Greg Hopkins knows how to pull out a last-minute victory.

Just ask his former Arena Football League teammates and the owners of the Los Angeles Avengers, who voted him among the top 20 players in league history and who retired his number last year after Mr. Hopkins called it quits, with 10,000 yards and 11 years in the AFL.

But Mr. Hopkins, 36, a Republican, is finding himself facing third and long in his race for the state House's 50th District seat against embattled state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, who is far outspending his opponent.

The district includes all of Greene County and small parts of Washington and Fayette counties.

Mr. DeWeese, 58, is House majority leader, is facing controversy for the second time in three years and finds himself in a rematch with Mr. Hopkins, whom he barely held off two years ago.

Then, Mr. DeWeese was at the center of the late-night pay raises the Legislature granted itself and other elected officials. Now, he faces allegations by his former chief of staff that he knew about a scheme to funnel $1.6 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to House staff members for doing campaign work.

Mr. DeWeese, a 32-year incumbent who previously served as speaker of the House, has denied knowledge of the bonus scheme, and said his former chief of staff, Mike Manzo, is lying to keep himself and his wife out of prison.

The scandal has resulted in the indictment of 12 people, including former Minority Whip Mike Veon, of Beaver County.

Mr. DeWeese has resisted calls from a number of other Democratic lawmakers that he step down as majority leader.

Mr. Hopkins, a Morris auditor who lives on his family's 250-acre beef cattle farm in Nineveh, Greene County, is making another run after losing by a little more than 1,000 votes.

Some in the district say Mr. Hopkins missed his first and best chance to unseat Mr. DeWeese in 2006, and that Bonusgate just hasn't caused a ripple of anger in the 50th District.

"I really get the sense that people don't understand exactly what the big deal is," said Cindy Bailey, publisher of GreeneSpeak, a monthly publication in Greene County. People seem to wonder why office staff members wouldn't also be working on campaigns, Ms. Bailey said.

Compared to the pay raise, which irritated voters to the point that some slammed doors in his face, Mr. DeWeese said the bonus flap is a minor bump in the road, especially because he hasn't been indicted or reprimanded after a nearly two-year investigation.

"This race does not parallel the intense atmosphere of the pay raise," Mr. DeWeese said.

That hasn't stopped Mr. Hopkins, who believes in term limits, from running television ads questioning Mr. DeWeese's integrity and honesty.

Though he has raised far less than the incumbent -- about $60,000 to Mr. DeWeese's veritable war chest at an estimated $800,000 -- Mr. Hopkins has assistance this year from the House Republican Campaign Committee, which is targeting the seat and helping to fund the commercials, radio spots and other advertising.

Mr. DeWeese will spend only a portion of what he raises on his race, because most of the funds are forwarded to the House Democratic Caucus and other candidates. Mr. DeWeese estimates he'll spend about $200,000 on the race -- still far outpacing Mr. Hopkins.

His advertising includes a television spot critical of Mr. Hopkins for calling the region a "welfare state," and a kitschy commercial featuring cowboys poking fun at Mr. Hopkins' background as a model and questioning how much time Mr. Hopkins has spent in the district while working as a coach for the Avengers. Mr. Hopkins no longer works as a linebacker coach for the team.

Mr. Hopkins has maintained that Mr. DeWeese knew, or should have known, the nature of the bonuses.

A Hopkins billboard along Route 21 near Waynesburg asks the question: "Had Enough?"

"The message is being heard and people are fed up with it," said Mr. Hopkins on a recent door-to-door campaign stop in Waynesburg's 3rd Ward. He's said he's knocked on nearly 5,000 doors this year.

"I don't like Bill DeWeese anymore," said 71-year-old Janet Alexander. "I like what [Mr. Hopkins] stands for."

Ms. Alexander, who works in the Waynesburg High School cafeteria, said she can't retire, despite breaking her hip, because her property tax bill is too high.

There are about three Democrats for every Republican in the district, although most residents are socially conservative, especially when it comes to guns and abortion.

"How do you feel about abortion?" Republican Vickie Denzer asked Mr. Hopkins when he stopped at her house.

"I'm pro-life," he said.

"Excellent," said Mrs. Denzer. "We believe that's very important."

Mrs. Denzer and her husband, David, a Democrat, said they will cast votes for Mr. Hopkins.

Mr. Hopkins has support in the western portion of Greene County, while Mr. DeWeese seems to have maintained his base among coal towns along the Monongahela River. Thanks to his pro-gun stance and other issues, Mr. DeWeese still enjoys some support among Republican voters.

If campaign signs are any indication, Mr. DeWeese isn't being helped by the national ticket.

"Republicans for DeWeese" signs were featured in some yards next to "Nobama" signs, and even some for state Attorney General Tom Corbett, the Republican who has led the investigation into illegal bonuses.

Fastidious from his days as a Marine officer -- Mr. DeWeese measures his shoe laces and washed his truck twice a week until a voter pointed out that it was too clean -- and a self-professed "double germo-phobe," whose truck is full of pump bottles of antibacterial gel, Mr. DeWeese chooses his words carefully when talking to constituents or the media.

And what words they are.

Mr. DeWeese has a vast vocabulary. He can quote William Shakespeare or Woodrow Wilson on command, and his speeches could rival those of even the most animated Baptist minister, but they are also an annoyance to some, including one local Democratic committeewoman who said, "Who wants to hear a speech then have to run home and look it up in the dictionary?"

On a recent door-to-door visit to the village of Nemacolin in Cumberland, Greene County, Mr. DeWeese called himself "the most senior ranking public official" in the state, next to the governor.

He's generally well-received and even treated as a celebrity in some areas, as constituents remind him of funding he secured for a local fire department or assistance he gave one senior in obtaining her income tax return.

Whether that familiarity will be enough to put him over the top remains unclear, though, as Greene and Fayette counties have remained among the poorest in the state.

Mr. DeWeese highlights his work in bringing the third state prison to the area -- the state Department of Corrections recently committed to finding a Fayette County site for a 2,000-bed, medium-security prison -- along with millions in state grants for local economic development and services.

He also points to the burgeoning natural gas industry in the area, which now includes several hundred wells, and will eventually bring jobs and revenue to the district.

"The natural gas industry is exploding and potentially may have hundreds of jobs over the next few years," said Mr. DeWeese.

Dr. Joseph DiSarro, chairman of the political science department at Washington and Jefferson College, said it's unlikely that the latest scandal will cost Mr. DeWeese his job, although it has weakened him.

"The clean government argument sometimes falls on deaf ears," he said.

"I think his chances are good, but more importantly, we need him," said William Groves, a Democratic supervisor and volunteer firefighter in Cumberland, Greene County.

And if he loses re-election? Mr. DeWeese said he will contact KDKA Radio and ask if he can replace talk show host Marty Griffin, who has been openly lobbying for voters to oust Mr. DeWeese.

"I'd be a more effective communicator," he said.