Santorum - "A Hint of Fear and a Touch of Crazy"

Wish I'd said that. From John Baer in the Philadelphia Daily News "Santorum's odd reaction to house story":

IS IT THE faint scent of political fear, a touch of crazy or paternal instinct gone wild?
Whatever it is, it's gripped the U.S. Senate race and pushed Rick Santorum close (OK, closer) to the edge.
The senator growled and spewed at me (as angry as I've ever seen him) when I asked about alleged trespassing at a house he owns in the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills.
"That's garbage!" he barked, "If you want to support that kind of journalism... people are looking inside my house!"
Maybe. But sheesh.

* * *

Obviously agitated, he says a relative stayed in the house several months ago so perhaps someone looked in one room during "a transition period" when the relative was coming or going.
Ohh-kay.
But the mystery to me is three-fold.
Santorum got to Congress by beating then-incumbent Doug Walgren in 1990 hammering the fact Walgren lived in Virginia; why draw attention to the fact that he lives in Virginia?
Why, after a flap over Penn Hills cyber-school costs, remind voters of that controversy?
And why, if concerned for the safety of his kids (any parent's priority, and, I believe, Santorum's), draw attention to his house and his kids?
Could it be when one trails in a year primed to punish incumbents one seeks to shift attention from issues such as Iraq and support of President Bush to, oh, I don't know, charges that thugs are out to get his kids?
Could it be Santorum seeks any opportunity, however flimsy, to paint Casey in '06 as the negative campaigner he was in '02?
I'm thinking yes and yes - along with a hint of fear and just a touch of crazy.

Go read the whole thing.

Now, the Santorums are wasting tax money on having the Capital Police invesitgate the stupid affair. Says a lot about the Santorum's confidence in the Penn Hills finest, doesn't it. (Oh, wait, maybe it DOES -- maybe they are concerned that they won't be able to bully the Penn Hills Blues into doing their political bidding the way they can obviously work the Capital Police.)

I think Bobby got it right: "Santorum has obviously weirded himself out"