Well, fellow Pennsylvanians, the "nice guy" phase has expired for the Santorum
(Shmantorum) campaign. And now, we must fumble for our remotes as he has released his first negative ad.
(click "latest video" in the upper left corner)
"Bobby Casey Loves Running For Office...
Showing up to do the job; that's a different story. As Auditor General, Casey skipped so much work running for Governor, he never completed over 800 audits. And lost anyhow. So, he announced for Treasurer, where he has skipped work almost half the time campaigning for Senate.
Bobby [note the "Bobby" tactic] Casey:
Before running for a new job; shouldn't he show up for the one we are already paying him for?"
The thing is, friends, I have not seen a single "Casey For Senate" ANYTHING since the very beginning. Not a commercial, not a lawn sign, not a mailer. Not a thing. And so, I fear that Mr. Casey is laying back way too much in this one.
Sunday, Mr. Casey and Senator Santorum will "debate" on Meet the Press. I pray that Casey has "brilliantly [if not foolishly"] planned to first stomp on Santorum's glaring lack of credibility, ethics, and worthiness to serve as a United States Senator, upon which, the media blitz shall begin.
He can start here:
From DSCC
SEN. RICK SANTORUM and his wife received a $500,000, five-year mortgage for their Leesburg, Va., home from a small, private Philadelphia bank run by a major campaign donor - even though its stated policy is to make loans only to its "affluent" investors, which the senator is not.
Good-government experts said the mortgage from The Philadelphia Trust Co. raises serious questions about Santorum's conduct at a time when he is the Senate GOP's point man on ethics reform. They said it would be a violation of the Senate's ethics rules if Santorum received something a regular citizen could not get.
...
And then segway to this:
From The Washington Post
Republicans are researching the party affiliation and political contributions of hundreds of lobbyists in Washington, part of a campaign that could deny government access and prime lobbying jobs to Democrats, according to people familiar with the project.
Copies of the bulky dossier, being compiled by conservative activist Grover Norquist and other prominent Republican lobbyists, will be given to top White House officials and GOP lawmakers when completed, the sources said.
...Senate Republican Conference Chairman Rick Santorum (Pa.) last month hosted a private meeting in the Capitol, during which Norquist asked a group of about two dozen lobbyists and staffers to help complete the project, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
He handed out a thick list of lobbyists, some with their party affiliation and past political jobs already identified. He asked the lobbyists to help fill in the blanks, and told them his own staff would research the political contributions.
Santorum did not return calls requesting comment.
Which is a great start but by no means a fraction of the gamut of reasons that Santorum should just plain-old be booted from politics altogether.
Honestly, I have no idea what is going on with the Casey campaign. My fantasy is that they have some sort of massive bombshell to drop on Sunday.
While I feel that Santorum is an ignorant and simple man, that is not to say that I would ever underestimate the depth of his treachery, especially in a Senatorial campaign.
There is a lot that needs to be done. So let's get to stepping. Plus, my head is about to explode.
:)