HARRISBURG -- You already know him as a football star and sportscaster.

	Carolyn Kaster, Associated Press
	Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann talks to the media last week in Harrisburg. RELATED COVERAGE Analysis: TV ads in governor race don't tell whole story on issues

Now there's another role Lynn Swann wants to play: governor.

It's a job subject to more Monday-morning quarterbacking, less celebrity and lower pay than Mr. Swann had in the NFL, but he's willing to take it on just the same.

Mr. Swann is a football Hall of Famer whose name appears on eight Trivial Pursuit game cards. And he commands more than $30,000 an event for his work as a motivational speaker.

The quest to take over the governor's office isn't about fame or money, he says. It's about reforming a state where, Mr. Swann says, taxes are too high, access to decision-makers is too limited and public money is spent too freely.

Mr. Swann says his interest in running for office was sparked by the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Sept. 11 created in me more of a drive to find ways to serve at a new level," Mr. Swann said. His interest was reinforced a year later when he became chairman of the President's Council of Physical Fitness and Sports and in 2004 when he served as a campaign volunteer for President Bush's re-election campaign.

"Add to that a strong feeling that our state is moving in the wrong direction," Mr. Swann said. "That's what made me think about whether I wanted to seek the office of the governor of Pennsylvania."

He began discussing his ambitions with high-ranking Republicans such as Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, who helped him secure the party nomination at a time when the GOP needed a visible, credible candidate to face a popular incumbent.

Polls show that defeating Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, an experienced politician with wide support, will be an uphill battle, steeper than the GOP anticipated during nominating season last winter.

Six weeks before the election, Mr. Rendell has a double-digit lead, according to separate polls released Thursday.

The Keystone Poll by Franklin & Marshall College puts Mr. Rendell's support at 54 percent to Mr. Swann's 34 percent. The IssuesPA/Pew poll put Mr. Rendell farther ahead, 58 percent to 30 percent.

"In the early part of the year, the party saw the potential for Swann to really energize voters with his celebrity and his personable characteristics, and that he would be someone much more competitive at this point," said Christopher Borick, professor of political science at Muhlenberg College

Matthew Woessner, assistant professor of public policy at Penn State Harrisburg, agreed.

"Frankly, I thought Swann was going to be a formidable candidate and I'm very surprised that he hasn't caught on. My best sense is that there is no substitute for an experienced, thoughtful, seasoned politician like Rendell," he said. "As charismatic and intelligent and substantive as Swann is, he is going up against a master politician."

Mr. Swann says he isn't discouraged. A series of television commercials launched this month, relatively late in the campaign season, ought to help, he said.

He's counting on a decline in Mr. Rendell's poll numbers, spurred by renewed voter anger over the now-repealed pay-raise law, which the governor supported. The issue came back into the spotlight recently after the state Supreme Court ruled that the pay-raise repeal did not apply to judges.

With six weeks before Election Day, Mr. Swann needs whatever help he can get, whether by spikes in his own popularity or declines in Mr. Rendell's.

Win or lose Nov. 7, Mr. Swann's candidacy alone helps the GOP, Dr. Woesser and Dr. Borick said.

"I'm sure there are people in the party that do not have real optimism that he's going to be able to unseat Rendell, and they're not looking at him in terms of what effect he's going to have on the rest of the ticket," Dr. Borick said. "If he can energize the Republican base, who are more likely to vote straight ticket, other candidates might get a little bit of a push from that."

Celebrity's two sides
Mr. Swann has the kind of name recognition that no amount of campaign dollars can buy, yet he is hampered by the difficulty some have in seeing him as anything other than a jock.

Even people who idolize Mr. Swann for his athletic prowess aren't necessarily aware of his political ambition.

Longtime fan Jeff Kaliner, of Wilkes-Barre, for example, walked past four or five Swann campaign signs at La Festa, Scranton's Labor Day weekend Italian festival, and still didn't realize that the "Swann" written on the signs referred to the football giant.

"I kept seeing these signs, but I didn't even think about it. I didn't realize they meant him," said Mr. Kaliner, who felt faint after shaking Mr. Swann's hand at the festival.

"Somebody hold me up. I'm in shock. This is the best thing ever," he said.

Observers say Mr. Swann's celebrity is both an asset and a hindrance as he runs his campaign.

"A lot of people see him as their football hero," Dr. Borick said. "It draws people to him and gets him attention, but it also creates a wall he has to get over to say, 'Thank you for remembering me as a football star but, in the end, I'm running on my ability to lead as a political figure.' "

That's tough for fans to grasp, even when Mr. Swann is accompanied by an entourage carrying campaign signs.

For a moment at La Festa, it looked as if Mr. Swann had gained ground when a worker at Kay's Pizza booth wished him luck.

"I'm hoping to turn it in a different direction now," Mr. Swann said.

"Yeah, I know," the pizza maker replied. "I'm hoping it'll be against the Cowboys this year."

Mr. Swann nodded and kept walking. As campaign season has progressed, Mr. Swann has limited his time with sports fans to give it more freely to people who stop him to ask about his politics.

