WASHINGTON -- That's the Lincoln Memorial on the right and the Washington Monument up ahead. And here's the peripatetic Peg Luksik, conservative activist and two-time (and would-be?) Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, zipping toward the studios of National Empowerment Television.

It's 8 p.m., two hours before her weekly gig as host of The Learning Curve, a show that is shown across cable systems and satellite dishes nationwide and dissects everything from the dumbing down of textbooks to the perils of premarital sex. Luksik has just spent more than three hours in her Ford Escort, driving from her Johnstown home, and after the show she'll jump into the car again and head back, stopping only for a meatball sandwich and soda at a convenience store in Frederick, Md.

It's yet another busy day in the life of a woman who, perhaps more than any other political figure in Pennsylvania right now, might pose a threat to Gov. Ridge in his reelection effort next year.

Nobody believes Luksik can beat Ridge, but some Republicans are privately worried -- and some Democrats are equally hopeful -- that Luksik could draw just enough conservative votes from Ridge to allow a Democrat to eke out a win.

Luksik's always on the go. TV show. Six children. Soccer and football practices. Saxophone lessons. Ballet recitals. Reading to the children at bedtime.

She still heads Mom's House, the home (actually 11 of them now, in four states) that she started in 1983 to provide day care and other services to single mothers who want to attend high school or college. Then there are the cross-country speaking engagements -- the education talk in Texas, the civics lesson in Wisconsin.

Now, since the beginning of the year, Luksik's on TV -- part of the staple of educational and political fare on the network founded by Paul Weyrich, big dog of the conservative movement who started his shows as an alternative to what he viewed as the liberal bias of the regular networks.

More about the TV show later. Right now, Luksik's talking politics, specifically the 1998 campaign for governor, or the probably-but-not-definite 1998 campaign for governor, the one Luksik may wage next year as the standard bearer for the Constitutional Party, just as she did in 1994, when she pulled 13 percent of the vote from Republican Tom Ridge and Democrat Mark Singel.

That was actually Luksik's second spin around the state for governor. She won a surprising 46 percent of the Republican primary vote in 1990, nearly knocking off endorsed GOP candidate Barbara Hafer.

In both instances, Luksik was able to win the hard-core antiabortion voters and the antigovernment crowd.

Luksik has not made a final decision on whether she will run again, but she sure sounds like a candidate: "To say it's an idle consideration would be false. It's serious," she said. "We're working to put the pieces together."

Working indeed Unlike seven years ago, when she literally ran for governor from her kitchen, and unlike three years ago, when she put together a campaign in three months, this time Luksik is moving in a more organized fashion. She has a four-person, all-volunteer political team.

"Everything's spread out among everybodys houses," said Luksik. That's the nice thing about a grassroots campaign. Were people-rich.

Luksik still has a $22,364 debt from her previous campaign, according to campaign expense reports, but she said those obligations would be paid before she begins a new race.

Luksik, 42, is an antiabortion activist and former schoolteacher whose visibility and viability as a political force have grown to match her energy. For more than a decade now, she has been a force in Harrisburg, bird-dogging issues ranging from sex education to the controversial outcomes-based education (OBE) guidelines that the state wanted to use to measure student performance.

She has been a relentless force in conservative circles, leading candidates from the right to court her counsel and her blessing.

Weyrich thought enough of Luksik that besides offering her the TV show, his political organization donated $1,800 to her campaign committee in 1996.

No element of education escaped Luksik's notice. That expertise and her conservative politics made her a natural to host The Learning Curve, which is done live Wednesdays from 10 to 11 p.m. on the East Coast. Luksik picks her topics, interviews her guests, takes phone calls from viewers, and occasionally stands at a chalkboard to teach a lesson or two.

She has conducted a college quiz bowl, done person-on-the-street interviews to ask people what they know about the U.S. Constitution, and dug out her own personal collection of school textbooks that date back to the 1890s to prove her point that students are taught today at a slower pace.

She has discussed ebonics, phonics and "whole language" reading instruction.

"It's to acquaint people with what's happening with education," she said. "I can talk to more people at the same time than I could at any town meeting."

This month, her topic is sex education. And the show features an obstetrician from Austin, Texas, warning that teenagers are mistaken if they believe condoms will prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Luksik has a one-year contract to do the show. She won't reveal her salary.

Because the show has a national audience, Luksik does not highlight Pennsylvania more than any other state.

Tamara Stonebarger, producer of the The Learning Curve, said Luksik, who has never done a TV show before, has proved to be a great host. "People are interested in what Peg has to say, and she's a very low-maintenance host, as far as scripting," said Stonebarger. 'I give her bullet points, but she does a lot of her own stuff."

How many people in Pennsylvania tune in to Luksik’s show is unclear. Just two cable companies in the state carry NET, but there are more than 200,000 homes with satellite dishes, according to the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association, and many can pick up Luksik’s show.

Working as a member of the media has been a bit of adjustment for Luksik.

"I've always been the person the camera comes to see, and this is different," she said.

Luksik still manages to come within the range of camera viewfinders. Earlier this week, for instance, she was in Harrisburg to lobby for a bill that would make it easier for third-party candidates to get on the election ballot.

Luksik said Ridge was vulnerable on several issues -- raising the gasoline tax when the state has a surplus, going back-and-forth on state funding for contraceptives, and raising huge amounts of money for his campaign.

"He's followed the trends I don't think he's set trends," she said.

How much of a threat Luksik is to Ridge is arguable. G. Terry Madonna, political analyst at Millersville University, said Ridge had nothing to fear. Exit polls and Madonna's own research from 1994 showed Luksik's votes that year coming almost equally from Republicans and Democrats.

In addition, Madonna noted, third-party candidates typically experience a decline in support the longer they hang around.

"She's the Ross Perot of 1998," said Madonna. "As Ross Perot got 20 percent in 1992 and 8 percent in 1996, she does 13 percent in 1994 and 6, 7 or 8 percent in 1998. Ridge's big fears are a collapse in the economy and personal scandal. Short of that, there's very little that can defeat him, especially Peg Luksik."

Luksik said she expected her speaking schedule to increase over the coming months. If she runs for governor, she will run as a member of the Constitutional Party.

Before committing herself-- the last day for an independent candidate to circulate and file petitions is Aug. 3, 1998 -- she said she wanted to make certaln she had a solid organization, good ideas, and a network of people who were clearly willing to make the campaign -- and a government -- work.

"It's conceivable I may not run," she said. "All the people in this are concerned about one thing: "Are they doing what God wants us to do?"