that party that is beyond any measurable means of comparison.

Still, having acknowledged all that, this is still a race that Republicans can win with a unified party and a candidate who can reach across the political divide and attract voters from the other party. If we unite ourselves around the common cause of a Republican victory, I think because of John’s appeal across the aisle we can still win this.

Insider: How would you suggest Sen. McCain campaign in southeastern Pennsylvania, an area that you won, but other Republicans have lost in recent elections, including President Bush?

Ridge: First, I think it’s to John’s advantage that the Democrats in southwestern Pennsylvania are much more independent minded in their voting than they are in Philadelphia and some of those communities. His record and the fact that he is a strong fiscal conservative but not an extremist will appeal to the folks in the southwest.

His status as a war hero and his qualities will appeals to both Republicans and Democrats in all areas of the state. Just like New Hampshire, he needs to be there; people (will) get to see him, get to know him and appreciate his character, his conviction and his courage. But also, he’ll need to rely on surrogates like me at times.

But when I was campaigning with him in New York, he said he is not going to conceded any of these blue states to the Democrats. He is going to campaign hard in these states. I don’t think we have to convince him to come to Pennsylvania. I think he’ll be here.

Insider: Looking ahead to the general election and Pennsylvania’s key role in presidential contests, what do you expect?

Ridge: I anticipate a hotly contested, hard-fought, narrowly won presidential election, both here in Pennsylvania and across the country. I think Pennsylvania will be one of the top eight states that will determine the outcome of the election.

Insider: Having already served in the Bush Cabinet, would you at all consider going into the McCain administration if he prevailed. I’m sure you’ve been asked that a lot.

Ridge: Yes, and I have avoided answering the question and I’ll continue to do the same. It would depend on where I am professionally and what the opportunity would be. So I learned a long time ago to never say never. Secondly, it will depend on whether I want to get back in the public sector. It’s difficult to say in February what I might be thinking in six to eight months.

Insider: Because you have a business in D.C. and a house in (Chevy Chase, MD), many Pennsylvanians might think you’ve “left” the state.

Ridge: No, I still have a house in Erie that I consider my primary residence. We get up there on holidays; my family spends its summers up there. I go up there periodically on weekends to see my family (younger brother, attorney David Ridge and his children) with or without my own family.

First, Pennsylvania is a state that gave me the opportunity to serve as governor and I’ll forever be grateful for that. My home community of Erie has always been a comfortable place for me to slide into, where I’m not so much Congressman, Governor or Secretary, I’m just Tom or ‘Guv.’ That’s nice to get out of the bubble of Washington and go back to where real people live. My family and I enjoy it.

When I was a congressman I had a listed home number for almost 12 years and I don’t think I got more than two or three crank phone calls in 12 years and I got at least a couple of dozen phone calls with information I needed to get as a congressman.

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Fight preparations
After March 4, both Clinton and Obama camps are ready to pull out all stops in Pennsylvania

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, the two remaining Democrats in the presidential race, are girding for an extension of their intra-party battle into Pennsylvania.

Both candidates are currently concentrating on the March 4 primary elections in the large states of Texas and Ohio and the smaller states of Rhode Island and Vermont. The races in Texas and Ohio are particularly important to Clinton’s hopes of keeping her campaign alive after losing 11 consecutive primaries of caucuses since Super Tuesday to Obama.

But behind the scenes, both campaigns are laying the groundwork for the April 22nd primary in the Keystone State just in case a Clinton comeback on March 4 resuscitates her campaign.

Clinton is considered the favorite in Pennsylvania because of her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton’s, ties to many major Democrats here.

But the example of one long-time friend and supporter of the New York state senator sets an example of just what her campaign is up against. Former state Rep. Ruth Rudy, D-Centre, a super -delegate because of her leadership of a Democratic national women’s group, told her local newspaper she was supporting Clinton – but left open the opinion of changing her mind if Clinton loses the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio. That shows how much even loyal Clinton followers realize Clinton has to win one or probably both of those big primaries to remain viable for the Democratic nomination.

Hillary Clinton

Even President Clinton has said if his wife does not win the Texas and Ohio primaries, she will not be her party’s nominee for president.

But while both sides are concentrating on those two big fights next Tuesday, they are also getting their soldiers in line for Pennsylvania’s primary which will have seven long weeks after March 4 with both campaigns and candidates expected to visit early and often.

Tim Russert of NBC News has said there is no scenario for Clinton to win the Democratic nomination without winning in this state.

