A Pennsylvania district attorney who has drawn national attention for his raids on businesses that employ illegal aliens is considering a run for state attorney general to broaden his effort to secure the nation's borders.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, however, has had to scramble to bury a report – from his own camp – that he will make a third bid for state attorney general in 2008.

An e-mail from Morganelli's political action committee, Us Securing America, announced the veteran prosecutor's intentions and asked for grass-roots and financial support.

''I have decided to seek the office of Attorney General of Pennsylvania,'' it read, ''in order to take our fight to secure our borders and enforce our laws to a bigger platform.''

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But shortly after that word reached news desks, Morganelli, 51, began a telephone campaign declaring the bid premature at best. He has yet to decide, he insisted, whether to seek state office next year. He is now running, unopposed, for re-election to the district office.

According to Morganelli, a Democrat, an over-enthusiastic, under-18 volunteer working on his website sent out the e-mail after misunderstanding his boss's intentions.

''I have some young, aggressive people working on my PAC,'' Morganelli told the Allentown Morning Call newspaper. ''He thought I was pretty sure I was going to run. I've never said I was running.''

Morganelli said that he's likely to announce by year's end whether he's running statewide. He has had only limited discussions with Lehigh Valley politicos about his future, although he has said in television interviews he is "thinking" about running again. After his second unsuccessful bid for attorney general in 2004, Morganelli told his supporters he was putting his statewide aspirations behind him.

Asked what might have changed his mind, he said, ''A lot of the issues I advanced the last time around are still out there.''

He ticked off a list that included gun violence and reforming parole for violent offenders.

As of late, Morganelli has received attention for his tough, enforcement-heavy approach to illegal immigration, discussing the issue at Capitol rallies and on national cable TV programs.

He has received accolades for his raids on businesses employing illegals and for arresting others for identity theft and tampering with public records. He recently founded Us Securing America PAC, or USA PAC, to help deal with the illegal-alien problem in America.

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Jennifer Carden is an editorial assistant for WorldNetDaily.