Santorum's Closing Fast

Salena Zito's latest column says that Rick Santorum is "within striking distance", which she attributes to doing things the "old-fashioned way: retail politics, reaching out to the electorate one on one." Here's more observations from Salena's column:
Bob Casey has it all and he is the perfect guinea pig for Democrats to test drive in that political microcosm known as Pennsylvania. Red and blue counties neatly replicate the infamous state-by-state 2000 electoral map. Casey, with his name as a point-grabbing commodity, is a conservative (by Democrat standards) handpicked to spoil Santorum's re-election. At least that was the thinking nearly two years ago, when Democrat leaders picked him, the perfect choice, born weeks after John Kerry's losing presidential run. Now, not so much so.

You see, Ned Lamont, victor over Sen. Joe Lieberman in this month's U.S. Senate primary in Connecticut, has made it unfashionable to be anything but progressive. Moderate (let alone, conservative) Democrat candidates need to move to the back of the party bus. Casey is not a moderate Democrat; on social and hawk issues, he is as conservative as you get without being a Republican.
Salena makes a great point, essentially saying that the Democrats' big tent is an illusion. Ned Lamont's primary victory is all the proof needed to prove that. I'd add that Casey is an empty suit who couldn't connect one-on-one with voters if his life depended on it. He's a typical bureaucrat.

This is a race I'll be watching with alot of scrutiny. If Santorum closes the gap further in the next 30 days, then I'll feel alot better about the Republicans keeping control of both houses of Congress. If Democrats can't beat Santorum, they can't win anywhere.
If Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli is able to get on Pennsylvania's ballot, then Casey really has a problem: Romanelli supports a woman's right to an abortion. Do the likes of Kate Michelman, resident Pennsylvanian and former president of NARAL, and her pro-choice peers hold their noses and vote for Casey? Do they go against everything that they have ever stood for, everything they've worked for in terms of keeping the government out of their bedrooms? How bitterly hypocritical if they do. That's putting party before principles, instantly forsaking their card-carrying rights in the women's movement.
Democrats are challenging Romanelli's bid to get on the ballot by questioning signatures on the petition. They don't want 'NARAL voters' to have much choice. I don't blame them for challenging Romanelli's petition; I'd do the same thing if I were them. It's just that I love stirring the pot if it means causing Democrats headaches.


Posted Sunday, August 20, 2006 1:42 AM

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