Carl Romanelli, The Movie?

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The Race Santorum Won

Those of you who pay close attention to these things might recall that in the primary election this year, Rick Santorum, running unopposed because he squeezed out his opposition with a petition challenge, pulled down 21,000 fewer Republican primary votes than did Lynn Swann.

Of course, everyone on the other side of the aisle denied it was a harbinger. But, Santorum can rest easy. In the General Election, he managed to out-poll Swann, by just under 53,000 votes.

Congratulations, Rick.

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Strategic Vision -- Santorum Down 12, Rendell Up 23

Strategic Vision released a second poll in a week on the Pennsylvania contest. I guess those silent voters still aren't talking, because Santorum's deficit has fallen to 12%, compared to the ten-point gap of a week ago. In the latest SV survey, 1200 likely voters said, in interviews taken between November 2 and 4, that 52% would pull Casey's lever, 40% Santorum's, and eight percent asked "What's a lever?". Last week, 12% were swtill clueless and the ones making up their minds all went to the challenger.

In the Gubernatorial race, Rendell's smackdown of Lynn Swann is approaching landslide proportions, with 58% in Fast Eddie's camp, 35% in Swann's, and 7% can't figure out how to get off the turnpike.

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New PA-Sen Poll, Piling On

The newest poll on the Pennsylvania Senate Race bitch-slaps Rick Santorum with a 13-point deficit.

According to the Mason-Dixon survey, Casey leads the floundering incumbent 52% to 39% with 7% starving because they still haven't decided what to have for lunch yesterday.

In more bad news for Virginia's third Senator, his big issues -- Immigration and Terrorism -- fall behind Iraq, the economy, health care, and government spending, among others, as issues people see as more important to their vote. When you are on the wrong side of the top four issues on people's minds, you have no business spending other people's money in a campaign.

Sixty-one percent say that Santorum has helped Bush lead the country in the wrong direction and 63% disapprove of the Santorum/Bush Iraq policies.

Twice as many say Santorum's attacks on Casey were unfair as the other way around.

But, Santorum's biggest problem? More than 65% of Pennsylvanians see themselves as Moderate or Liberal.

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Predictions

It is time to put up.

I privately set for myself this date to cast my lot for a couple of reasons, the main one being I leave town today for a business trip and will have uncertain access to The Internets over the next few days.

So here are my predictions for the 2006 midterms. Overall, the Dems end up with a 40+ seat majority in the House and a one seat majority in the Senate, including Lieberman.

I took a quick survey of the PA poliblogs today and didn't see any who had stepped up yet -- com'on folks, no fair holding back until November 6. Put it on the line today.

PA-SEN Casey by 11 +/-

I got lucky, the race that I have been following most, the PA Senate, is the easiest to call. In fact, I called it in August when I said Santorum will lose by double digits.

Note that I said "Santorum loses". Casey neither deserves nor earned the win and the Party will come to regret getting into bed with the likes of him. It was not necessary, except to the Governor who ensured that Casey kept his nose out of this year's Gubernatorial. A bucket of warm spit in business attire could have beaten Rick Santorum this year, and that's nearly what we got.

Santorum's approvals have barely reached above 40 all year. As a two-term incumbent, sustained approval ratings under 40 are a deadly harbinger -- it indicates an electorate primed for a change.

Santorum helped out the Democrats by making every step a miss. His first advertisement of the campaign tried to take Casey and the Democrats to task for the faux incident at his faux home. What he succeeded in doing was give the Democrats a chance to remind everyone that when Rick first ran for office, he attacked his opponent for living in Virginia and promised the he would never do such a thing, and then did; and that Rick demanded and got hundreds of thousands in tax payer money to home school his brood in Virginia. His claim of Casey complicity was seen through as political piffle by everyone with a second grade education, but even worse was his ridiculous claims of his children being threatened (600 miles away) and the stupid police complaint he filed -- in Virginia!!?? Now there's a campaign team that has earned the right to sit home in '08.

But, that was just for starters. Santorum & Co. then picked up two issues to hammer home -- one made-up, one make-weight. His made-up movement -- Islamic Fascism -- moved no one. The follow through was horrible -- Rick running about flapping his gums over Nazis and appeasement and telling voters if they vote for Casey, they die. It was, as the last popular President said, an old dog that wasn't going to work anymore. Moderates were laughing at him.

