By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

The mostly conservative voters in Pennsylvania’s north-central 5th District won’t be exerting any influence on Tuesday in the Republican presidential contest, which John McCain clinched weeks ago. But area Republicans will weigh in on a crowded primary election that probably will determine the successor to retiring six-term Republican Rep. John E. Peterson .

Nine Republicans are vying for the party’s nod in Pennsylvania’s 5th, a vast swath of Pennsylvania that covers one-fourth of the state’s land area, scooping up State College, the site of the Penn State University campus, and substantial rural territory.

The leading candidates appear to be Matt Shaner, a real estate development; [@url@Jeff Stroehmann@http://www.jeffstroehmann.com/], a businessman and former local township supervisor; and Derek Walker, a financial consultant.

All three candidates are personally wealthy, and a majority of each candidate’s receipts has come from his personal accounts. They’re self-described conservatives who want to use the area’s abundant natural resources to help bring the nation toward energy independence.

Shaner, Walker and Stroehmann are the only three Republican candidates who reported raising more than $100,000 through April 2, the cutoff point for the most recent batch of campaign finance reports that Pennsylvania candidates had to file. Peterson announced his retirement in early January, giving candidates about three and a half months to wage a campaign in the 11,000-square mile district.

The other Republican candidates in the race are Glenn Thompson, a health care professional who received Peterson’s endorsement earlier this month; Chris Exarchos, a former commissioner in Centre County, which includes State College; Lou Radkowski, the coroner in Elk County, which is roughly in the geographic center of the district; Keith Richardson, a pastor; John Krupa, a businessman and former local township supervisor; and John Stroup, the mayor of Clarion, which is in the western part of the district. A victory by any of them would send a message that a sparsely funded campaign can overcome well-funded opposition.

Shaner has been self-financing his campaign more significantly than any other candidate. He’s loaned his campaign more than $1.2 million, according to his campaign finance reports. He has the backing of the political action committee associated with the Club for Growth, a conservative group that promotes tax cuts and free trade and which often participates in contested Republican primary elections.

Shaner formerly worked as an aide to Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, who was defeated for re-election in 2006 — the same year that Shaner also lost a Republican primary for a state House seat.

Walker also has reached into his deep pockets to fund his campaign. A $75,000 loan on April 16 brought his personal contributions to the race to $806,000. Walker is backed by former Republican Rep. William Clinger, who represented the district from 1979 through 1996, when he retired and was succeeded by Peterson.

Walker last week was charged with a series of felonies and misdemeanors that stemmed from an incident last summer at the residence of a former girlfriend. It’s difficult to say whether this was a fatal blow to his campaign or if voters will agree with Walker’s position that the timing of the disclosure of the charges was politically motivated.

“These charges are false. The entire matter is politically motivated — any thinking citizen in our area understands that charges of this nature brought 5 days before an election are clearly motivated by politics,” Walker said in a statement his campaign released Thursday.

The district’s pronounced Republican lean — President Bush took 61 percent of the vote in the 2004 election — will install the Republican winner as a big favorite in November against the victor of a three-candidate Democratic primary that includes Bill Cahir, a journalist, former congressional aide and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War; Rick Vilello, the mayor of Lock Haven, a town in the eastern part of the district; and Mark McCracken, an elected commissioner in Clearfield County, which is just west of Centre County in the southern part of the district.

Cahir has outraised his two Democratic opponents and received contributions from political committees aligned with Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Votevets.org, which supports Iraq War veterans who oppose the Bush administration’s strategy.