HARRISBURG -- Some major political offices, including Pennsylvania governor and U.S. senator, will be up for grabs next year, and a number of candidates are already running or close to declaring.

But oddly enough, what's attracting the most candidates is the race for lieutenant governor -- a job that's not often seen as a seat of power.

"Some people compare it to being the Maytag repairman," quipped former Erie County Executive Rick Schenker, who quickly added that he disagrees with that assessment and thinks the job can be influential.

Mr. Schenker is one of five Republicans who have declared their candidacy for the No. 2 spot. The others include Bucks County Commissioner Jim Cawley, Chester County Commissioner Carole Aichele, York County businessman Steve Johnson and Dauphin County Commissioner Dominic DiFrancesco.

Other possibles are state Sen. John Pippy of Moon; former state Rep. John Kennedy of Cumberland County; Montgomery County Commissioner Jim Matthews, who lost a bid for lieutenant governor in 2006 on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann; state Rep. Tom Killion of Delaware County; state Rep. Karen Beyer of Northampton; Philadelphia City Councilman Frank Rizzo (son of the outspoken former mayor of Philly in the 1970s); and Jean Craige Pepper of Erie, who ran and lost for state treasurer in 2004.

Charlie Gerow, a Harrisburg political consultant who's working for Mr. Johnson, said his candidate "is a small businessman who's tired of 'business as usual' in Harrisburg. He wants to change things."

So does Mr. Schenker, who is vowing to reform state government, including a push to reduce the size of the Legislature, institute term limits for legislators and ban lobbyists from giving political contributions to elected officials.

"I have watched this stuff happen in Harrisburg since the pay raise debacle of 2005," he said. "There's a whole culture of corruption there I want to change."

Mr. Killion, who set up a committee to explore a candidacy last week, said the GOP "needs to nominate individuals for statewide office who know the issues [and] will fight for good government."

State GOP party spokesman Mike Barley said the large number of Republican candidates "bodes well for us -- it shows we have a good chance of winning in 2010."

Republicans hope to benefit from what's called "the eight-year cycle." Every eight years -- since the 1950s -- Democrats and Republicans have alternated control of state government. With Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell ending his eight-year term in January 2011, some people think it will be the GOP's turn next.

Patrick Meehan of Delaware County, the former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, had once been seen as the leading GOP lieutenant governor candidate in 2010, on a ticket headed by state Attorney General Tom Corbett for governor. Mr. Meehan recently dropped out of the race for governor and endorsed Mr. Corbett. Now Mr. Meehan is expected to run for Congress -- the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.

On the Democratic side, there is one declared candidate for lieutenant governor, former Philadelphia Controller Jonathan Saidel. Others being mentioned include state Rep. Josh Shapiro of Montgomery; Scranton Mayor Christopher Doherty (who's also being mentioned as a gubernatorial candidate); and former state Treasurer Robin Wiessmann, a Rendell ally.

It's not mandatory, but political parties like to have geographic balance in the hometowns of their candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.

There are two likely GOP gubernatorial candidates in 2010 -- Mr. Corbett, who is from Shaler, and U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, from Chester County. Most of the GOP lieutenant governor candidates are from eastern Pennsylvania, so geographically they would seem to fit better with Mr. Corbett.

Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor don't usually run as a team in the primary in May. The winners of the two primary races simply team up to run in the November general election.

In 2002, Mr. Rendell won the Democratic nomination for governor (defeating then-state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr.), while Catherine Baker Knoll won a nine-way race for lieutenant governor; thus the Rendell-Knoll ticket was born. But Mrs. Knoll was never a close political confidante of Mr. Rendell.

While the lieutenant governor is only "a heartbeat away" from running the state, most of his or her time is spent on more mundane tasks, such as presiding over sessions of the state Senate or chairing the state Board of Pardons and the state Emergency Management Agency.

Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia political consultant, doesn't understand why there is such interest in the lieutenant governor's job. If a candidate wants to run for that office, "I try to discourage them," he said.

"You get a big beautiful house [in Lebanon County, 20 miles east of Harrisburg] and a nice office on the third floor of the Capitol, but it's sort of like being 'vice president of Pennsylvania'. Unless something happens to the governor, it's for the most part a dead-end job. You're only as good as what the governor will let you do."

But lieutenant governors have risen to the top job twice in the past 15 years. Mark Singel filled in for Gov. Bob Casey for a while in 1993, when Mr. Casey underwent an operation, and Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker served as governor from October 2001 to January 2003 after Gov. Tom Ridge became federal homeland security director.

"It can be a stepping stone" to the governor's chair, Mr. Gerow said.

The amount of heavy lifting that a lieutenant governor does "really depends on the governor," said lobbyist Monica Kline, the daughter of Ernest Kline, who was lieutenant governor in the 1970s under Gov. Milton Shapp.

"Gov. Shapp gave my dad a lot of jobs to do," she said.

But Mr. Ceisler said that being lieutenant governor is no guarantee of being elected governor. That hasn't happened since the late 1960s, when Lt. Gov. Raymond Shaffer succeeded Gov. Bill Scranton.

In 1978, Mr. Kline lost the primary election for governor; Gov. Scranton's son Bill, who was lieutenant governor under Gov. Richard Thornburgh in the early 1980s, lost the 1986 governor's race to Democrat Bob Casey; and Lt. Gov. Singel lost to Republican Tom Ridge in 1994.