"His celebrity got him into the race and helped clear the field for him, but it isn't enough," Dr. Borick said.

That's fine with Mr. Swann's supporters, who say he's got plenty more than football fame going for him.

"Everyone focuses on his celebrity. What they don't focus on is what it took to achieve that," former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton said.

"He started from very humble beginnings. You don't achieve what he has without a lot of grit and determination," said Mr. Scranton, who sought the Republican gubernatorial nomination last year but backed out after Mr. Swann emerged in February as the party favorite.

"It wasn't a personal contest. It was about who could best deliver the message, and he won that contest. I completely support Lynn Swann," Mr. Scranton said. "He and I want the same things."

Pushing tax reductions
Those things include fiscally responsible government, lower taxes, fewer government regulations on farmers and an end to the state's tax on inherited property.

One major part of the platform is a plan to create a system of taxing property by tying payments to a home's purchase price instead of its assessed value. He also wants to prohibit tax increases exceeding the rate of inflation.

"We want a system that's fair and equitable, where you can predict your taxes 10 years from now," Mr. Swann said. "The predictability is as much a sense of relief as anything."

Tax reductions would be offset by budget surpluses, gambling revenue and savings from requiring school employees to enroll in a consolidated statewide benefits program. If that isn't enough to cover, Mr. Swann would dip into the general fund.

Critics from the Rendell camp say the plan is unworkable.

There isn't enough money to cover the reductions promised by Mr. Swann, at least $150 per homeowner in the first year, said Mr. Rendell's campaign spokesman, Dan Fee.

"Where is the money coming from if there isn't a surplus? There's not a big percentage of the budget you can whack because a lot of it is linked to federal mandates," Mr. Fee said. "Their plan doesn't work."

Someone with no political experience, Mr. Fee said, is not a good choice for governor of a large state with a $26 billion budget.

"He's simply unqualified," he said. "Being governor isn't just about making speeches. It's about making progress."

Even some of Mr. Swann's former teammates lack confidence in his abilities to govern.

"He's very bright, he's very articulate and he is hardworking ... but he is a novice to the political government arena," said former Steeler Dwight White, a lifelong Democrat who supports Mr. Rendell.

"There are some things you can only learn through experience and time. There are exceptions to that rule, but I don't know if I'm willing to toss the dice," Mr. White said. "It's not a personal thing. I like Lynn Swann."

Mr. Swann's supporters say his lack of political experience is an asset because he is not beholden to legislators and lobbyists.

"He's not politically connected and he has no agenda. His freshness and newness are huge assets," said longtime friend Gary Brown, a Mt. Lebanon businessman.

"It's not like he's totally unaware of what would happen when he arrives in Harrisburg. He knows the issues and his fresh approach would be welcomed," said Mr. Brown, who met Mr. Swann shortly after the Steelers drafted the wide receiver in 1974.

Since then, Mr. Swann has gotten married, played on four Super Bowl-winning teams, had two children, been a spokesman for a company that makes fibers for sleeping bags, hosted the game show "To Tell the Truth," danced on stage with Gene Kelly and, to the amusement of friends like Mr. Brown, who know of his aversion to cold weather, covered the Iditarod Dog Sled Race in Alaska.

"Just because you're a success at one career doesn't mean you can't transfer those skills and do something else. Being an athlete and having a career in sports doesn't disqualify you from having success in other fields," Mr. Swann said. "I'm not just an athlete."

True.

He also is a TV actor, appearing on episodes of "Family Matters" and "The Paper Chase;" a motivational speaker; a businessman; a former national spokesman for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America; and a board member for H.J. Heinz Co. and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts.

Mr. Swann said his work and volunteer experience helped him hone skills that will transfer easily to the governor's office.

During about 25 years volunteering as national spokesman of Philadelphia-based Big Brothers Big Sisters, he learned about the plight of poor children in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, said Judy Vredenburgh, the organization's chief operating officer.

"With that insight and with his understanding of what people's needs and motivations are, his policies will make a huge difference for kids," Ms. Vredenburgh said.

Early life lessons
At age 12, young Lynn defied his mother, Mildred, who did not want her youngest boy to play a rough-and-tumble sport like football. He sneaked out, anyway, and joined his older brother at tryouts for Pop Warner football. Both made the team.

"My mother let me play, but she said, 'If you're going to play, you can't quit,' " Mr. Swann said. "Now, we had a Marine-drill-sergeant type coach who made us do pushups with weighted vests and run laps."

There were times, he said, that he thought about quitting, but that wasn't an option in the Swann family.

"My mom felt that if I was going to be doing something, I needed to be out there doing it fully. My mom always said, 'Don't give up,' " he said.

He didn't give up then, and he won't now, despite being down in the polls and in fund raising, he says.

"I'm trying to get the job done and I will push as hard as I can," said Swann, who has crisscrossed the state, making campaign appearances at a seemingly exhausting pace.

"I don't think about whether it's hard or easy. I just do what has to be done," he said.