"That said, Santorum should have known better than to hire the guy. It just causes trouble. This poor judgment doesn't speak well of his re-election chances."
Huh? HUH?!? Yeah, back when he first hired him, in '97 ("Traynham began working for Santorum since 1997 as a press assistant and then deputy press secretary"), he should have asked, Are you gay? Then refused to hire him. THAT would have really made him look great--THAT would have stuck with him forever. One of the dumbest things I ever heard hear (and after four years, that's saying something).
NOT hiring him because of it (if he even knew, or cared to know) would have been really poor judgment, because he would be rejecting a solid pro for reasons off the resume.
As for not speaking well for his re-election chances, Santorum actually is in trouble, for '06, but that's got nothing to do with this.
This will hurt him, because the liberal media will make sure it does.
All he had to do was find a reason not to hire the guy.
It's easy enough to find out if someone's single, and not hard to find out why they're single. Of course, Santorum and his chief of staff may not have had the political skills to do this properly, but that just strengthens my point.