His second issue, immigration, was a different kind of scare out the vote tactic, and it also failed, miserably. Outside Lou Barletta's bigoted mind and town, Santorum's "brown scare" took root nowhere. It consistently scored below "other" in polls asking voters what issues moved them this year.

Oh, but then there were the attack ads. Santorum's first big attack advertisement of the campaign -- the guys in the jail cell -- had great production value. It also had so many lies and distortions that every media outlet in the State was yapping about it the next day. Coming on the heels of the Penn Hills faux home fiasco, which Santorum was made to look eight yards short of credible, the jail cell advertisement sealed the deal in the minds of the voters -- nothing Santorum would thenceforth say about Bob Casey was going to stick, they had already decided that Santorum was a liar, and a loser.

That's why the debates didn't matter -- no one watched them and those that did, if their minds were not already completely made up on Santorum's credibility, they received his words with caution, and a ton of salt. Casey got at least one thing right -- Santorum was desperate, and he looked and sounded the part.

Casey deserves almost no credit for winning this one. He thumbed his nose at democracy by refusing to get out and talk to people, to attend public campaign events, to debate early and often (most of those joint appearances were not debates), by refusing to answer direct questions on where he stands on issues, and by making sure that a third choice was not going to be available to the voters. He is not an original thinker, he has no leadership capability, and he has no personal charm. He is not going to be a Senator of which Pennsylvania will be proud. But, at least he is not Rick Santorum.

What a choice we had.

Rick Santorum -- just like George Bush, but without the intellect; or,
Bob Casey -- just like, well, Rick Santorum, but without the balls.

PA-GOV Rendell by 18+/-

I didn't give much coverage to this race. Mainly because it never was a race. A political novice, an ex-jock at that, going up against likely the best Pennsylvania pol of this generation. It was a done deal in May. Fast Eddy has been unnecessarily piling on, with advertisements, big regional money grants, and fundraising like you've never imagined. Not because he was ever in a race. He wants the big numbers behind him next week to show he's the player who can deliver Pennsylvania to the Dems in '08. Dick Cheney may be a shooting veep, Ed Rendell is shooting for veep.

US-HOUSE Key PA Races Dems +4

I only have a handle on a handful. These are the races I have been glancing at now and again:

PA-4, Melissa Hart (R)(I) over Jason Altimire (D)
PA-6, Lois Murphy (D) defeats Jim Gerlach (R)(I)
PA-7, Admiral Joe Sestak (D) torpedoes crazy Curt Weldon (R)(I)
PA-8, Pat Murphy (D), beats Mike Fitzpatrick (R)(I)
PA-10, Chris Carney (D), chokes off Don Sherwood (R)(I)

US SENATE

I don't want to call this one today -- but I scheduled today to make my picks so I shall.

Not so very long ago, I was preparing a piece taking certain so-called liberal bloggers to task for going with Casey as part of a take-back-the-Senate strategy. My argument was two-fold, (1) anyone could beat Santorum, especially a really, really, REALLY smart college professor who happened top be a REAL main-street Democrat, and (2) there was no chance to take back the Senate.

I was and am still correct on the first point, but reality has interfered with the second. The Senate is in play.

The close races are Montana, New Jersey, Missouri, Virginia, and Tennessee. The Dems need four of those five to take back the Senate.

In Montana, Democrat Jon Tester is taking on Republican incumbent Conrad Burns. Burns closed a double-digit gap, and the race remains in the margin of error. However, after the first poll in April, Burns never won another poll in this race. Big Sky country is ready for a change from the go along, get along, gimme money and power, politics of Conrad Burns. Jon Tester picks up a seat in the Senate for the Dems on November 7.

In New Jersey, "incumbent" Democrat Bob Menendez gave us a scare -- with the electorate partially and temporarily succumbing to Tommy Kean Junior's attack ads. Menendez has recovered nicely and is headed to a win there, preserving a seat for the Democrats.

In Missouri, Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill is giving Republican incumbent Jim Talent whatfor. She has led through much of the race, but the recent uproar over the Michael Fox advertisement and negative ads (which the local newspapers say make false charges) by Jim Talent have put this race in the dead heat category. There is also a pro-stem-cell research amendment on the ballot. Talent opposes stem-cell research, McCaskill and 53% of her fellow-voters, favor it. McCaskill wins this squeaker because on election day, the voters here will break for change. McCaskill turns a red Senate seat blue.

