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Allentown Mayor Pawlowski Exits Gubernatorial Race

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski has ended his bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

In so doing, he’s trumpeting his support for Democratic state Treasurer Rob McCord.

Pawlowski said he hopes the now seven-person field thins to minimize any intra-party bickering that he says would make it more likely that incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett secures a second term.

He says his decision comes down to money.

"I talked about the message," Pawlowski said. "To get that message out, it takes dollars. And when you have someone like Tom Wolf who’s dropping, what, $350,000 a week, says he’s going to drop just on putting out TV ads, I don’t know how to compete with that."

Campaign finance reports due at the end of last month showed leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates raised more than $27 million for their individual campaigns.

Pawlowski said he’s not ruling out a potential bid for lieutenant governor.

McCord isn’t forswearing asking Pawlowski to join his administration should he be elected as governor, but he said the two men made “no deals.”