SantorumBlog

Left
Swing State Project

I’ll say this delicately: if Bob Casey allows Rick Santorum, one of the creepiest and most off-the-wall members of the Senate, to somehow dig his way out of his political tomb, then Casey will prove himself to be one of the most incompetent and disastrous challengers of the 2006 cycle. Casey has a reputation for being the sleepy Mr. Rogers of Pennsylvania politics; he’s going to have to learn to go for the kill and not let Santorum get away with inoculating himself with warm ‘n’ fuzzy TV ads.

DailyKos Diarist

I wouldn’t otherwise say anything about this as I was confident that Casey could kinda’ keep quiet and let Santorum blather himself into oblivion. However, the polls show that he has narrowed his deficit two thirds of the way (to 6%) since june.

Nowheredesign also sees sinister forces at work regarding the Green Party factor.

Consider this: Mehlman’s ilk is fighting to disenfranchise millions of voters nationwide. He knows (just as in 2000, 2002, and 2004,) that the only way to “win the game” is to cheat. It’s the same for the GOP now as it was then as it shall remain tomorrow and the next day until principled conservative citizens realize that they must recapture control of their party for the sake of their future.

A Big Fat Slob disagrees saying “Casey Suffers 11-Point Slide in Quinnipiac Latest — Green Party Not a Factor”

While it isn’t even Labor Day yet, it cannot be comfortable for Casey to see his numbers declining in this way. Santorum has recently begun an intensive advertising blitz, and has managed to get Casey distracted by the Romanelli petition challenge.

…

Casey may well have to decide to actually agree to a real debate (a joint appearance on MTP doesn’t count as a debate — with Russert it hardly qualifies as an interview). More important, he may finally decide to start talking about the issues with some substance instead of his normal pablum.

The next month will be very telling.

Right
Outside the Beltway

For an incumbent to be trailing six points inside 90 days to the election, despite a spoiler candidate sucking 5 points from his leading challenger, is hardly a good sign. And 49 percent negatives are nothing to write home about, either.

Still, the Santorum campaign (which is touting this poll in a press release) is glad to at least be on the upswing. Casey had an 18 point lead in this same poll in June. That this race is still competitive should give the Republicans some hope.

Wizbang

When you factor in the fact that Quinnipiac Polls in Pennsylvania have a Democratic bias (witness President Bush’s extremely low approval rating in the state), it does look much better for the Junior Senator. If he keeps on his present trajectory, it will be a dead heat by Labor Day.

Real Clear Politics

We have said from the outset to expect Santorum to close hard, but thought he would just come up short in the end, primarily because he simply had too deep a hole to climb out of. But if more polls continue to confirm this a 5-8 point race, rather than a 11-14 point race before Labor Day, this contest becomes a complete toss up. And with a Green Party candidate very much a real possibility to siphon critical votes away from Casey, suddenly Santorum may be very much back in the game.