HARRISBURG - Marguerite "Peg" Luksik of Johnstown may run for governor this year as the Constitutional Party candidate.

Luksik said Wednesday that she'll officially announce her political intentions at the party's convention in March. Luksik, a housewife and mother of six, strongly indicated that she'll enter the race against incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Ridge and Ivan Itkin, a Squirrel Hill Democrat.

Several Luksik supporters said private polling indicates she has "double digit" support even before officially declaring her candidacy. Luksik refused to confirm or deny those reports. However, she confirmed her strong anti-abortion, anti-gun control and pro-states rights stance.

Luksik operates Mom's House, a shelter for unwed mothers in the Johnstown area. She narrowly lost the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1990 to then-Auditor General Barbara Hafer and ran as a third party candidate in 1994 when Ridge defeated Democrat Mark Singel.

"If she (Luksik) runs, it certainly changes everything," said Sen. Allen Kukovich, a Westmoreland County Democrat. Kukovich declined further comment and refused to say whether he would consider entering the gubernatorial race with Luksik as an independent or third party candidate.

Luksik was at the Capitol yesterday to testify in support of pending legislation that would give third party and independent candidates easier access to election ballots.

The General Assembly passed a bill last year that would have made independent and third-party candidacies virtually impossible in statewide elections. The governor vetoed that legislation after strong public outcry.

"When our founding fathers incorporated the Bill of Rights into the Constitution, they were affirming the inherent rights of the individual against the government collective," Luksik testified. "To preserve those individual rights, they gave us a republic, not a democracy. In a republic, the rights of the one, or the few, are protected from the tyranny of the many."

Easy ballot access for independent or third-party candidates, she said, often assures that minority viewpoints become part of the public policy debate.

Luksik said strict ballot access laws only protect the established political parties, not voters.

The committee also heard similar testimony from officials of the Reform, Libertarian and Green parties.

Chris Hollenden of Bethel Park said his Reform Party candidacy in a special election last year forced both Democratic and Republican candidates to address issues that concerned his supporters.

Rep. John Maher, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, won that election to replace the late Rep. Al Pettit, who died of cancer last June.

Hollenden indicated that he may run in that legislative district again this year.