John Baer: In his heart, is Dem Rendell Mitt's BFF?

EVEN AS new polling in Pennsylvania and other key states shows President Obama holding or expanding leads over Gov. Romney, the self-proclaimed "leading Democrat in the state" sees a way for Mitt to turn the race around.

Yep, Ed Rendell says that Mitt can out-debate Obama, push the "basic fact that the economy is still not in good shape" and argue that "if it's not working, what do you have to lose in trying someone new?"

His comments came during a question-and-answer session at a Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon in Harrisburg earlier this week.

(I initially thought that calling himself "the leading Democrat in the state" was a tad self-serving, but, after pondering this, now I'm thinking, if he isn't, who is?)

But is he pushing for a Republican surge, merely playing MSNBC analyst, using reverse psychology or just being Eddie?

Who knows?

What I do know is that it's not the first time that the former governor, former mayor and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee has stuck up for Romney.

Back in 2007, then-Gov. Rendell twice publicly expressed confidence in and admiration for then-candidate Romney.

He did so first at a March press-club luncheon and then at a Harrisburg Regional Chamber event in May.

In March of '07, he called Romney "the Republican to watch."

In May, he said that all the Democratic candidates then in the '08 presidential field had "flaws as general-election candidates," and that worried him.

He added that all Republican candidates also had flaws, "with the possible exception of Gov. Romney, who I have a huge regard for."

If that endorsement was reverse psychology intended to scare Republicans away from Mitt, it worked.

The presumed-flawless Romney of '07 bombed early in the '08 primary season, unable to live down the moderate views he appeared to hold as governor of Massachusetts and unable to shake the label of "flip-flopper."

His leaving the race handed the nomination to Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Still, to show that some things twixt then and now haven't much changed, here's what Mitt said in his Feb. 7, 2008, withdrawal speech:

"It's high time to lower taxes, including corporate taxes, to take a weed-whacker to government regulations, to reform entitlements and to stand up to the increasingly voracious appetite of the unions in our government!"

Sound familiar? Sound like someone Rendell would have a "huge regard" for?

Yet, there was Ed on Monday on statewide TV again saying positive things about Republican Romney.

While agreeing that the trend of the race favors Obama, Ed said that the first presidential debate (Oct. 3) offers Mitt the chance to "turn the race around."

He called Romney a "good, strong debater," as evidenced during GOP primaries this year, and said that Obama is "not quite as good," because the president has trouble distilling his thoughts into 90-second sound bites.

Ed even offered examples from past campaigns in which trailing candidates such as Walter Mondale in 1984 and John Kerry in 2004 used the first debate to close the gap.

Of course, they both lost.

So, maybe that's where Ed really was headed. If so, new polling seems to back him up.

Not only does a new Daily News/Franklin & Marshall College poll show Obama up by 11 points in Pennsylvania, two new Washington Post polls show Obama leading in Ohio (52-44) and in Florida (51-47).

These last two states are critical to Electoral College totals and essential to any path to a GOP win.

Any way you cut it, Romney isn't having a good run right now. Not in needed states. Not in Pennsylvania.

So, I suppose it's possible that the "leading Democrat in the state" is merely trying to cheer up his old Republican pal.