Virginia. Old Dominion was certain to send bigoted bully George Allen back to the Senate where he could do the most harm. But his true colors shined through one fine day when he decided to bully a young man of color, who happened to be toting a full-color video camera. Thank goodness for YouTube. It has been neck and neck since then. It is easy to understand the Virginia voters' dilemma -- do they send a bigoted bully back to Congress or elect a sexist pig to replace him? I think the good people of Virginia will decide that they'd rather support a sexist pig than a bigoted bully.

Webb, a former Republican who served as Secretary of the Navy in Reagan's White House, will take this one away from his former colleagues. George Allen, like Rick Santorum will have to give up his '08 Presidential fantasy, too. Thank GOODNESS for YouTube!

That is enough to give the Democrats 51 seats, which is good since it looks like Harold Ford will not pick up Bill Frist's abandoned seat in Tennessee.

US HOUSE

If you have to ask, you haven't been paying attention. Dems take control, going away.



Okay, you're turn, dear readers and fellow bloggers.

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The Real Joke

Senator, the real joke is your record and the miserable failure of an administration which you have worked so hard to prop up. Unfortunately, your jokes kill.

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More New PA-SEN Polls

Two more released today, in addition to the Keystone Poll. Quinnipiac University's poll puts Santorum down by ten points (52%-42%) among what they call "likely voters" (they have three times refused our request for clarification on how they determine a likely voter). This is a four-point gain drop in the spread for the Democrat over the previous Quinnipiac poll numbers for likely voters.

Also out today, Strategic Vision's latest, which makes it also a ten-point deficit for the failing Santorum, 49%-39%. Last month's SV poll had Casey up by seven.

I have to go now, my toast is ready, as is Santorum's.

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New Keystone Poll -- Santorum Down 15 Points

With less than a week until election day, two-term incumbent Rick Santorum has fallen behind his Democratic challenger by 15 points according to the October Keystone Poll. State Treasurer Bobby Casey, Jr. leads Santorum among registered voters 53% to 38%, with 9% undecided. Santorum has not moved at all from over last month's Keystone, while it appears that all of the third-party vote and all of the undecideds are moving to the Democratic candidate.

Casey had a whopping one-month 8-point increase in support for the challenger. The previous Keystone included Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, who garnered 5% support in that poll. Casey & Co. had Romanelli thrown off the ballot. Casey's increase equals the total of Romanelli support and the drop in undecideds.

Santorum's wacked-out attacks on Casey over the last month (see, Classless Santorum Claims Treason, Santorum and the Four Horsemen of Calumny, Santorum: 'It's 1930's Germany All Over Again'!, and Santorum: 'Nazis on My Mind') have succeeded in giving the incumbent Senator his highest unfavorable rating since 1994, when the Keystone Poll began taking the voter's temperature on Santorum -- 46%. During the last month, Casey's favorables rose from 29% to 39%.

Santorum has been emphasizing the war on terror and immigration in his scare out the vote campaign. That has been as ineffective as his attacks on Casey. Those issues rank below "Something Else" on the list of issues with which respondents to the Keystone Poll are concerned.

The poll also shows that 79% of Pennsylvanians want to keep abortion legal and 51% want tighter gun restrictions. Both candidates are on the wrong side of Pennsylvania voters on those two issues.

Oh, yeah, the poll suggests that there might be a Gubernatorial election next week. Sumguy named Rendell seems to have a 25-point lead (and a 54% favorable) over some ex-jock.

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Rasmussen PA SEN Poll & More

The Rasmussen poll we told you about yesterday in Classless Santorum Claims Treason, was released today and you can spy it here. Our call, of 55% for Casey, 42% for Santorum, was correct (we have one fine birdie, there). Here's how the pollster sees it:

It doesn't look like Republican Senator Rick Santorum will be able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. This race remains in the Democrat's column for our Senate Balance of Power summary.

The incumbent gained five percentage points of voter support since our October 5 survey of the race, and a further point since October 16. But as undecided and other voters break for one of the major-party candidates, Democrat Bob Casey, Jr. has been gaining as well. Thus Casey still leads Santorum by the same thirteen-point margin, now 55% to 42%.

