Santorum, Casey face the issues

Sen. Rick Santorum won’t win the upcoming election against challenger Bob Casey unless the… Sen. Rick Santorum won’t win the upcoming election against challenger Bob Casey unless the Bush administration catches Osama bin Ladin.

This opinion belongs to David Barker, a Pitt associate professor of political science, but it is also shared by others in the political science field.

Pat Dunham, professor and chair of electoral politics and journalism at Duquesne University, said that Santorum is one of the Democrats’ biggest targets.

“[Santorum] is in a fight for his existence,” he said bluntly.

While the election in November is quickly approaching, Dunham said Santorum needs to continue reminding voters what he has done for the state: his achievements as well as the programs and federal money he’s directed here.

She also said that Santorum needs to remind voters that he has seniority and that a new senator will be less powerful. She also said that Santorum should emphasize Casey’s lack of a defined platform.

“He’s been criticized as being anti-Santorum and not having his own positions,” she said. “It is to [Casey’s] advantage to be clear on his positions.”

Baker said that the difference between the candidates is that Casey is an old-school, labor union Democrat, while Santorum is a conservative Republican very close to President Bush.

This means the two politicians have dramatically different views on what the role of government is in terms of spending for humanitarian purposes and taxes. Santorum wants to cut taxes as much as he can, especially for upper classes. Casey says the government should step in to help poor people by spending on health care, education, child-care, food stamps and housing.

Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College, said that Santorum has several advantages.

“Santorum has a lot going for him. He is a pretty good campaigner, he raised a lot of money, and he used his incumbency well,” Madonna said. “He’s done a lot of constituent service and bringing home of appropriations for the state.”

Madonna said Santorum needs to find an issue that will pull voters away from Casey. The one issue he has tried is immigration, arguing that Casey will give Social Security to immigrants while depriving Pennsylvania’s own citizens, Madonna said.

Barker agreed with Madonna when he described Santorum’s new television advertisement.

The ad says that Casey is going to give immigrants many benefits that “real Americans” don’t have, while Barker believes that Santorum is trying to play into biases and prejudices of certain traditional Western Pennsylvania Democrats in an attempt to gain their vote.

“What I would do, I would be out there trying to challenge Casey to more debates,” Barker said. “I think it’s probably the case that the more the public sees of Casey, the less they will like him. If I was Santorum, I’d be trying to manipulate that.”

Barker said the national context for the election right now is not a good one for Republicans because of the widespread perception among voters that the administration and its Republican allies in Congress have “incompetently carried out the war.”

Dunham said that the race is getting nationalized.

“[The race] is becoming a referendum on Bush and the war,” she said.