Pennsylvania Senate race will be one to watch in 2006

The Democrats have said Sen. Rick Santorum is softening his conservative views in anticipation of next year's election. The Republicans have accused Santorum's likely Democratic opponent of running a dirty campaign.

Santorum and Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. have already begun jabbing at each other in interviews, crisscrossing the state for potluck dinners, and running Internet ads as they prepare for an expected $50 million political brawl. And with more than nine months to go, it's expected to get real ugly before it's all over.

.......

A poll in December by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University showed Santorum trailing 12 points behind Casey - up five points from an earlier poll. Both sides predict the numbers will get closer.

.......

Santorum said he considers it a badge of honor that Democrats are desperate to kick him out.

"If I wasn't effective in what I was doing and if I wasn't making a difference here, if I wasn't someone who threatened their liberal ideology, then they wouldn't be bothering with me," Santorum told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I see that as a plus, not a minus."



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PA_YE_PENNSYLVANIA_SENATE_PAOL-?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-12-30-00-16-06

tells me how screwed up this country is

That pencil-nosed geek better start searching for a new job soon...

Harold Ford, Jr. will be over there soon to measure for curtains..



:kick: ~~ ~~ :kick:

it has been six years since the 2000 election, and very little is being done to insure accurate vote counting

the democrats have been pretty pathetic in this endeavor also

Most of my politics attention's been international lately, or aimed at the election campaign we've got up here. All I know about Pennsylvanian politics is that delightful stomping the ID advocates got both in the courts and in the polls. Both of those give a strong "okay, enough of this crap" impression with some of the dumber bits of rightwing idiocy, but it's only one issue and one area, so I know better than to extrapolate blindly.

Is the state as a whole showing a similar feeling lately? That'd be fantastic; I haven't felt nearly enough Schadenfreude lately.

After we're done this coming November, Santorum will be a bad memory and the Radical Right in Pennsylvania will be wandering around in a world of hurt.

Even if we should fail, and Santorum remain in place, the damage will be done; and we'll have about half a decade to find a reason to impeach his filthy "man-on-dog" ass.

--p!

Ya gotta wonder . . .

I talked to a close friend who has Governor Rendell's ear. Rendell and my friend anticipate such an attack to focus on the corruption that has been a part of the state Treasurer's office. The thing is, the corruption existed PRIOR to Casey's arrival but the Republicans won't spin it that way. The only way Casey can be done in via a Swift Boat smear is if he doesn't counterattack with the facts of the matter. And that's what scares me. Because I just don't see the Casey camp with the fire in their bellies to thwart such an attack and really take the battle to Santorum. The Casey campaign appears, to me, disorganized and with no other message except "we're not Rick Santorum." That theme might be all well and good for some, but look where ABB got us.

This won't go over very well here at DU, but Casey's made a career out of coasting on his father's name, and I don't think he'll beat Rick Santorum. And Diebold machines have nothing to do with the loss.

I think this will be a very ugly campaign. Likley one of the most vicious in 2006. And at the end of the day Ricky will be unemployed.

An old generation Texas liberal, Bob Gammage, has entered the race there and he is well known and well liked throughout the State. Gammage is fired up and willing to run the type of race that Feingold, Dean, Boxer, and Clark fans can salivate over. Early reports are that his fund raising is going well also. The Republican incumbent is not a strong candidate. A lot of Texans that I know are really fired up over the prospect of winning the top race in Texas next year.

Think of what that would look like to the national media, and the message it would send to the country about a repudiation of Republicans in Bush and Delay's back yard. Even a close race without victory would shake up the foundations, much like Hackett did in the special election in Ohio. People just assume Texas is safely Republican.

Here is Gammage's web site:
http://www.gammageforgovernor.com/

In recent weeks he's begun announcing that he always anti-war (of course, he wasn't) and that he's opposed to intelligent design (of course, he wasn't).

I love talking about the PA Senate race, but I think you're all getting a bit ahead of yourselves on one issue -- Casey is not the Democratic nominee, at least not yet. I am supporting Chuck Pennacchio, and I am far from the only one.

So while I agree that Santorum sucks and he will be beaten in November, I don't think that Casey is the one who will be taking over his position.

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

The only one, you and 12 other people. Pennachio has no name ID, hasn't raised any money and has tthe entire establishment against him. At last count Pennachio had 25k cash-on-hand a year out, that's a nice number when your running for assemblyman but as a US Senate candidate he's on life support.

Considering that I haven't been burned at the stake for heresy recently, I would say Rick isn't as effective as he thinks he is.