Pa. Senator’s Race: Santorum His Own Worst Enemy

By Sean Miller (sam772@drexel.edu) and Brad Levinson (bdl6@georgetown.edu)

In a recent article in The Triangle, William Mulgrew asks, “When Will ‘Silent’ Bob (Casey) Speak?” He hints at the idea that Auditor General Bob Casey Jr. (D) should be actively campaigning, declaring his positions left and right, challenging Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), and making himself known. “How can ‘Silent Bob’ expect us to vote for him when he won’t tell us what his position is?” Mulgrew asks.

If this were late March 2006, a time much closer to the primary and general election, then perhaps Mulgrew would have a valid point. By then, Casey should establish himself, articulate his views and his plans, and begin truly campaigning. However, we’re currently eight months out of the primary, let alone the senatorial election.

The Casey campaign is gearing up for what is considered the most hotly contested Senate race in the nation, facing a very strong incumbent with a lot of resources and a very high position in the senate (he’s considered to be the third most powerful senator). In order to gear up, Casey has to begin by focusing on building his support group, raising funds to compete with a highly successful fundraiser such as Santorum, fill his campaign’s staff, and begin to formulate a general strategy. This is what campaigns generally do at this time and place.

Right now, around the rest of the nation, most incumbents do not even have clear challengers. Of a sampling of the 2006 races, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) has no challenger. Kent Conrad (D-ND) doesn’t seem to have a clear challenger either, and only several days are did people begin to declare their candidacies in Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio. For those races with clear challengers they must first worry about winning the primary before they can even think about taking on the incumbent. Most states with multiple challengers are beginning to gear up for hotly-contested primaries. If most races haven’t even gotten down to a one-on-one race, you can see why it’s way too early, traditionally, to even begin to think about going mano-a-mano.

However, there are reasons why the Republican Party is trying to put pressure on Casey to begin to “say something.” A recent Quinnipiac poll released on 10/6 showed him with an 18 point lead, 52 percent to 34 percent over Santorum. In a poll released by Survey USA in August 2005 Rick Santorum had the lowest public approval rating of any U.S. senator. Of those polled in the survey, only 42 percent approved of what Santorum is doing as a senator, while 46 percent disapproved.

Rick Santorum is begging for Bob Casey to say something – anything, really -- because Rick Santorum suffers from what is known in the political realm as “foot-in-mouth” disease. Rick Santorum says just about anything on his mind, and he’s beginning to realize that he might be his own worst enemy. His comments have fueled much criticism, and these criticisms often surround and overshadow anything he might do.

Just days after Hurricane Katrina flattened the Gulf Coast, a disconnected Senator Santorum went on record stating that those who did not leave in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (which would happen to be the poor, low socioeconomic bracket) should be punished. He had the audacity to state that “you have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving,” (AP, 9/7/05). As if these people hadn’t suffered enough, the first thing on Santorum’s mind was to punish these people for being too poor to leave their homes? How disconnected is this man from reality?

Senator Santorum has also received much criticism for his book It Takes A Family. In the book, Santorum acknowledges that he does not believe that an education is “worth it” for single mothers. He states, “The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong” (It Takes A Family, Pg. 138). Later in his book, Santorum goes on to call the goals of diversity an “error.” He says, “The elementary error of relativism becomes clear when we look at multiculturalism. Sometime in the 1980s, universities began to champion the importance of “diversity” as a central educational value” (It Takes A Family, Pg. 406). He even states that public schools are “weird,” and that “it’s amazing that so many kids turn out to be fairly normal, considering the weird socialization they get in public schools” (It Takes A Family, Pg. 386). It’s also worth noting that these are merely quotes from the last two months. You can imagine how long the list gets when you examine his whole tenure as senator.

But, for some reason, William Mulgrew condones these comments. He actually believes that Rick Santorum should have the chance to be elevated to the position of Senate Majority Leader, and represent Pennsylvania in that respect. But when the Philadelphia Daily News says, “We don’t know what kind of crusade Santorum is on, but is it really in PA’s best interest?,” stating that “the senator has been saying and doing things that are at odds with logic, facts, common sense and the basic views of this somewhat- conservative, but oftentimes liberal, state that he purports to represent (Philadelphia Daily News, 7/18/05), you might begin to wonder. When the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s political expert states that Santorum “has got to stop being the senator from the cultural right and be the senator from Pennsylvania.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/17/05), perhaps you might worry. When the Boston Globe states that they’ve “decided, after a decade of absurdities, Rick Santorum is not funny, just weird.” (Madonna, Boston Globe, 7/17/05), you’ve got to wonder, who is this guy, and what is he making Pennsylvania look like?

The Republican Party is desperate. They have learned that they cannot stop Santorum’s mouth from getting him in trouble. So instead, they have pinned their hopes on the notion that if they can pressure Casey into making a gaffe, they can trounce him. But when we’re 8 months away from the primaries, and when Rick Santorum is performing his own political suicide, there’s absolutely no reason to speak. Rest assured, in the coming months, Bob Casey will be highly articulate, will state his positions, and it will be quite clear that he is within the mainstream of Pennsylvania. Which is unlike Rick Santorum, whom the Philadelphia Inquirer has called “one of the finest minds of the 13th century.” (Ferrick, Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/17/05)

Sean Miller is a sophomore majoring in Materials Engineering, and serves as the Director of Political Communications for the Drexel Democrats. Brad Levinson is an alumni and is the founder of the Drexel Democrats. He is currently a graduate student. studying Politics & Media at Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture & Technology Department.