Why did the voters of Pennsylvania turn against Rick Santorum?

[kentuck]

He's an incumbent that has been in the Senate for 12 years. He was an up and coming star of the Party. He was #3 in the Leadership of the Republican Senate. But, today a poll shows him 16 points behind. Why did he lose his support? Why is he now behind by such a large margin? What did he do to piss off the people in his state to such an extent?

[derby378]

1. What, are you suggesting they shouldn't have?

Me, I think they finally got sick and tired of all Santorum's bullshit. He's become increasingly distanced from reality.

[nickshepDEM]

2. 1st, Casey has great name ID. 2nd, Santorum has developed a record

of walking in lock step with the Republican Party and George W. Bush. 3rd, the Republican party and George W. Bush are awfuly unpopular.

[JeffR]

3. Opened his mouth once too often?

And then continued doing so?

I really have no idea why Pennsylvanians have turned on him, but I'm very grateful they have.

[bluedogyellowdog]

4. Here's a good article

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2414298,00.html

Blue collar, white working class voters are returning to the Democratic Party.

It explains why Santorum, Burns, and DeWine are going down and why Allen's re-election chances aren't looking so hot either.

[Alleycat]

5. He just is

I know why he won't be getting my vote but I could never understand why the people of PA elected him in the first place. 12 years ago I was one of the uninformed, I voted in the national elections, not so much in the state or local. Today I am much more involved, informed and active being that I have a child, a house, and have to support myself solely.

[Doctor_J]

6. He managed to hide his batshit insanity for 10 years

Seriously, the man is a loon.

[waiting for hope]

11. You've got that right....anyone

remember when he declared - what, about six months ago, that they found the WMD's in Iraq? He's delusional and living in his own reality.

[swag]

7. I wonder how much Dan Savage's "santorum" campaign affected

at least the very beginning of this landslide.

Note that I'm still not so hot on Dan Savage, given his support for the Iraq War, for which he has hardly tried to explain himself.

[Daylin Byak]

8. You want to know why he was elected in the first place

Here's why,

1994-Santorum rode the republican "contract with america" wave by defeating Senator Harris Wolford, Wolford was described as a weak candidate and didn't even get the endorsement of Governor Bob Casey. And in 1994 having a D next to your name was sort of the scarlet letter election wise.

2000-Santorum was elected to a 2nd term by defeating Congressman Ron Klink who before being elected to Congress was a weatherman for KDKA-TV(Pittsburgh's CBS affliate)Santorum was favored to win because Klink has little money, little name recnination in the Philadelphia area(as Klink was a pittsburgh area politican)and was regarded as being "too conservative" for Democrats.

Does that answer your question?

[kentuck]

10. I was wondering if it had anything to do with educating his children..?

out of state on PA taxpayer dollars? And the fact that he appeared to live in VA rather than PA?

[blue neen]

9. We are tired of being embarrassed by this sanctimonious asshole.

I know registered REPUBLICANS who are voting for Casey.

Santorum REALLY turned off the voters of Western PA by having the local school district and the state pay for his children's cyber schooling, even though they were living in VA. We have not forgotten this ripoff of PA taxpayers. He actually called Bob Casey a "thug", claiming that Casey's staffers were looking in the windows of the home Lil' Ricky claims to live in.

PA voters also did not like the fact that he flew to participate in the Terri Schiavo debacle. WTF? What does a PA senator (who actually lives in VA) have to do with this case in FL? Maybe it's the fact that he conveniently managed to attend a fundraiser in FL at the same time he was pledging to fight for Terri's life. He also flew to FL for that whole episode on a Wal-Mart corporate jet.

We don't want to be associated with "man-on-dog" quotes. We don't want to be told that it does low income single mothers no good to get an education. Pennsylvania does not want to hear Iraq compared to the Lord of the Rings.

One of things that Santorum previously ran on was Gun Rights, a very important issue in PA. Casey took that issue right off the table by also coming out in support of the second amendment. Some people may not understand this mentality, but the Monday after Thanksgiving is a holiday in this state--it's the beginning of buck season!

kentuck, I could go on and on. The fact is Rick Santorum is bat-shit crazy. It just took some of PA this long to wake up. The rest of us have known it all along.

[saltpoint]

12. I think it's because he's such a scorched-earth hardass.

There were a good handful of campaign stumbles and issues embarrassments, and also a trend in Pennsylvania toward more moderate social position, as well as the national outcry against Bush's foreign policy.

Combined, those would have made it a rough row to hoe this time for Santorum, but you throw in that metallic, unfeeling, smug, bullying attitude of his and you've got a recipe for a very strong win by Casey.

[Penndems]

13. Four reasons:

1. Casts votes according to the Bush Administration's demands, not what's best for Pennsylvanians.

2. Children received Pennsylvania taxpayer-funded cyberschool education while living in Virginia.

3. Maintains a two-bedroom residence in Penn Hills, a suburb of Pittsburgh, that neither he nor his family reside in more than a month out of the year - if that long.

4. His extremist religious views regarding gays, working women and minorities are just too crazy for a moderate state like Pennsylvania.



(edited for typo)

[beaconess]

14. Because they woke up and finally realized Rick Santorum was their Senator?

[dajoki]

15. He's a f**king nut, 'nuff said n/t

[wisteria]

16. Santorum is not willing to answer too or work with Democrats. He is

the most partisan politician I have had representing me in ages. A visit to his office in Washington a year ago, cemented my opinion of him. He couldn't help himself, he did nothing but down Democrats- not realizing that I was a registered Democrat myself. He has mostly forgotten about the fact that he is suppose to represent all the people of the state-not just the Republicans. And PA has taken a back seat to his ambitions in Washington. He doesn't respond to the needs of the people in the state, he responds more to the needs of the health care industry and the oil companies.

[hopein08]

17. Never question a good thing!

It never turns out well.

[Auntie Bush]

18. Does Terry Schiavo ring a bell?

That alone ought to do it.

[59millionmorons]

19. I will tell you

first and most obvious, he is an ass. Truly we never had a good candidate run against him. Casey has some appeal to the pro lifers, so that takes away some of Santorums appeal.