SPRINGFIELD - On paper, Ron Gidwitz should be a powerhouse in the governor's race.

He ran a successful company, giving him a business record to brag about and a personal fortune to use in his campaign.

Gidwitz has enough government experience, particularly on education issues, to say he knows how to get things done, but not so much that a rival could easily distort his record.

His views on the issues mirror those of successful GOP candidates - a supporter of abortion rights and some gun control, an advocate of low taxes and business-friendly policies.

Yet the polls show him as an also-ran, with support barely in the double digits despite millions of dollars worth of advertising.

Gidwitz insists he can still win.

Other candidates might have more name recognition from years in office or past campaigns, but voters are just starting to think seriously about the March 21 primary, he says. They'll turn to him after consid-ering their options.

"We're moving forward," he said recently. "Lots of things can happen in the last few weeks."

Gidwitz, 60, grew up in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. His father founded the Helene Curtis cosmetics company, maker of Suave and Finesse shampoos, and Gidwitz ended up going into the family business. He went through the company training program, working on the factory floor, in marketing, in sales - just about everything.

Gidwitz said he soon decided he didn't like the company's direction and thought he could do better, even if it meant criticizing his father's management and calling for change. He did, and was made a senior vice president and then president at age 34.

"What happened was, there was an opportunity. The leadership was not sufficient," he said.

Gidwitz led the company from $100 million in sales when he took over to $1.3 billion in 1996, when he arranged its sale to Unilever. He stayed on for a few years, running the company for its new owner before leaving to joining an investment firm.

He was also active in business groups, charities and government panels. Chicago's Democratic mayor, Richard M. Daley, picked the Republican to serve as chairman of the City Colleges of Chicago in 1991.

He oversaw the community colleges until 1999, a period of major program cuts, changes in class offer-ings and attempts to shake up the system. He overcame a no-confidence vote by the colleges' faculty and accusations of racism by opponents of his cuts.

Rep. Monique Davis believes Gidwitz pushed poor, minority students toward low-paying, dead-end jobs instead of providing opportunities for them to become professionals. "It still saddens me," she said.

But the City Colleges chancellor, Wayne Watson, praises Gidwitz, despite reports that it was a power struggle between the two that led Gidwitz to quit.

"Ron is as sharp as you're going to get," Watson said, adding: "A vote of ‘no confidence' does not necessarily mean that one is doing a bad job. Sometimes it means they did the right thing and the faculty just didn't like it."

From the City Colleges, Gidwitz went to the State Board of Education, where he was appointed chair-man by then-Gov. George Ryan. He stayed on the board until 2003, when Democratic Gov. Rod Blago-jevich replaced him.

The state superintendent during much of that period, Glenn "Max" McGee, says Gidwitz had charisma and vision. He helped direct more aid to poor students, improve testing, increase standards for teachers and strengthen early education.

"As far as working with him day to day, he and I had far different styles. Let me leave it at that," McGee said. "Ron Gidwitz has some things to learn about leadership."

Gidwitz gets better reviews from the business world.

He has worked closely with business groups as they tried to shape public policy on taxes, economic development, education and more. People who watched Gidwitz in action speak glowingly of his ability to work long hours, understand complex issues and keep everyone focused on what had to be done.

"If he's going to be in that room, you're going to get something done," recalled Jeff Mays, president of the Illinois Business Roundtable. "If you're not getting something done, he will use a broad array of tools to bring the focus back. That's good. Some might view it as brusque."

With the primary election drawing near, Gidwitz's main target has been the Republican front-runner, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka.

He ran the first truly negative commercials of the campaign by accusing Topinka of running a bloated office and supporting increased state debt.

Gidwitz also accuses Topinka of being too cozy with Springfield insiders with questionable ethics. But he minimizes his ties to those same people in his own role as a major fundraiser for the Illinois Republi-can Party.

Gidwitz has endured some finger-pointing himself over his connection to a Joliet apartment complex that some city officials call a slum. Gidwitz, a part-owner of the apartments, says they are well-run and the city's criticism is part of a push to bulldoze the apartments and get rid of their poor residents.

Gidwitz criticizes Blagojevich on a host of issues.

He argues Blagojevich has held back job growth in Illinois by raising a variety of fees and taxes paid by business. He accuses Blagojevich of linking government jobs and contracts to campaign donations, creating a "pay-to-play" atmosphere. And Gidwitz says the administration emphasizes headline-grabbing stunts instead of addressing serious education problems.

"He spends his time talking about videogames and juice in high schools," Gidwitz said. "Who are we kidding? The problem is, the kids aren't learning enough."

But in some ways, Gidwitz fails to make clear how his administration would differ from Blagojevich's.

Both say they won't raise taxes. Both call for making government more efficient and cutting unnecessary programs. Despite his background in education, Gidwitz's school plan largely depends on appointing a task force to study the issue.

Gidwitz insists his administration would create thousands of new jobs, streamline government and bring a more strategic approach to the problems of education. That doesn't lend itself to slogans and simple descriptions, he said.

"None of this is easy. It's very hard," he said. "If it were easy to do, it would already be done."

A look at Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Gidwitz

NAME: Ronald J. Gidwitz

AGE: 60; born March 28, 1945.

HOME: Chicago.

FAMILY: Married to wife, Christina, for 30 years. Two sons.

EDUCATION: Graduated from private Hotchkiss School in 1963 and Brown University in 1967.

WORK EXPERIENCE: Joined family's Helene Curtis Industries in 1968; was named president in 1979 and CEO in 1985; sold the company to Unilever in 1996; left two years later to co-found GCG Partners investment firm.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Co-managed U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde's 1974 campaign; Illinois manager of Howard Baker's 1980 presidential campaign; 43rd Ward committeeman, 1984-1991; donor and fundraiser for Illinois Republican Party.

QUOTE: "Our great state is hurting. It's time for a change."