Dinner with Bob Casey, Senate Candidate PA

I had dinner with Bob Casey recently. He is running against Santorum in Pennsylvania. Casey is currently PA’s Treasurer and, unlike Santorum, Casey is a true fiscally responsible public servant. Casey’s dad was governor, so he has a lot of connections in and outside of PA. I found him warm and engaging one-on-one. He is not a fire breather, but is instead thoughtful and deliberate and assured. Compared to the lunatic Santorum, I think Casey will do very well.

Santorum will raise a lot of money, but to do so, he has to get in bed even further with the fringe right. The further down that path he goes, the more he alienates Pennsylvanians who are, by and large, moderate. And Santorum has to have $10 or $20 million in order to saturate the airwaves in an attempt to morph himself into someone more moderate and more in tune with everyday Pennsylvanians. He has proven adept at doing this in the past, and will likely do so again. Casey will need enough money to remind Pennsylvanians of the truth: Santorum is an extreme right-wing fanatic who is totally out of step with the concerns, beliefs and traditions of Pennsylvania—not to mention the fact that Santorum isn’t even a PA resident.

I’m sure this is not original, but one of the guests last night leaned over and whispered in my ear, "I call him Sanitorium." I laughed. He certainly appears to belong in a sanitarium. I am confident Casey can win. It will be up to all of us across the nation to help him. Defeating Santorum will be a glaring rejection of Bush’s extremism and could be the first step in returning our country to sanity.