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Hillary Clinton lends her fund-raising strength to Democratic Senate candidate Bob Casey Jr. today, hosting an event for him - in Chicago. Despite their differences on a key issue - she favors abortion rights, he opposes them - Sen. Clinton (D., N.Y.) has emerged as a generous supporter. The former first lady and potential 2008 presidential candidate gave more money to Casey in 2005 than to any other candidate. Her political action committee, HILLPac, donated the maximum allowed by law, $10,000, records show. The afternoon event at Chicago's Palmer House Hilton, Clinton's first for Casey, is a sign of Pennsylvania's...

Wednesday afternoon Rasmussen Reports released a poll on the Pennsylvania Senate race that raised a few eyebrows. The poll showed Senator Santorum trailing State Treasurer Bob Casey by nine points (50-41), representing the first time Santorum had closed the gap with Casey to single digits in the seven polls taken by Rasmussen dating back to July 20th of last year. That was not the most notable result from the poll, however. After asking for initial preference, Rasmussen informed respondents that the National Organization for Women (NOW) is concerned about Casey's stance on abortion and is endorsing another candidate in the...

Pennsylvania Senate: Will Pro-Life Stance Cost Casey?

Women, Who make up the Majority of the Democratic Party, are being Stabbed in the back, by a Few Senate Leaders, a Governor and a whole bunch of spineless Women's Organizations. Democratic women are about to be stabbed in the back. It started out as a plan by Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Ed Rendell. They saw that Bob Casey, jr., son of a former PA governor, polled well against Santorum. So they made up their minds that THEY would decide who would be the Democratic candidate to run in the 2006 PA senate race. There's one problem with that....

The real Bob Casey By Dimitri Vassilaros TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, March 12, 2006 Pennsylvania Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. has not mastered the art of pandering. Or answering embarrassing questions about his inaction with something more reassuring than variations of "I don't know." Mr. Casey is a genuinely likeable person with what appears to be a solid and unblemished track record of public service. He also is the likely Democrat candidate who will try to unseat U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn Hills, on Election Day. Casey's office sent a seemingly harmless news release last week titled "Casey sides with taxpayers in...

The treasurer's admission: Resign, Mr. Casey Thursday, March 9, 2006 Bobby Casey just cooked his own political goose. The state treasurer and presumptive Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate "broke ranks with the political establishment" (as The Associated Press tells it) and offered in a legal filing that the Pennsylvania Legislature violated the state Constitution with its summer 2005 pay-jacking. The filing came in response to a lawsuit now before the state Supreme Court that challenges the pay raises, repealed last fall after a public outcry...Snip... Mr. Casey, a defendant in the lawsuit, denied that the filing was politically motivated....

WASHINGTON — Abortion rights leader Kate Michelman is thinking of jumping into the Senate race in Pennsylvania as an independent. Michelman is appalled by Democratic Party leaders’ selection of anti-abortion candidate Bob Casey Jr. as their choice to try to unseat two-term Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. For Michelman and other supporters of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision, the final straw came in late January when Casey endorsed President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Analyst and pollster Terry Madonna at Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania said, “If she runs as an independent, they’ve given Santorum...

Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is, by most accounts, one of the most important, powerful voices for conservatism in the federal government today. Both fiscally and socially conservative, Santorum has been a close ally of President Bush and has played a key role in many of the victories that Republican senators have enjoyed in recent years. His seniority, combined with his principles, makes his re-election a critical one for Republicans in 2006. Santorum has a long road ahead of him, however. His challenger is Democratic State Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. The son of a popular former Pennsylvania governor, Casey already has...

MICHELMAN FOR SENATE? [Kathryn Jean Lopez] Will Kate Michelman get into the Pennsylvania Senate race? From the Legal Times (sub. only): Already frustrated with the Democratic Party for putting forward an anti-abortion candidate to run against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, says she has been asked by a number of women's groups and Democratic donors to jump into the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania as an independent. The final straw? When Santorum's Democratic challenger, Bob Casey, endorsed the nomination of Samuel Alito Jr. to the U.S. Supreme Court. 'After Casey announced...

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%.

PHILADELPHIA -- State Treasurer Bob Casey, Sen. Rick Santorum's leading Democratic challenger, told an audience at an event sponsored by a gay-rights organization that if elected he would fight discrimination "wherever I find it." Casey, who supports laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, said he provides a contrast to the conservative Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican who has frequently earned the ire of gay-rights groups for his opposition to gay marriage. "I think it's time we had a senator who wasn't pushing a narrow, intolerant ideology that says 'I'm right, you're wrong ... and you don't know better,'...

