Dueling Toms (Corbett & McGarrigle) in Delco

There will be some interesting politics playing out today in Delaware County.

Gov. Tom Corbett is coming to town. The Republican who is facing an uphill re-election battle is making good on his promise to be very visible in the crucial Philadelphia suburbs. He will be at an Aqua Pa compressed natural gas fueling station in Springfield to see first-hand the company's push to convert its fleet of vehicles to natural gas.

That should be music to Corbett's ears. After all, he's been one of the biggest boosters of the state's booming natural gas biz.

That event is at 2:30.

I wonder if he'll drop by the Towne House a couple of hours earlier. That's where County Council Chairman Tom McGarrigle will be delivering the 2014 State of the County Address.

McGarrigle is running for the 26th District state Senate seat being vacated by longtime Sen. Ted Erickson. Last week McGarrigle held a press conference and made good on his campaign pledge to back a severance tax on the state's natural gas drillers. He wants to use that money for education.

McGarrigle will be focusing on the county's 10-year Local Economic Development strategy, and he'll also roll out a new video that trumpets Delco as having "the edge" in history, location, innovation, workforce and quality of life. It's called, "Delaware County: Proud of Our Past, Energized About Our Future."

I wonder how "energized" the governor is with McGarrigle's call for a 4 percent extraction tax on natural gas. For some reason I don't think Corbett will be quite as "energized" about it as the county council leader.

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