Santorum loses almost a fourth of the GOP base and a full 25% of conservatives to Casey, who shares the conservative opposition to abortion and gun control. If newly revived concerns about judicial activism and gay unions are helping struggling Republicans elsewhere, that's not the case in Pennsylvania.

Elsewhere, Rasmussen sees Lamont gaining on Lieberman and, a week shy of election day, sees it as Leiberman 48%, Lamont 40%, Sumrepub Guy 9%. Good run up for Lamont, but too little, too late.

Yesterday we mentioned the (as yet) unreleased Rasmussen on New Jersey, showing Democratic incumbent Menendez opening up a two-point lead over State Sen. Tom Kean, Jr. Today, Quinnipiac released it's THIRD New Jersey poll since September 20 (only ONE PA poll in that span), confirming the trend to the Dems in the Garden State. Quinnipiac puts it at 48% for Menendez and 44 points for the NJ favorite son's favorite son. Strategic Vision goes along, with the poll released today showing Menendez squeaking by with a one-point lead and a hearty 15% undecided. The New Jersey race has been even nastier than Santorum's swipes at Casey. The undecideds are not happy with that, but, I promise you, they will break for the Democrat on November 7. The CNN Poll is making it 51%-44% for Menendez among likelies and 50%-38% overall.

In Rick Santorum's home state, Rasmussen has released a second poll right on the heals of last week's survey,which had put Allen up a point. Rasmussen's latest poll in Virginia has the Democrat Webb leading Allen by 5 points when "leaners" are included. CNN has the Democrat ahead by 4 points among likely voters.

In Tennessee, CNN has the Republican Corker ahead of Ford, 52%-44% among likelies. Rasmussen will be releasing a poll there that puts Ford back two points.

In Missouri, CNN has Republican incumbent Jim Talent trailing Clair McCaskill 51%-43% overall, but dead even at 49% among likely voters. A Rasmussen poll due out soon will show the Democrat ahead one point, 48%-47%. This is a down trend for Talent.

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Classless Santorum Claims Treason

Two weekend polls show two-term incumbent Senator Rick Santorum facing a double digit deficit eight days from the election. Unable to handle the strain of rejection, Virginia's third Senator has resorted to calling his opponent a traitor. First, the polls, then the insanity.

The latest Rasmussen survey (currently available only to premium members)[UPDATE 10/31/06 -- it's now available here] shows Virginia's third senator trailing his Democratic challenger by 16 13-points, with 42% support to Bob Casey's 55%. (Nothing to link to, yet, as the public report remains embargoed.) That's all the information my little bird passed on, but it really is enough at this point in the game, isn't it?

Reaching similar results is the October Temple/Inquirer Poll, which put the spread at 13 16-points, with Casey picking up the support of 54% of the respondents and Santorum the favorite of only 38%. That represents a drop of one point for the flailing incumbent, and a gain of 5 points for Pennsylvania's favorite son of a favorite son, from the Temple/Inky September results.

Santorum's six-year role as lapdog for the Bush Administration is hurting him -- 59% of Pennsylvania voters think Bush is doing a lousy job as decider. This is 5% more than last month in the Temple poll. Santorum's disapproval numbers went up 4 points -- 50% disapprove this month, against 46% last month. More significant, the numbers of Pennsylvanians approving of The Rick's job also fell -- 37% think he's just fine this month, compared to 41% last month. (This poll, last month, was one of the rare times over the last year that Santorum's approval numbers were above 40%.)

Santorum, a huge supporter of the Iraq invasion from the beginning, is also being hurt there, as 56% of Pennsylvanians believe that it was a mistake to go into Iraq in the first place. A full 60% think the invasion has made the United States more at risk from terrorist attack or has not made us safer. (Casey, supported the Iraq war in the beginning, and recently has equivocated his position.)

Both candidates are firmly in the minority of Pennsylvanians when it comes to abortions and guns, according to the Temple/Inky numbers. While Casey and Santorum want to own the uteri of woman across the country and criminalize abortion, 63% percent of Pennsylvanians think that either the laws should stay just as they are with no further restriction, or they should be changed to make it easier for women to control their own bodies. On gun control, 56% of respondents think there should be more restrictions on gun purchases than there are now. As with abortion, Casey and Santorum are on the wrong side of the fence from Casey's fellow Pennsylvanians here (we don't know where Santorum's fellow Virginians stand on this issue).

