Sorry. Can't complete thought. The laughter is an autonomic response.
Posted on 03/03/2005 5:35:15 AM PST by Born Conservative
With Democratic State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. on the verge of announcing he will run for the U.S. Senate next year, fellow Democrat and former Treasurer Barbara Hafer surprised his camp Wednesday by beating him to the punch and entering the race.
"We're in it," Mrs. Hafer, 61, of Allegheny County, told The Associated Press. "I'm getting a campaign up and running."
Earlier in the day, two sources close to Mr. Casey told The Tribune he was close to announcing a run for the Democratic Senate nomination and a fall contest against U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, the presumptive Republican candidate now in his second term. The sources said an announcement could come as early as today, but an official in the Casey camp declined to confirm his intent to run.
Efforts to reach Mr. Casey, 44, of Scranton, for comment were unsuccessful. Sources had previously said he was conditioning his entry into the race partly on having no Democratic opposition.
By the evening, Mrs. Hafer had left no doubt about her intentions, stunning the Casey camp sources who said they believed she would not run.
"I honestly don't know what it does to our decision," one source said, echoing another.
The race, which has attracted national attention, would pit the winner of the Democratic primary election against Mr. Santorum of Penn Hills.
Mr. Casey and Mrs. Hafer differ most notably on abortion rights. She's pro-choice while he and Mr. Santorum oppose abortion.
Mrs. Hafer, 61, said Emily's List -- a Washington-based group that helps elect Democratic women who support abortion rights -- has sent two staffers to help her assess the race and begin organizing.
Mrs. Hafer, who served eight years as state auditor general and eight more as treasurer, was a longtime Republican who endorsed Democrat Ed Rendell for governor in 2002 and switched parties in December 2003.
Mr. Casey had previously shrugged off suggestions to run for Congress and the Senate, preferring to concentrate on becoming governor someday. But he impressed national Democrats looking for a challenger to Mr. Santorum with his credentials as a moderate and his 3.3-million vote total in winning the treasurer's job in November. It was a record for a statewide candidate.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the new chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, have relentlessly courted him. The committee backs Democratic Senate candidates across the country.
Mr. Casey was especially interested in running if the committee was ready to pony up major financial support and assure an opponent-free primary election, sources said.
The campaign would be Mr. Casey's fourth in seven years, but his first for federal office. He was elected treasurer in November after eight years as state auditor general. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002.
Before meeting with the senators, Mr. Casey set up a committee that could raise money for exploratory steps. He also commissioned a poll whose results were consistent with the later findings of an independent poll, one source said.
The independent Quinnipiac poll, which surveyed 1,250 Pennsylvania voters between Feb. 10-14, found Mr. Casey had the support of 46 percent of the voters compared to 41 percent for Mr. Santorum. The same poll had Mr. Santorum with more support than Mrs. Hafer -- 47 to 39 percent. Mrs. Hafer said her own poll shows she could compete against Mr. Santorum.
State Rep. T.J. Rooney, the state Democratic chairman who was considering running himself, told the Associated Press he won't.
When asked last week during an appearance in Scranton, Mr. Santorum said he was unconcerned about his opposition.
"Whomever his opponent is, he looks forward to a spirited debate to discuss issues important to Pennsylvanians, such as saving and strengthening Social Security for future generations and promoting economic growth and job creation for hard-working Pennsylvanians," Mr. Santorum's press secretary, Christine Shott, said Wednesday.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.
Barbara Hafer used to be a Republican, I believe. This will be an interesting contest. No matter who wins, Casey or Hafer, Santorum is going to have his work cut out for him.
I don't think she could get the unions' support over Casey - not the cops, firemen or teamsters anyway. Probably the teachers, though.
She was a Republican...but a tax-and-spend RINO Republican in the grand tradition of Ohio Gov. Taft. Do not think she would present as formidable a challenge as Casey would.
Interesting development. Makes me wonder if the medical prognosis on Snarlin' Arlen Specter is worse than we've been told, and if Hafer is expecting Eddie Rendell to name Casey as a replacement player before the election.
I just don't believe there's any chance Rendell would name Casey to dogcatcher, let alone senator. The Caseys and Rendell do not get along and Ed Rendell is fiercely pro-abortion. Babs Hafer is exactly the sort Fast Eddie would name to replace Specter.
Wasn't Santorum's 2000 opponent also a little more moderate on the abortion issue? It was his lack of support from the pro abort crowd that kept Dems from being too enthusiastic about him, and Santorum was able to win. Maybe if Casey is the nominee that situation will be the same. With Hafer, who seems to love the idea of killing babies, in the running, the Demo primary could get very nasty and divisive. This only helps the incumbent.
This kind of throws a monkey wrench into the Dem's plan to put on a 'new face' for the voters, doesn't it? They wanted to be able to say "we're pro-life, too", but a bruising primary between a pro-life Dem and an anti-life Dem would blow that out of the water. I wonder if they'll convince Casey not to challenge her because they don't want that debate in PA.
Yes, he was actually fairly pro-life. I think his name may have been Ron Klink, but I'm not sure.
You're right about the primary getting nasty, but I think Hafer would triumph over Casey in the end, because she's the one who'll get Rendell's backing.
I just hope the primary is nasty enough to give Santorum the edge in the general.
Former Gov Casey was pretty much a liberal on issues other than abortion but I was thrilled anyway to see him beat Hafer in the general election by a huge margin in 1990. As Bob Novak put it, Hafer thought she was running for president of NOW rather than gov. of PA so she was one Republican I was glad to see go down to a humiliating defeat.
Ya gotta love that Barbara Hafer -- at least since she became a Democrat. She continues to exhibit that political "Tin Ear".
Geez this makes me concerned for the Senate in 06. Between this and Chafee (who is a schmuck but still an R for organization purposes in the Senate) we could lose at least two seats.
Sorry. Can't complete thought. The laughter is an autonomic response.
Plus a demo primary means that Casey has to spend resources for a primary fight.
Also Casey didn't want a primary fight.
Casey could have pulled enough votes in the red parts of Pennsylvania to have a chance of toppling Santorum.
Hafer won't be able to.
If either one was running uncontested, I would agree. But,
Santorum is not that weak. He has a tough race ahead, but not impossible. This primary fight between two different (pro abortion and pro life) candidates is going to weaken the eventual winner. Santorum could roll over the eventual winner by virtue of cash.
She's also a former Treasurer, so we'll have two state treasurers throwing mud on each other over who did a better job in that office. Potentially damaging, but let's not forget that everyone predicted that when Jr. and Fast Eddie were fighting each other in '02 and Eddie went on to win.
But "Fast Eddie" was tied into the Clinton Machine as one of their heavy-weight fundraisers. In this race, you can expect James Carville will be working for Junior. He was pretty tight with Junior's Dad, the late Governor Casey. I would expect Carville will be involved if Junior makes it to the General Election, if not by the primaries. Any race that Carville is involved in will be a mud-wrestling match.
I agree. I think that Casey probably beats Santorum but Hafer doesn't have a prayer.
Carville is one dude I would not want to come across in a back-alley.
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