Pat Meehan is returning to his roots – politics.

Before he was the district attorney of Delaware County, and before he was tapped by President George W. Bush to be the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, Meehan used to work for Sen. Arlen Specter. He actually ran one of Specter’s Senate campaigns.

Meehan continued a long-standing tradition in Delaware County, which saw the district attorney usually rising from the deep Republican ranks of Drexel Hill.

He was elected the county D.A. in 1995 and almost immediately burst into the national limelight when he handled the prosecution of eccentric millionaire John du Pont, who was charged with the murder of Olympic wrestler Dave Schultz on his Newtown Square estate. The case made national headlines, with the belief being du Pont at the time may have been the richest man in U.S. history ever to face trial for murder.

Meehan went on to being the top lawman in Eastern Pennsylvania and immediately gained a reputation as a corruption-buster. Again he found himself in the national headlines when a bug was discovered in the office of Philadelphia Mayor John Street just weeks before the election in October 2003. It was believed that backlash from the discovery propelled incumbent Mayor John Street to a big win over Republican Sam Katz.

But Meehan wasn’t done with the Street Administration. His office handled prosecutions of any number of Street confidantes, including the city treasurer and one of Street’s biggest fund-raisers. Street himself was never charged.

Meehan is back in the news, not for what he’s doing, but for something he is no longer going to be doing. And for something he may very well soon be doing.

Meehan, with a presidential election meaning a new boss will take the helm in November, resigned Monday.

The general talk is that Meehan could be a Republican candidate for governor in 2010. Gov. Ed Rendell won’t be able to seek another term.

Republicans could do a lot worse.

Ironically, for someone who has been as high profile as Meehan, he will face the same dilemma as many in the Philadelphia region when they seek statewide office.

Once you hit the Lancaster County line and farther west, has anyone ever heard of them?

Rendell faced that problem – and overcame it – although he also had a national reputation gained during a stint as head of the Democratic National Committee.

Meehan is non-committal, saying he only wants a little time to “decompress” from the rigors of his current position.

Don’t bet against him if he decides to seek the governor’s mansion. He could wind up being the Republican equivalent of Ed Rendell, a guy with a big reputation in southeastern Pennsylvania with his eye on a bigger stage.