Pennsylvania voters divided over Specter reelection

well that’s the thing - I never thought Pennsylvanians were brain dead. Oh I knew Philly had 100% turnout.But the rest of the state usually had enough sanity to counteract that. NY and Ca have been declared a long time ago.

I’ve just never seen politicians be so open with their hostility towards their own constituents.

we elected Rick Santorum...

I am still perplexed as to why Rick Santorum lost in 2006.

Santorum was the most articulate, energetic, well respected conservative in the nation.

Yes, he endorsed Specter in 2004, but that is just boilerplate politics... junior Senator supporting the Senior senator.... and hardly a reason to oust him, especially considering Rick's reasoned conservative stances over the years.

Santorum's loss flies in the face of Limbaugh's insistence that 'conservatism wins every time it's tried.'

I am bewildered to this day why a dolt like Casey Jr. could attract enough support from Pennsylvania's conservative middle to defeat Rick Santorum???

What the hell happened to Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania, like much of the nation, sold out to Obama on the (false) hope that he would "fix" their IRA's and 401k's.

Losing that much money in less than two months is a HUGE motivating factor in pushing someone to voting for "change."

Personally, I had a hard time keeping a straight face while telling people I supported McCain.... because I really didn't support McCain, but rather just the principals that uphold the conservative wing of the GOP.

I am still perplexed as to why Rick Santorum lost in 2006.

Four years and literally tens of millions spent in Pennsylvania by dozens of left wing groups from all over the country that had people who didn't have a clue who their Senators were being convinced that Santorum was crazy or worse.

I recall talking to some who said that they literally hated the man! (Not disapproved or disagreed. They hated his guts!) When you asked why they hated him, the vast majority could not give even one reason. They would admit they didn't know why, they didn't really know anything about him, but they hated him.

It was an unrelenting and very well financed and organized campaign. Different 'front' groups but fully coordinated behind the scenes. It is scary how sucessful it was.

Fellow FReepers...Rick didn’t just endorse Specter (at Bush’s prompting) on ‘boilerplate’ issues, he enequivically desserted his conservative base (who wanted to get rid of Specter). Santorum and Specter were polar opposites on just about every issue; Santorum and Toomey (the man he stabbed in the back) were identical on every conservative issue. A true conservative, Pat Toomey, was absolutely blindsided by the tandem campaign duo of Specter/Bush (w/Santorum tagging along for good measure). Rush is right...conservatism works when you adhere strictly to conservative principles. Rick abandoned his when he endorsed Specter...and guess what happened next?

Specter, in a vote of gratitude to Santorum...DROPPED HIM LIKE A ROCK and sat on his Scottish hands and let Bobby Casey, Jr. (who alot of our seasoned citizens thought were voting for his late father) win. Specter, not a conservative, had no ‘values’ to dessert (other than his parties ultra-conservative same state, Junior Senator.)

Santorum had not just burned bridges, he nuked them. A huge mushroom cloud just floated up from his campaign. Many in the Toomey camps thought Rick was just sick of the Senate job; had a lot of young kids at home; and knew he couple make 10 times the money going into the private sector. Which he did. So don’t blame PA for lack of conservative candidate...sometimes the ones we choose have ‘different’ ideas.

And, Toomey is reported considering a run for Governor (though I would love to see him in the US Senate); and Peg Luksik, running in the primary against Specter (I would love to see those options flip flopped)...but BOTH Toomey and Luksik are 100% pro-life; pro-gun; pro-military; anti-big government types.

Hi!

I will never figure out why Santorum did what he did. He was one of the most outspoken Senators on conservative issues. I had hopes that he would run for president some day. Go figure. Maybe he did want to quit. But why not just not run again? I wonder if he regrets his endorsement of Specter. I do wonder if he was just, reluctantly, supporting President Bush in his endorsement of for reasons of protocal. You know - support the incumbent. Who knows. He probably buried his chances for public office again.

Every one of your points about the Santorum - Specter debacle is valid, and true.

My point being that that one ‘political’ mistake by Santorum (it wasn’t even an issue-oriented mistake like ProLife, or taxes, or Iraq) should not have risen to the level of millions of Republicans voting for Casey Jr....

Casey Jr. is a vaccuous liberal who is 10 times worse than Specter.... so why would these conservatives vote for him.

In Santorum’s defense, there was real doubt in conservative circles that Toomey could win statewide.... and it is more pragmatic to have half a loaf than none.

Besides, “junior” US Senators always support the ‘senior’ Senator of the same party. Almost always. It might not be the 100% principaled thing to do... but it was a political calculation rather than, say..... voting to withdraw from Iraq.... or voting against US energy companies, etc.

If we as Republicans insist on allowing the perfect be the enemy of the good, we will be in the minority for decades and decades.

And that is coming from myself, who takes a backseat to no one on supporting conservative causes and issues.

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