Now, further evidence that Santorum is not only wrongheaded when it comes to policy, but is insane and dangerous.

Over the last couple of weeks, the polls continued to confirm what we said in August -- Santorum will lose by double-digits. In response, Rick Santorum's insanity has shown itself with increasing frequency and obviousness. He's told us it is 1930's Germany All Over Again, lied about S-S-S-Stay the Course, had Nazi's on His Mind, and saddled up the Four Horseman of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear. Now, he is playing the most grievous card in the Desperation Deck -- treachery.

Over the weekend, he stooped to claiming that his Democratic opponent gives aid and comfort to the enemy: According to reports, Santorum told the press on Sunday that “Bob Casey is aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide.”

It is time to ask not if the Senator has no shame -- we know he doesn't -- no, it is time to ask if he is sane. Has the prospect of being forced to take responsibility for his failed policies taken it's toll on the man? His comments over the last couple of weeks have been increasingly strident, absurd, and incongruent

Two years ago, Santorum, the third-ranked Republican in the Senate, purchased the url for his 2008 Presidential run. Now, even he has to realize that the relatively moderate electorate in Pennsylvania are absolutely, flat-out rejecting him and his damned policies. Even he must realize that if he cannot sell his perverted "morality" and scare politics to Pennsylvania, any hope of selling them on a national stage would be impossible. For a man who, I am certain, has practiced saying "My fellow Americans" into his bathroom mirror in the mornings, the prospect of so ignominiously being kicked from the national stage must weigh heavy on his little mind.

Senator, here in America, we do not lightly accuse our fellow citizens of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Further, we never even consider such charges when based on nothing more than they have severe disagreements with us on political issues. To do so is itself unAmerican, it is a sign of strain and inanity -- if not insanity. Spare us your hateful, cowardly smears. Take responsibility for your own actions and stop trying to blame your upcoming double-digit election loss on anyone not looking back in your mirror in the morning. Be a grown-up, it is much more attractive than the sniveling, immoral coward which you have shown us over the last few weeks.

Credit where it is due -- back in May, John Baer, of the Philadelphia Daily News, summed all of this up with the best description of Santorum this election cycle: "a hint of fear and just a touch of crazy".

[Ed. note - Haste making waste and all that . . . this morning I transposed the spreads in the Rasmussen and Temple surveys. They are corrected above.]

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Santorum: 'It's 1930's Germany All Over Again'!

I thought it was a joke at first, but, sadly, it is not.

Monday evening, Rick Santorum warned that the 2006 elections were the "equivalent of the late 1930s" in Germany:

Santorum issues GOP call to arms
By BRAD RHEN
Staff Writer
Lebanon Daily News
MYERSTOWN — Likening the times to the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was rising to power, Sen. Rick Santorum said last night that if he loses his re-election bid, it could set the stage for terrorism to become more of a threat than the Nazis ever were.

“If we are not successful here and things don’t go right in the election, there’s a good chance that the course of our country could change,” he said. “We are in the equivalent of the late 1930s . . . ."

Speaking before the Lebanon County republicans, Santorum warned that electing Democrats would be the equivalent of appeasing Hitler. Telling voters that a vote for your opponent is a vote for the terrorists is not only a sign of desperation, it is a sick, demented and cynical ploy.

Rick Santorum should actually read the history to which he so frequently refers. He should read it and reflect on the lessons of Hitler's rise to power in Germany.

Germany's president appointed Hitler Chancellor in January, 1933, the result of political maneuvering in an attempt to hold together a minority coalition government. New elections were set for March.

In a "February surprise", a few weeks before the elections, the German Parliament was set afire. A foreigner, and a communist, was accused of the arson.

That was all Hitler needed. The Nazis quickly pushed through anti-immigration bills and, claiming necessity resulting from foreign threats, the suspense of habeas corpus.

Hitler and the Nazi party then set the government resources to work promoting the Nazi cause in the March elections -- the military was used to underscore the supposed outside threats to Germans, anti-immigration hysteria was inflamed, and the Government rolled out propaganda effectively promoting a Nazi vote as the only rational alternative for the loyal, nationalistic German.

