A kinder, gentler Ed?

Did you hear about Gov. Rendell scolding Democrats for being so partisan? In our own Scott Detrow’s blog, he notes some hard shots Pennsylvania Democrats have taken at incoming Republican governor Tom Corbett, and says Rendell told them to back off.

“Let’s give him some breathing space,” Rendell said. “To attack him at this point comes with ill grace.”

Looks like Rendell is preparing himself for the political afterlife.

Over the weekend, I asked Rendell’s closest advisor David L. Cohen what was next for the guv.

“It will be a combination of things,” he said. “It won’t be any one full time job.”

Rendell is working on a book, which Cohen said he’s really writing himself. He’ll keep teaching his class at the University of Pennsylvania. He’ll do some national speaking, and he’s likely to become a paid TV pundit.

He’s now represented by uber-agent Ari Emanuel, and there was a rumor circulating at the Pennsylvania Society that he could get a quarter million a year to do two to three appearances a week on Fox News programs.

“I won’t get into the money,” Cohen said, but noted that the three biggest cable public affairs channels – Fox, CNN and MSNBC are all possibilities.

It will be interesting to see whether these pursuits are enough to absorb Rendell’s energy and feed his ambition.

I covered his two terms as Philadelphia mayor, and he just never stopped working. When he finally took a trip to Paris with his wife in the second term, aides told me he was constantly calling in, almost looking for a reason to return to city hall.

I noted to Cohen that in the 33 years since Rendell was elected Philadelphia District Attorney, there haven’t been many when he wasn’t running something or running for office. Cohen nodded, and acknowledged it will be an adjustment for him.

When Rendell spoke at a seminar last week in New York, several attendees recalled him saying, “the next time you hear me speak, somebody will be paying me.”

UPDATE: Chris Brennan of the Daily News blog PhillyClout has an interesting take on Rendell defending Corbett. He recalls that a few weeks back Rendell was piling on the flimsy accusation that Corbett wanted to supress votes in Philadelphia. Read Brennan’s post here.