HARRISBURG -- Attorney General Tom Corbett fell behind in the early innings last night, but roared back to win a second term as the state's top law enforcement officer.

For much of the evening, the 59-year-old Shaler resident trailed his Democratic challenger, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, sometimes by several percentage points.

But with nearly all the votes counted early this morning, Mr. Corbett was comfortably ahead.

Mr. Corbett's campaign manager, Brian Nutt, said that with popular Barack Obama at the head of the Democratic national ticket, all Republicans had their work cut out for them yesterday.

"The election results are a testament to Tom Corbett's record and his keeping the promises he made four years ago, to fight child predators and elder abuse," Mr. Nutt said. "That is what voters want -- to elect someone who keeps his word."

Was the Corbett camp nervous when he fell behind early?

"You're always nervous," Mr. Nutt said.

He said he was glad that many voters split their tickets, voting for Mr. Obama for president but for Mr. Corbett for a second term.

"In one traditionally Republican precinct in suburban Harrisburg, Obama carried it by 150 votes, but Tom carried it by 600 votes," Mr. Nutt said.

Early on, Mr. Morganelli was helped by results from heavily Democratic Philadelphia. Mr. Corbett initially fell behind in his home county of Allegheny but ended up winning it as suburban votes came in.

Mr. Corbett had two goals in yesterday's re-election race: to avoid becoming the first Republican candidate to lose a race for attorney general since the office became elective in 1980, and to boost his chances if he decides to run for governor in 2010.

Mr. Morganelli is the first active county prosecutor chosen by the Democrats to run for the state's top law enforcement office. He has been the district attorney in the Eastern Pennsylvania county since 1992. He was hoping that such lengthy experience, combined with the coattails of popular Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, would help him upset Mr. Corbett.

Coming in a distant third in the race was Libertarian Party candidate, Marakay Rogers.

Mr. Corbett and his aides were gathered last night at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh to watch the results.

One of the biggest topics in the campaign, though Mr. Corbett didn't talk about it as a political issue, was the so-called Bonusgate investigation, the attorney general's 20-month probe into whether taxpayers' funds were given illegally for political work done in the 2006 House and Senate campaigns.

So far, a dozen people, all of them either present or former House Democrats or their staffers, have been charged by Mr. Corbett with illegally giving or receiving such bonuses.

Many political observers expect that Mr. Corbett may not finish out his second four-year term, though, opting instead to seek the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.