Latest polls show Santorum as much as 15% behind Casey. That margin would change dramatically if the conservative Christian base recognized the fragility and political convenience of Casey’s pro-life position. It would also change dramatically if Michelman were to throw her hat into the race.
But neither eventuality is likely to occur. The media will see to it that Casey remains a counterfeit pro-life advocate, so as to shore up that part of his base. And the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee will not sit still for a Michelman candidacy. The infamous John Murtha is one of those in the Pennsylvania democrat forefront who will fight tooth and nail against the candidacy of anyone who will pull major votes away from their bogus ‘pro-life’ candidate.
The national democrat machine has Santorum in its cross-hairs. I believe they see his unseating as their most important goal in November, because picking up a Pennsylvania swing-state senate seat would represent a major coup, and because Santorum is being groomed for the presidency.
Surprisingly, in some recent polls Santorum is out-polling Casey in, of all places, Philadelphia. But, even if those polls hold true, the dead people who resurrect like clockwork every two years, people whose legal residences are garbage dumpsters and vacant lots … and stray dogs and parakeets … always tend to turn out in the big cities on election day, but are somehow never taken into consideration, pre-election, by Gallup or Zogby.
James Carville once described Pennsylvania as ‘two big cities (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia), with Alabama in between.’ As a citizen of Carville’s ‘Alabama’, I’d like to think that we ‘Alabamans’ will put Santorum over the top, but it’s becoming more and more difficult for us rural hicks to offset metropolitan voter fraud.
The ideal election day results would be Santorum’s re-election and Lynn Swann preventing Rendell’s. But, unfortunately, in Pennsylvania 2006, a republican has to assume that his victory must occur by at least an honest eight to fifteen percent margin, in order to negate the biennial ‘resurrection vote’ that occurs in Pittsburgh and Philly.
As things look now, I believe Santorum will be defeated by a combination of voter fraud, deceptive rhetoric offered up by Casey and his staff, complicit ‘reporting’ by the media, and ignorance of the truth on the part of conservative (especially Christian) voters. But, despite fraud and voter ignorance, Lynn Swann probably has an even chance of winning the governorship, so I intend to wear out some shoe leather on his behalf, beginning in early autumn.
In the past, I’ve worn out a lot of shoe leather fighting uphill battles. Those days are over. But I figure I owe at least a couple of weeks of pavement pounding to a character-laden candidate who has at least an even chance of seizing victory, despite the ever-increasing corruption roadblocks that stand in his way.
~ joanie …..