As for the 2006 (not 2004) Senate defeat, almost all Republicans were trounced in PA in that election. Given the unpopularity of “W” and the name recognition that Casey had (being the son of a former King of PA), I don't think any Republican on the planet could have even run close.
One thing about that 2006 campaign, I watched it closely and don't recall Santorum ever vacillating from his Conservative views, unlike other politicians I know.
What are Santorum’s accomplishments? The salient issue in this election is jobs. What is Santorum’s record re job creation?
For that matter, what other candidates besides Romney or Perry have solid records as job creators?
This is important because it hits Obama where is the most vulnerable.
Are Santorum’s actions and statements via earmarks conservative?
Recall that the greatest issue we face is downsizing the federal government and getting spending under control and paying down the debt.
Making the federal government as inconsequential in your lives as I can make it...to quote Rick Perry’s pledge if elected.
Perry called earmarks “the gateway drug” to out of control spending.
If you look into it, if you study it, you would draw the same conclusion.
It isn’t the cocaine or the heroin of our fiscal crisis, but it’s the marijuana and the alcohol that lead to it.
If you defend your own earmarks and are proud of them, then you cannot cricicize anyone else’s earmarks. Every Congressman and Senator has to be given that same pass.
And why is someone the conservatives love to villify, Speaker Boehnor, personally opposed to earmarks and has never put one in a bill?
If Boehnor...and there are a few others...can resist earmarking and will not defend it, why can’t Santorum resist earmarking and not defend it?
Someone coined a description of Santorum as a Big Government Social Conservative.
Could have a point there...