A harbinger, perhaps: The number three man in the Republican Party’s leadership in the U.S. Senate is polling very badly in his bid for reelection next year. A new poll shows that a scant 37 percent of Pennsylvania voters plan to vote for GOP Sen. Rick Santorum in 2006, while half say they plan to vote for his opponent, Demoratic State Treasurer William Casey:
In the Senate race, [the survey] showed Casey beating Santorum … by a 50 percent to 37 percent in a hypothetical election, with 13 percent undecided…
A Keystone poll in June showed Casey, the likely Democratic nominee, ahead of Santorum by 44 percent to 37 percent. Recent surveys by other polling organizations also have shown Santorum trailing Casey who, like Scranton, lives in Scranton.
Santorum’s problems are mostly self-inflicted. He tends to make news with frequent bursts of wingnuttery – equating gay sex with bestiality a few years ago, for example. More recently he suggested that disaster victims should be sanctioned if they found themselves unprepared for calamity.
He holds the position of Republican Conference Chair in the Senate leadership.
It is interesting that Rick Santorum was elected in the first place. I lived in Pennsylvania for a period of time in Pennsylvania and did not run about a general population of people who would have knowingly placed an fellow who has done and said some very outlandish things which I can not see the citizens of the great state of Pennslvania subscribing too.Most certainly there are residents who subscribe to a conservative message however Senator Santorum’s outlandish comments go over the top.Bringing home the dead fetus of the families miscarried child (I do not know how far along the development was) for his children to get to know and”play”with nearly knocked me off my chair. It is these types of actions and comments linking homosexuality and bestiality are off the wall! There is absolutely no way I could believe people in general in Pennsyvania would find this “normal” or even “conservative”. The Senator simply is out of touch with mainstream conservatives.The Pennsylvanians I met progress and conservative are not “wingnuts”and the polls are reflecting enough is enough. What Senator Santorum’s family decides to lawfully is a family issue.He is entitled to freely express his opinions (so long as free speech is still acceptable despite a movement to greatly curtail it in this administration,Senator Santorum and family may speak up as well as bring home the deceased fetus. I do not believe however Pennsyvanians find this normal, actions and outrageous comments.The people I knew were hard working citizens,patriotic whether progressive or conservative,people with good work ethics,patriotic be they supporters of the Bush war and patriotic if they feel our nation was lead into buying falsehoods. I put my faith in these good people and believe the Senator will be out after the ’06 elections.