So it was. Hitler came to power after parlaying a supposed foreign enemy into an excuse to ramp up anti-immigration fears, suspend basic civil rights, and scare out the vote with false government propaganda. Hitler and the Nazi Party succeeded in convincing German voters that their future, the safety of their children, and their economic security, all depended on voting Nazi in the March 1933 elections. German voters were told, and believed, that any other vote was a vote for appeasement of the foreign evil-doers with designs on the well-being of Germany.

And now Rick Santorum wants to stand before us and tell us that a vote for Bob Casey is the equivalent of appeasing Hitler? He wants me to vote for him because any other vote increases the threat of terrorism? He wants America to send the Republicans back to power because the only alternative is the appeasing, terrorist-loving Democrats?

Rick Santorum is insane and dangerous.

Senator, in my America, dissent is not the equivalent of anything but liberty. When I reject your policies, when I demand that you explain yourself, when I want you to account for the disaster you have wrought on my country, on innocents abroad, for the trashing of our good name around the world, I am not appeasing anyone other than our founders who insisted that vigilance was the only effective protector of liberty. For you to suggest otherwise, to imply to the contrary, to threaten us with disaster if we do not agree with you, if we do not want you to raise your voice as our representative any longer, is not merely insane and dangerous -- it is treachery. You demean me when you stoop to such low tactics, you piss on the liberty for which so many have willingly shed their blood, and you expose yourself as a sniveling, immoral coward.

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.


(Thanks to Strike the Root for the image.)

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Rick at Bottom, Again

The latest SurveyUSA Approval Ratings for All US Senators are out. Rick Santorum is tied for the worst in the nation, with a 38% approval rating.

After all that money, all that sound, and all that fury to which he has subjected Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum still has nearly the lowest approval rating of his entire stinking Senate career. At 38% he was only lower in May and June, when he hit rock bottom, as opposed to plain old bottom, at 36%.

Heckuva job, Rickie. Makes you tingly-proud, doesn't it?

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Another New Poll - Santorum Down 12

If the election were held today, the flailing reelection campaign of Senator Rick Santorum would come crashing to an end with the incumbent losing to his Democratic challenger Bobby Casey Junior by 12-points (corrected). That is the conclusion of a new poll released today. The McClatchy/MSNBC Poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research gives Casey 51% and Santorum 39%, with ten percent unsure/other. This is a three-point increase over the 9-point deficit Santorum had in this poll's prior release in early October.

Poll respondents, surveyed by telephone between October 18 and 21, gave two-term Senator Rick Santorum a favorable rating of only 33%. His opponent, perennial campaigner and son of a dead governor, received an approval rating of only 44%. Casey's 28% unfavorable rating was far less than Santorum's 48% -- which summarizes why there is no room for Santorum to turn this around in the last two weeks. According to these numbers, nearly ten percent of respondents are voting for Santorum despite their negative feelings towrds him.

While Santorum is going to lose this election, the polling throughout the campaign clearly show that Casey Junior is not winning it -- he's merely the beneficiary of a widespread abandonment of Santorum and the failed Republican policies which he has enthusiastically supported over his two terms as Senator. According to this poll, 32% of the respondents are voting AGAINST someone in the Senatorial race. Unfortunately, the numbers released today do not break those responses down between Casey and Santorum supporters.

Over on the Gubernatorial side, Ed Rendell parlays his robust 57% favorable rating into a 21-point lead over ex-jock Lynn Swann. Fifty-six percent of poll respondents said that they would vote for the incumbent Governor, against only 35% support for Lynn Swann.

Respondents, by a wide margin, disapprove of the manner in which the Republicans have been running things. The President gets a 56% DISapproval rating from Pennsylvania voters, which includes a 46% STRONGLY disapprove number. Congress does even worse -- 63% disapprove of how the Republican-controlled Congress is doing it's job. Remarkably, only 1% strongly approve of Congressional performance. That's ALOT of Republican voters holding noses this midterm.

In the more-bad-news-for-Santorum department . . . .

+ Voters rank Iraq & Health Care as the top issues for them. Santorum's scare-out-the-vote message on immigration isn't exciting anyone, at 6% it ranks below "Other" as an issue of concern.

+ The Bush/Santorum Iraq policies are rejected by 60% of Pennsylvania voters. Even more -- 66% -- say that the Bush/Santorum economic policies have them worried.

