Gov.-elect Tom Corbett isn’t the only Republican whose blue-collar roots in Western Pennsylvania helped propel him to a governor’s mansion in this month’s elections.

It’s an upbringing that teaches practical life lessons, especially for politicians, said one sociologist.

And it produces warm memories that aren’t easy to forget, said Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Monongahela native. Daniels, in office since 2005, will be in his second term in January —when Corbett, 61, of Shaler and Ohio Gov.-elect John Kasich, 58, who grew up in McKees Rocks, will take office.