Pennsylvania Senate: Santorum Still Way Behind (bad news alert)

Rasmussen Reports ^ | February 20, 2006

[Clintonfatigued]

Republican Senator Rick Santorum continues to trail Democratic challenger Bob Casey, Jr. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Santorum behind by 16 percentage points, 52% to 36%.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

Stick a fork in him, he is done.

[Coop]

Rick's got some serious work to do. The silver lining in the cloud is he has (as of earlier this week) about $10 mil to Casey's $6 mil.

[Clintonfatigued]

If the Democrats had nominated someone more liberal and less popular than Bob Casey, Rick Santorum would be running stronger. That being said, the results of this poll are not encouraging.

I think that Casey's endorsement of Sam Alito turned out to be a plus for him. It helped him distance himself from his party's liberal leadership (Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, ect.).

[demlosers]

I think Santorum picked up a few points since his last poll.

[Brilliant]

I don't know why any self-respecting pro-lifer would vote for Casey. He would vote for Hillary's pro-abortion Supreme Court nominees in a heartbeat, and that's the one and only influence that a Senator has over abortion.

[Dog Gone]

Doesn't look good. That's a huge lead.

[Clintonfatigued]

Bob Casey helped himself by endorsing Sam Alito for the Supreme Court.

[montomike]

Don't worry, we still have the Spector.

Sarcasm off!

[Cicero]

When Karl Rove forced Santorum to endorse Arlen Specter, he really, really, really screwed up.

My own view is that everyone is entitled to one mistake, even a bad one, and that it would be truly stupid not to vote for Santorum for that one mistake.

And much as I despise Arlen Specter, he did get Roberts and Alito through the process.

[Coop]

The last incumbent I remember seeing with numbers like this was Rod Grams of MN. He ultimately lost 49-43%. I think Santorum's in a bit better shape, being the #3 GOP Senate guy. But the situation looks similar - a conservative Pubbie running in a left-of-center swing state. Rick's fundraising still looks good, so apparently the "players" aren't writing him off yet. He's got a lot of time to make up ground, but I would not want to be an incumbent in this position. Ugh.

Chuck Robb of VA was in a similar position (Dem in a right-of-center state), trailing Allen by a ton early on. Robb eventually closed to within a point or two before ultimately losing by about five, IIRC.

[Hong Kong Expat]

In our society, gay marriage is a cold, and abortion is a cancer. If they could introduce an amendment banning gay marriage then they could introduce an amendment protecting the Unborn. Sure it would fail, but at least we'd know who's really on our side.

All this talk about SC is nonsense, we are trying to take the same shortcuts as the liberals. Can't convince Joe voter, have some slick talking lawyer impress a judge. Don't have a slick talking lawyer, replace the judge.

[italianquaker]

let me the first to call u mr president, said to john kerry election night based on the polls

[drjimmy]

I think Santorum picked up a few points since his last poll.

Not in the Rasmussen poll. He's lost one point since the last poll.

[demlosers]

Casey is most likely a cryptic liberal.

[Coop]

All this talk about SC is nonsense, we are trying to take the same shortcuts as the liberals.

That's garbage.

[Dog Gone]

A lot can happen between now and November, both domestically and internationally to affect this race.

But I wouldn't want to be banking on external events to secure re-election. I think he's in the most trouble of any GOP incumbent.

[ikka]

The backing of Specter is what has done him in, so far.

Where is Santorum's leadership on the day-to-day issues? He hasn't spoken up about illegal immigration, about free speech re: the Muslims rioting over cartoons, not even about the obvious vote fraud in Philly.

[Coop]

Yep