As Bob Casey, Jr. continues his campaign to win the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, folks should begin to take note of his expanding partnership with left wing groups and individuals that are openly hostile to the Catholic Church's teachings on faith and morals. For instance, tomorrow night, Casey is headlining the annual Human Rights Campaign gala in Philadelphia. The Human Rights Campaign is a radical homosexual activist organization that has collected and donated $100,000 to his campaign. He has also received the endorsements and financial support from: People for the American Way ($10,000), George Soros ($4,200), Hillary...

Help HRC elect allies who will champion the cause of equality and stand up to anti-gay legislation. Together, activist supporters like you, and principled leaders like our PowerSLATE Candidates can secure a solid base of support for equality in the United States Congress. Thank you for being part of this important effort.How it works: Make HRC SLATE your vehicle for candidate giving. Choose from bipartisan candidates and incumbents selected by HRC-PAC because of their record on GLBT issues and/or the closeness or importance of their race. HRC-PAC will add your contribution to those from other HRC members, and deliver...

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is defending her contribution to a Democratic Senate candidate who opposes abortion, saying he is needed for the party's struggle against Republicans.

Clinton Defends Contribution to Candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton Defends Contribution to Democratic Candidate in Pa. Who Opposes Abortion The Associated Press NEW YORK - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is defending her contribution to a Democratic Senate candidate who opposes abortion, saying he is needed for the party's struggle against Republicans. Clinton, an abortion rights supporter who many people think will run for president in 2008, acknowledged Monday she had contributed $10,000 last year from HillPAC, her political action committee, to Pennsylvania State Treasurer Bob Casey, a Democrat challenging Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. Casey is running well ahead of Santorum in...

The nation's most prominent pro-choice spokeswoman blasted Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for giving $10,000 to right-to-life Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey and accused the former first lady of "putting politics over principle." "When push comes to shove, at certain times, [Clinton] will support the party even if that choice does not reflect all their standards and principles," Kate Michelman, former longtime head of NARAL Pro-Choice America, told The Post. Clinton, a darling of the pro-choice community, is taking heat from the activist for giving the maximum donation allowable under law to pro-life Senate hopeful Casey through her political committee, HillPAC.

The newspaper headlines are already emerging: "Pennsylvania Senate race a heavyweight battle . . . Santorum-Casey race expected to be expensive, 'ugly' . . . Pennsylvania Senate race will be one to watch in 2006 . . . Casey-Santorum boiling to surface." The most celebrated and most expensive U.S. Senate race this year is likely to be in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Rick Santorum, who drew criticism from conservatives for backing pro-choice Republican Arlen Specter's reelection bid in 2004, stands poised to defend his own seat against a pro-life Democrat. The most recent poll showed Bob Casey Jr. with a 12-point...

PoliticsPA has learned that several influential members of the Philadelphia AFL-CIO have clashed with local, state and national leadership regarding the endorsement of Bob Casey Jr. over Rick Santorum for United States Senate. The divergence has become so great that the Philadelphia Building Trades, led by Pat Gillespie, threatened to split from the Philadelphia AFL-CIO at the endorsement meeting Tuesday night. Leaders representing unions including the Sprinklerfitters, Cement Masons and Longshoremen strongly opposed the endorsement of Casey.

Casey risks angering base, joins Rendell in backing Alito Wednesday, January 25, 2006 BY BRETT LIEBERMAN Of Our Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Robert P. Casey Jr. might have turned the Democratic base against him when he announced yesterday that he supports confirming Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. After refusing to say whether he would support Alito, Casey's decision puts him at odds with abortion-rights advocates, a group whose support is seen as critical to his campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. "It's very disturbing and should worry, I think, Pennsylvania women and civil rights advocates...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Rick Santorum's leading Democratic challenger, Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey, announced Tuesday that he endorses Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation to the Supreme Court.For weeks, Republicans have called Casey "Silent Bob" and pressed him to say whether he supports Alito's confirmation. Casey and Alito have a family connection because Alito, who serves on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia, sided with Casey's father, the late Gov. Bob Casey, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The case challenged a state law requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses."I do not agree with everything that Judge Samuel...