Talk about a sweet assignment.

In addition to being re-elected to the U.S. Senate, Pat Toomey will hold onto another coveted job this year: congressional candy man.

A recent report in PennLive, Harrisburg’s online newspaper, says it’s Toomey’s job to keep the congressional “Candy Desk” stocked with sweets.

Yes, there really is a Senate Candy Desk. It’s in the back row on the Republican side of the Senate chamber, smack in front of the most heavily used entrance.

And guess which state’s confections will be prominently displayed there? That’s right — our state’s.

Pennsylvania is a sweet-tooth’s paradise with an abundance of iconic confections. There are the ubiquitous national brands like Hershey chocolate bars and kisses and Reese’s peanut butter cups, all made in Hershey. Just Born, in Bethlehem, makes Peeps marshmallow chicks as well as the chewy Mike and Ike’s and Hot Tamales, and a different kind of chewy Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews. There’s the Boyer’s Mallow Cups; and the classic, upscale Whitman’s Sampler.

Closer to home are Butler chocolatiers Peter’s Chocolate Shoppe, Cummings’ Candy and Coffee, Pflueger’s Candy and Barkus Chocolates. Evans City has Wendereusz’s Candy & More; Speckled Hen is a mainstay in Saxonburg, as is Baldinger’s Market in Zelienople.

And here’s how Sen. Toomey the candy man can help all of Butler County’s confectioners: by featuring their products collectively or in series on the Senate Candy Desk. Picture an assortment of our candy makers’ finest wares set out before 100 of the nation’s most influential political power brokers.

It would be useful to remind the nation — and ourselves — of Pennsylvania’s heritage as a pioneer in the mechanical processing of sugar that hearkens back to colonial days, when refineries sprang up along the Delaware River in present-day Philadelphia, and when Europe’s immigrants mingled compared recipes and experimented with candy production methods,

Every Morsel of Pennsylvania chocolate and other sweets should serve as a reminder that all the resources are here — not just the sugar, cocoa, vanilla and other commodities, but the cultural influences, recipes and culinary know-how as well to turn out superior confectionary works of art.

The Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau is aware of Toomey’s candy man assignment and plans on recruiting the senator to help promote our region’s candy-crafting talents.

The intention is to attract visitors and to generate new markets for a local industry with vast potential.

Along the way, if a Pennsylvania candy can help sweeten a legislative deal or two into existence, then all the better.