And both campaigns are bringing in big guns. Tony Podesta, who oversaw Gov. Ed Rendell’s re-election campaign and the Kerry campaign here in 2004, will be Clinton’s Keystone primary overseer. Rendell himself is her top campaigner, and many of his top fund-raisers are working hard for Clinton.

But Obama has already picked up major support. The Philadelphia Daily News recently reviewed the Pennsylvania supporters of both campaigns. It noted that Obama personally called Philadelphia Building Trades Council President Pat Gillespie the night before the union endorsed. The next day that big powerful southeastern union, which has been publicly criticized for failing to give enough job opportunities for blacks, endorsed Obama.

Barack Obama

So even in February, Gillespie’s union was worth a 15-minute phone call from Obama. A phone call can certainly make a difference. Gov. Rendell, who wanted to remain neutral, was talked into endorsing earlier than he had hoped to, because of a personal call from President Clinton.

The Daily News reports that the Obama campaign here will be run by “political director Nicole Price and field specialist Jeremy Bird, both veterans of the Obama campaigns in South Carolina and Maryland. Washington-based consultant Tom Lindenfeld, who managed the field efforts in former Mayor John Street's successful campaigns has relocated to Philadelphia for the duration.”

That quiet side of the campaign is about to end, though, Rendell’s media guru and consultant, Neil Oxman, told the newspaper that after polls close on March 4, “Four million people will come here that Wednesday morning. Every heavyweight in both campaigns will be here."

Already working for Clinton are Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, ex-Mayor John Street, Democratic State Committee Chairman T.J. Rooney, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz, Congressman Joe Sestak and others.

Obama’s list is smaller, but growing every day. In addition to Gillespie and some other major labor leaders, it includes Congressman Chaka Fattah and Patrick Murphy, Philadelphia Councilman Jim Kenney and western Pennsylvania super-delegate Leon Lynch.

Adding Fattah means Greg Naylor, the key strategist in the kind of black voter turnout effort Obama needs in Philadelphia to win (few strategists think Clinton will win either of the two majority-black Congressional districts in Philadelphia).

Also in the Obama camp are two political operatives who are close to Gov. Rendell but not backing Clinton. Lawyer lobbyist David Sweet, who was Rendell’s 2002 campaign manager, and former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel, also a lobbyist, both support Obama.

Some key players are still waiting. Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Pittsburgh Congressman Mike Doyle have opted to stick together and not endorse until all three are ready to go together, delivering western Pennsylvania’s most potent Democratic political machine to their choice, if they make one.

Both campaigns are well-funded, although many Democrats remain stunned that Obama is poised to become the most successful political fund-raiser in American history, breaking President George W. Bush’s record of $175 million, once he raises another $25 million or so. Clinton remains well-funded, but Obama is a phenomenon.

Rendell, his close ally Alan Kessler and attorney Mark Aronchick – both Kessler and Aronchick are on Clinton’s national fund-raising – are working hard to keep Clinton’s machine funded in the Keystone State.

Obama has one of Philadelphia’s most famous and generous donors and fund-raisers to liberals, Peter Buttenwieser, and attorneys Mark Alderman and Christopher Lewis, according to the Daily News.

Aronchick told the newspaper: “We're determined and committed, doubling down on our effort. We're waiting for the press to even the scrutiny out, and think they will. We believe she's the better candidate and will be the better president.”

But Obama’s campaign continues to ride a wave. For example, both campaigns filed delegates to ensure they can pick their delegates who are awarded, by congressional district, by the results of the April 22 primary.

Obama’s campaign filed more delegate names and managed to win favorable stories both nationally and in Philadelphia, suggesting the Clinton campaign did a weak job in that key field effort.

Some even suggested that Gov. Ed Rendell’s two-day extension of the filing deadline was partly motivated to help the Clinton team fill out its delegate slate.

But a review of the delegates filed by both campaigns by the Internet news service, Capitolwire, showed that by the original deadline, the Clinton campaign had filed more delegates in every Congressional district but one, than they could possibly win, even if they won 60 percent of the vote in every Congressional district on April 22, an outcome considered very, very unlikely.

And in the one district where Clinton could win one more delegate than her campaign filed for, if she did win that delegate, her mistake would be corrected at Democratic State Committee’s June meeting. At that meeting, national rules would require the appointment of a Clinton delegate to that post, even if the campaign had not filed one, which it ultimately did.

So while there was no Clinton mistake, the fervor and zeal and excitement of the Obama campaign persuaded many in the media that there was such a mistake.

As one Obama advocate said: “So imagine what will happen when we vote.”

A Clinton insider said: “Hillary will win here. Period.”

Then, he paused and added: “If she makes it to here.”