Possible Republican candidates in a subsequent special election for the seat could include:

BOB OR BABS? Santorum shouldn't be too concerned over whether his Democrat challenger next year is Caseyor his predecessor as state treasurer, Barbara Hafer.

He should be concerned, however, that either one might be able to knock him off his perch.

A poll released by Hafer had Casey defeating Santorum in a hypothetical election, 47 percent to 40 percent. In a potential Hafer vs. Santorum race, they were tied at 44 percent.

The results of an independent Quinnipac University poll were a bit different, but still indicate Santorum would be vulnerable to both Democrats. The Quinnipac survey had Casey leading Santorum by 46 percent to 41 percent, while Santorum led Hafer 47 percent to 39 percent.

Democrats don't want to weaken their candidate with a divisive primary fight, so expect one of the potential candidates to bow out gracefully.

Casey is the preference of most state and national Democrat officials, so look for him to emerge as the nominee if he decides to run. Casey could announce as early as this week that he will seek the nomination.

Looks as though Santorum may have cost himself some of his conservative base last year by backing Specter, his ailing and considerably more liberal Senate colleague.

PICKING UP A LITTLE EXTRA WORK Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht is moonlighting again.

Wecht has been hired by record Powerball winner Jack Whittaker to re-examine the autopsy report of his granddaughter, Brandi Bragg, 17, who died last year.

West Virginia State Police has classified Bragg's Dec. 5 death as a missing person case that ended in death, not a homicide. Bragg's body was found wrapped in a sheet and tarp on property owned by a boyfriend's father.

The autopsy did not indicate a cause of death.

Whittaker won $314.9 million, the largest undivided lottery jackpot in U.S. history, in December 2002. He took his winnings in a lump sum of $113 million.

FOR WHOM THE ROAD IS TOLLED. Rendell reportedly was taken back by a proposal offered by Senate Majority Leader David "Chip" Brightbill, R-Lebanon County, to levy tolls on Philadelphia's Schuylkill Expressway.

The absurd idea would be akin to tolling Pittsburgh's Parkway East as a way to provide additional state funding for mass transit. Brightbill offered his brainstorm during a closed-door meeting last week among Rendell and lawmakers.

Brightbill would say only the idea had been mentioned to him back home in rural Lebanon County, where folks are upset at possibly spending more state tax dollars to bail out SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) in Philly and, to a lesser extent, the Port Authority of Allegheny County.

There's a growing a belief among Republicans who run the Legislature that Philadelphia should pay more for transit since that area is the biggest user.

Most of the animosity is directed toward SEPTA. But Allegheny County and Pittsburgh could become casualties of the SEPTA wars if the Philadelphia area gears up to grab an overly big slice of the transit pie.

PROUD PAPA. Fayette County's own Kristi Leskinen won a bronze medal in women's freeskiing competition at the X Games held this month in Aspen, Colo., but it wasn't her skill on the slopes that caused men's jaws to drop.

Leskinen, 24, of Uniontown, is also featured in this month's issue of FHM magazine -- wearing lingerie.

But her dad, Fayette County Judge Steve Leskinen, couldn't be prouder of his daughter's performance on and off the slopes.

"You know, Kristi actually finished first among U.S. skiers, which is really quite an achievement. A Norwegian (Grete Eliassen) finished first and Sarah Burke, of Canada, won the silver," he said.

As for the risque posing, Dad said his daughter is an adult and very capable of making her own choices. He said she's hoping the photographs will land her a role on television or in films and added that she's already done some screen tests for a reality series.

"She is 24 now. When she was younger, she had to ask. Now she lets me know what she did," Leskinen said.

After his daughter graduated from high school, Leskinen said, she considered heading to college, but opted to pursue skiing.

"She said she can still attend college when she's 30, but in skiing you only have a short time. She said she'd give it two years to see if she could support herself and, honest to goodness, right at two years she was breaking even and now has money in the bank," the elder Leskinen said.

In the article accompanying the photos, Kristi Leskinen talks about her first trip down the slopes at age 3 at Seven Springs Resort, near Champion. She also mentions that her 6-foot-8-inch dad, who collects knives and guns, has "scared away the boys" all of her life and "he still does."

HERE WE GO AGAIN. The 2006 battle to unseat longtime Democrat state Rep. Larry Roberts may have a familiar ring.

Terry Janosek, of German Township, Fayette County, one of four challengers who lost to the seven-term incumbent Roberts last year, recently said that he is planning to run for Roberts' 51st District seat again in 2006. Janosek also lost a bid for the seat in the 2002 Democrat primary.

Democrat Tim Mahoney, who lost a write-in bid against Roberts in last year's primary, went on to run as an independent in the general election, suffering a loss then as well. Mahoney already has announced that he is not seeking re-election as a Fayette County jury commissioner so he can concentrate on a second House run.

Including Roberts, five men competed for the legislative job last November. The pool had grown to six, but a Commonwealth Court ruling struck Michael Cavanagh from the ballot because of his insurance fraud conviction. Cavanagh continues to fight the case in post-conviction proceedings.

The race was one of the more controversial in the region because of allegations that Roberts forged his nominating petitions and hired a high school dropout to register as a candidate, filtering votes away from Roberts' opponents. The state Attorney General's Office is still investigating.

MEMORY LANE. Cambria County judicial candidate D.C. Nokes Jr. kicked off his campaign for judge in a novel way ... waxing nostalgic.

Nokes said he was beginning his nominating petition drive at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown because he and his better half got together there.

"This is where my wife and I had our first date, and if this initiative turns out to be as wonderful as the last one that began here, this is the right place to start my petition efforts," Nokes said.

PRINCESS OF PORK Hillary Clinton has picked up another coveted honor.

Along with her fellow Democrat senator from New York, Charles Schumer, the former first lady was named Co-Porker of the Month by the government watchdog group Citizens Against Public Waste.

The pair received the award for pledging to fight President Bush's plan to reform the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which Clinton described as a lifeline to New Yorkers.

After a federal evaluation found the CDBG program is ineffective, has an unclear purpose, has loose targeting requirements and lacks results, Bush wants cities to submit their CDBG proposals in advance and compete for funds.

He also has proposed cutting $150 million in New York's CDBG allocation, a drop in the bucket to a state with a gross state product of $826 billion in 2001.

Clinton called the program "a lifeline for many individuals already struggling to make ends meet. And now the president wants to leave them out in the cold."

But that's not exactly true. Citizens Against Public Waste found that past grants to New York have included $500,000 for "streetscape" improvements in Westchester, one of the nation's wealthiest counties. Westchester also received $25,000 to construct a music conservatory.

-- compiled by Tribune-Review staff