Senate fight nasty already for Santorum and Casey

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06144/692622-177.stm

In interviews, orchestrated e-mails and a new radio ad, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum claims that his challenger's campaign was complicit in "snooping" on his Penn Hills house and "instilling fear" in his family and neighbors.

State Treasurer Bob Casey rejected the charge, releasing a statement calling them "weird" and "bizarre" efforts to distract voters from the incumbent's record.

The exchanges are the latest eruption in a recurring controversy over the house the Santorum family has owned since 1997, and in a campaign of criticism by Penn Hills Democrats who contend that it should not be considered his legal residence.

The latest exchange was sparked by a KDKA-TV report in which Ed Vecchio, a Penn Hills resident, contested Mr. Santorum's right to vote from that address in last week's primary election.

Here's the ad Ricky Sanctimoneous is running.

Announcer: Primary election night, in front of cheering supporters in Pittsburgh, Rick Santorum challenged Bobby Casey to ten debates, and Casey responded with a loud, "No," saying voters didn't care about issues and that campaigns are a contact sport. Now we know what Casey meant. According to a KDKA investigative report, a Casey operative admitted to trespassing at the Santorums' home in Penn Hills, peering into the windows, looking for campaign dirt. But we shouldn't be surprised. Casey has a long history of slinging mud. The Philadelphia Daily News has called Casey's tactics "slash and trash and little else." The chairman of the Democratic Party said Casey took negative campaigning to a new height. And one Philadelphia paper called Casey's campaign "dishonest and nasty." Apparently, that's what we can expect from Bobby Casey again. Santorum: I'm Rick Santorum, candidate for the U.S. Senate, and I approve this message. Announcer: Paid for and authorized by Santorum 2006.

From WP

It's a Mud, Mud World

The U.S. Senate contest in Pennsylvania between incumbent Rick Santorum (R) and Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr. has lurched angrily in recent days to include claims of trespassing, peeping Toms and threats to children.

It started last week when a Democratic activist challenged Santorum's residency. The senator, his wife and six children spend most of their time in their Leesburg home, and the activist said the family's small home in Penn Hills, Pa. -- where Santorum maintains his official residence -- appeared unoccupied.

Santorum responded by calling Casey "a thug," accusing him of sending an agent to peek through windows. The claim that the house is empty "is not only a lie, but alerts those who may want to enter the home illegally," Santorum and his wife said in a statement. "Your despicable actions have greatly endangered our children's safety."

Casey and his wife said no one peeked through windows, adding: "We are outraged that Senator Santorum is making false and malicious charges."

Any hope that the flap might fade away ended on Monday, when the Santorum campaign launched its first radio ad, referring to a "long history of slinging mud" on Casey's part. Casey's campaign called the ad "negative and dishonest."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/23/AR2006052301792.html

arrogant bastard.

I've been listening to Lynn all morning and have heard the ad, of course.

What's with this patronizing "Bobby Casey" deal? Time to make an ad and call Santorum "Dickie boy".

Virginia.

From some things that happened in the primary I think the voters at least in Western PA are catching on and voting against the pol who slings the most sleaze. I'm hoping this one backfires big time on Ricky Dicky. BTW, I heard a little bit of Ricky's campaign manager Brabender on McIntyre last night for a couple of minutes and he was accusing Casey of illegal acts by signing the pay checks of the PA lawmakers who voted themselves a raise! Tried to say that Casey admitted the act was illegal!

I thought it really arrogant to buy ad time for the ad on Lynn Cullen's show. I know that was probably deliberate on Brabender's part. This idiot sounds live a Rove clone.

house a few years ago in an election that involved Mike Turzai, a right-wing jerk.

Two more democrats are coming home to PA and I will do everything I can to rid our state of this plague (Santorum).

and they are afraid. I still think it was arrogant of them to do so. I think good old Ricky should be afraid that people will keep talking about Penn Hills School District and his home-schooled kids in Virginia. Can't let that story die.

area. It won't go away. His only chance is to paint it as snooping in the Philly area news where people do not know the background as well as W. Pa people do.

year it was DeLay.