+ Still MORE -- 69% -- aren't buying that the Bush/Santorum policies are making us safer -- they expect another successful terrorist attack in the United States.

Throughout the campaign, Santorum has blamed the media for his impending retirement from Government work. What this and all other polls from this past year demonstrate is that the fault lie not in the media, but in Santorum.

The Republicans control it all -- the failures of this Government are theirs. As the third-ranked Republican in Congress, Santorum, more than most, has direct personal responsbility for those failures. Now, he is being held to account for creating, supporting, and engineering failure.

Gee, Senator, I guess buying that "santorum2008" domain name (in 2004) was a mite premature, huh?

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New SV Poll, Santorum Down 7

In the new Strategic Vision poll out today, incumbent Senator Rick Santorum trails his challenger by seven points. While other polls have shown the undecideds moving to a candidate, this SV poll has the dunnos at 9% -- only a point less than last month's 10%. The SV poll was conducted by telephone between October 20 and 23. Last month the same poll put the difference at 10% and in August, it had the Senator down by 7.

In the Gubernatorial contest, SV gives the Governor at comfortable 20-point margin over his challenger, football player Lynn Swann. This is a two-point gain over last month and double the difference from August.

The respondents gave Bush low marks, with 60% disapproving of his over all job performance.

The poll has a solid respondent base of wackjobs, with almost one in five saying that the Foley scandal makes them more likely to vote for Republicans this year. On the same topic, only 12% thought the Republicans handled the Foley matter correctly and 58% think Hastert should step down over the affair.

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Wolf Blitzer is an Idiot

Traversing Pennsylvania yesterday, I was able to listen to CPSAN radio's rerun of all of the Sunday talk shows on my XM radio.

Denial, desperation, and diversion seemed to be the theme of the day for the republicans when it came to the midterms.

Arlen Specter blamed Clinton for 9/11 and for Bush's defeat of Gore, Bush refused to answer if he thought the current Iraq strategy was working and pretended the question was about tactics, he also promised to bring back his social security dismantling project, Al Haig thought the performance of Rumsfled was only a political question not worthy of discussion, and Elizabeth Dole warned that the terrorists would be here on November 8 if we elected the Democrats.

But Wolf Blitzer, who I find even more annoying than those neocon puppets on Fox, made the stupidest claim of them all.

In his ponderous proclaimative style he informed his listener that "all polls show that" the Santorum-Casey fight "is a very, very close race", with "Casey slightly ahead".

"Close"?

"Slightly ahead"?

Wolf is either an idiot or believes that of his audience.

Hey, Wolf, you moron, take a look at the actual polling data instead of listening to the little voices in your head:

Zogby/WSJ: 10/19 Casey 52.4% Santorum 44.3%
Greenberg Quinlan: 10/17 Casey 54%, Santorum 37%
Rasmussen 10/15 Casey 54% Santorum 41%
Strategic Vision 9/28 Casey 50% Santorum 41%
Quinnipiac 9/26 Casey 51% Santorum 39%
Temple/Inquirer 9/24 Casey 49% Santorum 39%
Keystone 9/21 Casey 45% Santorum 38%
Issues PA/Pew 9/21 Casey 52% Santorum 31%

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First Post Debate Poll -- Santorum Down 13

Rasmussen's latest figures on the Pennsylvania Senate race show that, despite dismal, lackluster, or uninspiring debate performances by the Democratic challenger, Republican incumbent Rick Santorum is not making any positive movement with less than three weeks to go until election day.

The results made public today put the margin at 13 points, the same as Rasmussen's previous release on October 10. In the latest survey, Casey is favored by 54% of the respondents, as against Santorum with 41%. This spread is in the same range as the 12 point difference reported in the latest DSCC internal polling on the race.

As per usual, Rasmussen is stingy with the crosstabs -- for which you have to pay big bucks. But they offer that the margin barely moves when leaners are included. In that case, Casey picks up 1% of the undecideds and Santorum 2%, for a 12-point difference. Santorum's favorables are at 46% and Casey's at 57%.

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DSCC Internal Poll Puts Santorum Down by 12

From Deborah White:

"Democratic polling numbers are simply extraordinary. We need to win six Republican held seats to take back the Senate and we have a real chance to win as many as eight," wrote Sen. Chuck Schumer, Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee over this past weekend in an insider status report.

