Don't shed any tears, but
Rick Santorum has a problem. Not a huge one, but it seems his never-satisfied conservative constituency is a might peeved at him for supporting the toothless Arlen Specter for Judiciary Commmittee chair.
"I think Santorum has really injured himself here," said the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, head of the Christian Defense Coalition. "I view Senator Santorum as trying to find refuge in a political firestorm, and he's doing what is so common among Washington politicians, which is ... sticking his finger up and seeing which way the wind is going to blow."
Santorum's term expires in 2006, and Mahoney said a group of conservative activists have scheduled a weekend meeting in Pennsylvania to discuss the feasibility of mounting a primary challenge to him, possibly by appealing to Toomey to run. Toomey's spokesman, Joe Sterns, said he had no knowledge of any such plan.
"They've been mad for quite awhile, and I don't think the senator has done any outreach in the conservative wing of the party," said Bill Green, a Republican political consultant in Pittsburgh.
"He's on the ballot in two years and I'm sure the Santorum people are going to say, `Where else are those people going to go, they're always going to be with us.' But I don't think he wants to go through a baptism of fire," said Green, who added he believes the senator has White House ambitions for 2008.
Just so you can say it's not the only place you read it, there's this Human Events piece about the Rev. Mahoney not giving up on Specter either. Note that by their standards, Specter's a liberal (that alone is worth a raised eyebrow).
Conservative activists who protested Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's bid to chair the Judiciary Committee are vowing are keep pressure on the liberal Republican and his Senate colleagues who have vowed to support him.
A formal vote on Specter's ascension won't happen until January. Even though the nine Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are backing Specter, his support in the 55-member Senate Republican Conference remains unclear.
"Anything can happen in two months," said the Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, who led a protest against Specter earlier this week on Capitol Hill. "Let's face the political realities, but I don't think it's both morally or strategically wise to throw in the towel this early."
Don't expect the American Taliban to be appeased. Republican moderates will be watching this very closely... and you can expect Dems on the Hill to be very nice to them as they watch.