Hoping to energize the grass roots efforts of Republican partisans, Lynn Swann predicted yesterday that he will defeat Gov. Ed Rendell in the normally Democratic bastion of Allegheny County on the way to ousting the incumbent in November.

Mr. Swann made the projection at a convention called by the county Republican Party, a new effort to recruit interest and workers for Republican candidates.

County chairman Robert Glancy deemed the session a success based on the turnout of several hundred at the Green Tree Holiday Inn.

But the gathering also produced a rebuff for Mr. Glancy and other local party leaders as members of the county committee voted to reject proposed changes in the party's local bylaws that would have strengthened the chairman's ability to discipline errant committee members and influence the leadership of GOP organizations in individual municipalities in the county.

Mr. Swann stirred the partisans with his standard stump speech in which he assailed the record of the Rendell administration while avoiding descriptions of any prescriptions that his administration might offer for the state's ills.

"Winning leadership in Pennsylvania has to be about the citizens of Pennsylvania, not about the individual, his own particular vision for Pennsylvania,'' Mr Swann said.

The sole candidate for the Republican nomination to oppose Mr. Rendell contended that the incumbent had ridden roughshod over the views of the public on issues ranging from gambling to school taxes. In each case, he claimed, "Ed Rendell and his administration didn't ask the people of Pennsylvania what they wanted.''

As Mr. Swann entered the room, a young woman asked him to autograph her vintage Steelers jersey with his old number, 88. Echoes of his all-Pro background continued as he rallied the roomful of Pittsburghers still basking in the afterglow of the Super Bowl.

Recalling his playing days, Mr. Swann said, "The real challenge is knowing you are going against someone who has all the tools and all the skills and all the ability to win, and you come in with your game plan, you come in with the desire, the heart, and the work ethic to meet that challenge and you win.''

"Ed Rendell is that challenge,'' the Republican continued. "Ed Rendell is not going to be easy. Ed Rendell is going to come into Allegheny County, into my back yard. He's going to have a boatload of money and he's going to come in here and fight hard to win Allegheny County. But we're not going to let him take our home turf ... We're going to give Ed Rendell a new swan song to sing.''

If he were to defeat the incumbent in Allegheny County, Mr. Swann would have pulled off a rare, though not unprecedented, feat for a Republican. In the last gubernatorial race, Mr. Rendell defeated Michael Fisher, another Allegheny County Republican, by roughly 40,000 votes out of more than 380,000 cast in the county. Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, then the incumbent Republican governor, did manage to outpoll former Rep. Ivan Itkin, his weak and underfunded Democratic challenger in 1998.

A result more typical of the county's pattern in gubernatorial elections came in the previous contest when Mr. Ridge lost to former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel, even as the Republican was winning the rest of the state by a comfortable margin.

The late Gov. Robert P. Casey, a Democrat, won the county in each of his two statewide victories, while his predecessor, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, a Republican, had mixed results, losing to the late Pete Flaherty in his first election for governor but beating former Rep. Allen Ertel on his way to a close re-election.

The party rules change rejected yesterday, while seemingly an arcane insiders issue, sparked heated arguments on the floor of the convention. Mr. Glancy, the chairman, said afterward that the enhanced authority for his office was warranted as a means to energize moribund local organizations, but several speakers denounced the proposal as an invitation for abuse.

Joe Weinroth, the Republican candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh against Bob O'Connor last year, denounced that the reports of panels that would investigate alleged lapses by local GOP officials, under the new rule, were to be secret. Another speaker said that the lack of transparency could allow party leaders to act against political enemies without any accountability.

The rules debate came in the wake of a dispute between Mr. Glancy and other county GOP leaders and Robert Hillen, the recently ousted Pittsburgh GOP chairman. In recent weeks, Mr. Glancy had faulted Mr. Hillen's leadership over a number of issues, and eventually said that the city official could continue in his GOP role only if he met a number of conditions, including the payment of a $5,000 donation.

Mr. Hillen, charging that the donation demand amounted to macing, filed a private criminal complaint against Mr. Glancy. A hearing on the complaint is scheduled for this week.

The early stages of the meeting were marked by the ejection of several demonstrators in wheelchairs who were intent on confronting U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the mention of whose name sparked boos from some members of the group. The group of about a half-dozen demonstrators hoped to urge the senator to support increased aid for disabled persons living at home, rather than in institutions.

Instead, Green Tree police officers, called by the Holiday Inn managers at the request of Republican officials, asked them to leave and they did so without incident.

"I'm a Republican; I tried to pay [the $5 admission fee] but they didn't want our money,'' said Kathleen Kleinmann, one of the protesters.

In any event, they would not have been able to confront Mr. Santorum, who, according to Mr. Glancy, was not able to appear at the convention because of a schedule conflict.