Santorum to have the lowest approval rating of any Senator with some poll data that almost look that the data of our fearless decider

http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2006/100USSenatorApproval060523Net.htm

WCAU-TV

Percentage of constituents who approve of the job Rick Santorum is doing: 36


Percentage who disapprove: 57


Net Approval rating: -21%

with Falwell, Dobson and their ilk. This is what he should be saying:

Mr. Santorum's agenda is that of the intolerant right-wing conservatives of his party. He attends rallies with the likes of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson and Pat Robertson. These are the men who called childrens' characters Sponge Bob Squarepants and t
Teletubbies gay; who stated that Florida was hit by tornadoes because Disney allowed gay people into their park and that Dover, PA was going to be smitten by God for voting out their anti-science school board. They even proclaimed that September 11 was the fault of feminists and others for whom they express their hatred! These absurd views and agenda do not fit Pennsylvania.

Mr. Santorum's intolerant statements and views are well known across America. Examples are those expressed in his book where he criticizes working mothers and other statements that poor people in New Orleans who could not leave in time should have been
ned. His rushing down to Florida to do his politicking in the Terri Shiavo situation with Tom Delay was seen by most Americans as pathetic.

We saw him milking the Penn Hills School District for the cyber school from his home in Virginia; taking campaign contributions from a weather forecasting company then trying to push laws that would benefit them. He is hiding from his leading role on th
corrupt "K Street Project" with Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay. Then there is his mortgage not available to other citizens. As the election drew nearer, he changed from his stance of earlier supporting the teaching of creationism instead of science in pu
ic schools. He also wrote a forward to a book on Creationism (Darwin's Nemesis) where he praises the author, a leader in the anti-science creationist movement.

Desperation to me.

And like James Carville has been saying the last few days, we can expect an all-out slime attack by the 'Licans in the run-up to November.

After all, it's not like they can run on their record.

I e-mailed to the campaign. Wish they would use it. But anyway, Casey needs to continue using the terms, "weird, odd, strange, crazy, nuts, cookoo-bannanas, and "a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic basket", when talking about Santorum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1258288&mesg_id=1258288

Here's my response:

Dear Ricky,

We weren't trespassing on your property. One of my staff went over to your house with some pastries to see if we could sit down and discuss what's best for the taxpayers of Pennsylvania over a cup of coffee. When no one answered the door, we looked through a window to make sure you and your family were alright.

Since your home in Pennsylvania does not even appear to have a coffee maker, the next time we want to visit...well... I guess we'll have to visit your mansion in Virginia.


sincerely,

Bob Casey (an actual PA resident)

PS: It's not really befitting a gentleman to have your wife fight your battles for you.

It's a charge vigorously denied by Casey, who in a written statement said, "There is no evidence of anyone trespassing on property. Santorum has obviously weirded himself out and is resorting to false attack ads with no basis in reality."

http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_143194017.html

A whole lot of Rickyboy voters are going to sit home this time, and he knows it.

act, or Guns, and flags, they will come out in droves. Casey needs to get real tough. It is not in Casey's nature to be tough. His speeches are boring. He keeps talking about how he is going to be "working in a bipartisan spirit"...etc, he needs to bring up all of Santorum's dealings with the bigots Falwell, Dobson, and that ilk.

I see them every day.

<snip>

One reason this issue is so vexing for Santorum is that he keeps sticking his foot into it.

For starters, he fell behind in paying taxes on the house and was called on it in a 2004 story by Vera Miller, a reporter for the Penn Hills Progress. He promptly paid.

Next, Miller got a tip that Santorum had five of his six children enrolled in a cyber-charter school, which they attended via computer in Leesburg, but that the Penn Hills School District was picking up most of the tab. Her story ran in October 2004.

A gotcha

After the Pittsburgh papers picked up on it, Santorum quickly withdrew his children from the school.

But wait, there's more.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/counties/philadelphia_county/philadelphia/14651260.htm

and says he's pulling the ad.

Stevens Lane Postscript
When I started writing about this incident, I didn't know it would inflate into something akin to the Seven-Year's War.

But, here is a excerpt of an interview Rick Santorum did today on KDKA-AM radio about the "stalking" of his house.

It's kind of confusing, unless you have followed the story in detail.

It basically involves the KDKA host Marty Griffin badgering Santorum about his radio ad, where he accused the Casey campaign of spying on his Penn Hills house. Griffin keeps saying that the ad is wrong because it quotes KDKA as saying there was trespassing.

Santorum concedes a few points, then announces at the end that his is pulling the ad.

http://ferrickspoliblog2006.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to watch him go down the drain! :-)