Two years ago, state Rep. Vince Biancucci, D-Center, faced a primary challenge from print shop owner Domenic Leone and retired engineer Roger Strauss.

Mr. Biancucci beat Mr. Leone by 864 votes -- but with Mr. Strauss getting 1,324 votes, Mr. Biancucci had less than a majority.

Mr. Strauss is gone this time around. That might appear to be very good news for Mr. Leone, who is going head-to-head with Mr. Biancucci for the Democratic nod in the 15th House District, which includes most of central and southwestern Beaver County.

But that is not the only difference between 2008 and 2006.

The legislative pay raise that infuriated voters in 2006 is now two years' further faded in memory -- and a more even-tempered electorate may do a better job remembering that Mr. Biancucci did not vote for it. Mike Veon, the House minority whip from Beaver Falls who became the eye of an anti-incumbent hurricane, also is gone, so associations with him should have less backlash for other Beaver County politicians.

And there have been positive whispers on the economic front, with a new biodiesel plant in Potter, talk of ethanol plants in Aliquippa and continuing retail development in Center.

Mr. Biancucci, 67, said one thing that helped his district land the biodiesel plant was the availability of a shovel-ready site, something not always available in Beaver County, where prime industrial land tends to be littered with old buildings and unknown contaminants.

He wants to encourage more such development by continuing the state's focus on redeveloping so-called brownfields by clearing them and doing the necessary environmental work.

"We want to make sure Beaver County is a viable area for people to come in and grow their businesses," he said, citing programs such as Growing Greener and Business in Our Sites.

The other huge, ongoing issue Mr. Biancucci wants to keep working on is property tax reform. He noted that while casino revenue -- ballyhooed as the solution to tax woes when the legislature approved slot machines in 2004 -- has not yet reached expectations, it is a large step in the right direction.

"We're looking for other sources," he said. He noted that a 0.5 percent increase in the state sales tax would yield $750 million -- almost equal to the $770 million coming from gambling revenue. Together they would be "a substantial amount of money to put into property tax relief," he said.

Mr. Biancucci noted, though, that it's difficult to find any one solution given Pennsylvania's diversity. Adding to the sales tax would be tough on Allegheny County, for instance, because it already adds a percentage point on sales.

The other way to ease the property tax burden would be, of course, through lower spending by schools, which are primarily supported through local property taxes. That's one reason Mr. Biancucci has been encouraging the consolidation talks going on between the Center and Monaca school districts.

He said the consolidation could save $1.5 million to $2 million annually, which would be a boon to local taxpayers and, since the state supports both districts, to all state taxpayers. If the consolidation sparked a wave of others and they yielded similar savings, it could make a huge difference.

"It's also extremely important because they would have more to offer students" -- with a larger enrollment, a new district formed from the two would be able to offer more advanced courses and other electives, he said.

"We, as the state, should be offering incentives," Mr. Biancucci said, noting that the current budget includes a line item for funding to support school districts with the process of merging or consolidating.

Mr. Biancucci said that if he earns a fourth term in office he also wants to focus on expanding health care coverage for children and the elderly, in particular. He was an aide to his predecessor, Nick Colafella, for 17 years, and before that was the band director at Center Area High School.

Mr. Leone, 51, of Hopewell, owns Henderson Printing in Rochester and a number of rental properties. He has not held elective office, but has served as a state Democratic committeeman, a county Housing Authority commissioner and treasurer of the Rochester Development Commission.

Two years ago, Mr. Leone used his campaign to call for a smaller Legislature and lower business taxes.

His message is still essentially the same.

"When a business comes to a community here, the first thing they ask is 'what kind of tax breaks can you give me?'" he said -- which tells him the taxes are too high in the first place.

"We are burdening our businesses and our citizens with all these taxes," he said.

And the first way he sees to save money is in a reduction of the size of the Legislature, which was a hot issue in 2006, in the wake of the legislative pay hike. Pennsylvania has the largest full-time Legislature in the country, one Mr. Leone called "top-heavy."

Mr. Leone noted that a recent bill aimed at downsizing the Legislature was turned down; he said getting people to essentially vote themselves out of office would not be easy.

"It's something that's not going to just happen in a year or two," he said. A possibility, he said, would be a plan that would extend the downsizing into the future. "We've got to get a group of people in there that know they have that many years to figure out what they're going to do afterward," he said.

Mr. Leone also wants to see the state push for shared services in local government, and even for mergers like the one being discussed by the Center and Monaca School Districts. He praised Allegheny County for eliminating row offices, and noted that local governments nationwide are consolidating and streamlining.

"You've got to go with the times," he said. "Some of these school districts have got to merge."

With such efficiencies on top of a smaller Legislature, he said, the government would start to look a little like a profitable business.

"Any business that was run the way our government is run would be bankrupt," he said.

Mr. Leone said that as part of his own business, he has long chosen to let his property taxes go delinquent while he invests the funds elsewhere.

With the county charging only 3 percent interest, it was a good deal, and he always paid his taxes eventually. He said many Beaver County property owners did the same.

He has some $16,000 in delinquent taxes on a couple of properties, including his Rochester print shop.

But it's a practice that Mr. Leone said is coming to an end. He said Beaver County just raised the interest it charges from 3 to 10 percent, and municipalities are starting to follow suit.

The winner will face Beaver council member Jim Christiana in November. He is the unopposed Republican.