It's very simple, Pennsylvania is a Democrat state first and conservative only in small pockets in the south central part of the state. Casey Jr. made the voters think of his dad and vote with their memories of him instead of with their brains. Casey Jr. is not a senator, he is a yes-man for the Democrats. He has no mind of his own, but he does have the name of a much respected governor of this state.
If I were Rick, I'd run against him again and use his "yes-man" status against him. I'm sure that the same revolution that has swung this state toward McCain can be fueled to oust a do-nothing senator and replace him with one that was third in line in the leadership of the Senate.
While we're at it, Arlen can support Toomey as his hand-picked replacement.
My point was (is) that Santorum's loss seems to fly in the face of Limbaugh's (and others) insistence that a true conservative candidate will "win every time it's tried."
The majority of Pennsylvania governors and US Senators the past 30 years have been Republican... (with Casey 1988-1994 being the one exception).
REPUBLICANS: Gov. William Scranton 1963-1967, Gov. Raymond Shafer 1967-1971, Gov. Dick Thornburg 1979-1987, Gov. Tom Ridge 1995-2001, Gov. Mark Schweiker 2002-2004
Sen. Richard Schweiker 1969-1981, Sen. Hugh Scott 1970-1981?, Sen. John Heinz 1976-92, Sen. Rick Santorum 1994-2006, Sen. Arlen Spector 1980-current, .
The ONE Democrat US Senator, Harris Wofford, was appointed by a Democratic Governor in 1992 and promptly lost the next election to Republican Santorum in 1994.
All of which leaves me perplexed as to why Santorum, who continues to be my favorite conservative, lost so badly in 2006.
The Democrats in 2006 sneakily put a pro-life candidate (Bob Casey Jr) who literally kept his mouth SHUT on all issues during the campaign, and he thrived off the name of his father, Bob Casey Sr., who was a conservative and popular Democratic governor in 1990.
Santorum was targeted big time by most all newspapers and TV reporters in 2006 over Iraq, Terri Schiavo, the War on Terror, etc.
But then again, ALL REPUBLICANS are constantly hounded by major metropolitan and suburban newspapers and TV.