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???
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.