"We are leading in six of these races and within striking distance in two others. I can assure you that we will not let these Republicans up for air for even a second between now and November."

The article goes on to list the latest DSCC internals, which give have Santorum down in double digits, with Casey at 48% and Santorum 36%.

Meanwhile, The New York Times is reporting Republican operatives, money, and hopes are abandoning Mike DeWine in Ohio and are expecting Santorum to be forcibly retired from the Senate.

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Move along, nuthin' to see here, folks

As one wag noted, no sense feeling sorry for Senator Santorum -- he's about to be fired and get a potential ten-fold raise. Sign me up, me laddie.

But still.

Recent reports from the candidates confirm what we said three weeks ago -- Santorum has spent away his once massive cash lead over the Democratic challenger and has got bupkus to show for it. He remains reliably below 40% in approval ratings -- the Mendoza Line for incumbent congresspeople.

His president, who, I think I heard someone say once or twice, Santorum has voted with something like 98% of the time, is not faring well. Today, Zogby reports on a national live survey showing the President's approval ratings in the toilet (still), scoring only a 37% approval rating. Santorum, who has been joined to a part of Bush's anatomy for Bush's entire term, cannot benefit from that. It gets worse, though.

The same Zogby poll puts public confidence in Congress at what must be at or near the all-time low -- only 18% of voters surveyed think Santorum and his Republican cronies are doing a good job of leading this country.

On the bright side for the Senator, at least he doesn't have to move after losing his job -- he can stay right in his Virginia McMansion (at least as long as the financing holds up).

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Losing Election Could Be Costly for Santorum

Could Rick Santorum lose his McMansion if he loses the election?

Close followers of the ethical trainwreck that is Rick Santorum will recall the infamous special interest loan he received from the exclusive Philadelphia Trust Company on his Virginia residence.

The ethical issues surrounding this questionable deal were carefully researched and explicated in a great piece of writing by Will Bunch and in the ethics complaint filed by CREW.

A brief recap. As everyone knows, when Santorum first ran for the Senate, he blasted his incumbent opponent for living in Virginia and not Pennsylvania. When Santorum was elected, he promptly moved his family to Virginia, which has been his principle residence ever since. (The law provides that elected representatives don't lose their legal residency in their home state because they move to DC during their terms. But, two issues still arise -- the law says nothing about Virginia and, more important, instead of fessing up about living in Virginia, he lies about living in Penn Hills.) In any event, eventually he bought a 5,700+ square foot home in Virginia. In 2002, he refinanced the mortgage on the home with Philadelphia Trust. The problem is that Philadelphia Trust is a private banking institution servicing only the very wealthiest clients and, according to the reports he filed as Senator, Santorum doesn't qualify. Will Bunch's research pretty clearly demonstrates that Santorum trashed ethical rules to pull down favorable treatment on his mortgage. Check out the Will Bunch story and CREW complaint for the details.

What I find intriguing is that the mortgage calls for a balloon payment on November 1, 2007. The Santorums took out a five-year mortgage on their cottage home, presumably amortized over a longer period of time.

I guess Santorum figured he'd be re-elected in 2006 and and running for President in 2007. In that event, he likely planned on calling in another chip from Philadelphia Trust. But, since he will not be reelected and will not even be a Pennsylvania resident in 2007, what's going to happen when the (self-described) cash-strapped Santorums have to make that big payment in November, 2007?

Maybe Karen Santorum will have to take a part-time, minimum wage, no benefit job working the cash register at a Virginia Walmart to make ends meet.

One could wish.

In reality, Santorum is likely headed to a high-six-figure job with Haliburton or some lobbying firm, when he can put his connections and disregard for ethical considerations to work for some real coin.

[Oops. I forgot -- hat tip to Santorum Cybergate for the pictures, which I believe are their originals.]

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Umm, you got us there, Senator

On the campaign trail at Northeast Pennsylvania's home office for bigotry, Senator Santorum told a handful of assembled faithful in Hazleton:

“I say what’s on my mind,” he added. “When I am straight with you, there are a whole lot of people out there who don’t like you.”

Senator, tell us something we don't know -- in fact, 60% don't like you or what you say. That's why they will be sending you home to Virginia where your message of intolerance and pretended morality might play better.

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