Opinion

Hopkins remains in receiver mode, even though his playing days ended two years ago. Now he's trying to catch Democrat Bill DeWeese at a particularly vulnerable moment politically and unseat the embattled state House majority leader.

"A lot of people are saying to me that they've had enough, that they're ready to go in a different direction," Hopkins said. "It's been very encouraging to me."

So encouraging that with the election still more than three months away, the Republican Hopkins, 36, goes door-knocking daily in the pastoral Greene County farmland where DeWeese, 58, once was considered invincible.

Transitioning from wide receiver to successful politician isn't always easy. Just ask Lynn Swann, the Steelers Hall-of-Famer who, two years ago, was trounced in his attempt to defeat Gov. Ed Rendell.

But Hopkins has an advantage that Swann did not: a scandal-tinged opponent attempting to pass off the scent of skunk as an alluring cologne.

The skunky smell: Twelve people affiliated with the Democratic House Caucus that DeWeese supposedly oversees now face criminal charges related to a scheme that awarded state employees bonuses for performing campaign and nongovernmental work.

DeWeese, though, contends he has come out of the scandal smelling sweetly.

He believes the fact that he wasn't among those charged with criminal activity validates his oft-repeated assertions that he was unaware of the wrongdoing transpiring directly under his nose.

"The claim he knows nothing about it. He's either not telling the truth or he's an incompetent leader," Hopkins said. "If he didn't know what was going on, it's like he was driving the car from the trunk."

Hopkins is a graduate of Waynesburg High School and Slippery Rock University.

He played 11 years in the Arena Football League for the Albany Firebirds and Los Angeles Avengers, and was good enough that the Avengers last year retired his uniform number. That occurred a year after he retired as a player to take his first shot at DeWeese.

The timing seemed right, given that DeWeese in 2005 was one of the staunchest defenders of the infamous -- and later repealed -- legislative pay raises.

Hopkins lost by a little more than 1,000 votes -- 10,035 to 8,994 -- but still got a respectable 47 percent of the vote.

To do better this time, Hopkins will have to overcome DeWeese's considerable monetary edge.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports, DeWeese has $202,000 in his coffers. Hopkins? A little less than that -- $2,125.

Whether he can go from football avenger to taxpayer defender remains to be seen. But one thing is certain as he attempts to reel in the House seat his opponent has occupied for 30 years.

He certainly is catching DeWeese at the right time.

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