Pennsylvania Politics -- Santorum is Losing Ground

The Hill reports:

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) is losing ground to his Democratic challenger, state Treasurer Bob Casey, a GOP poll to be released today shows.

The Strategic Vision survey, conducted Saturday through Monday, gives Casey a 14-point lead over the second-term senator, with the Democrat at 52 percent and the Republican at 38 percent. Seven percent of the 1,200 likely voters interviewed were undecided.

A poll released in early August by the same firm showed Casey leading Santorum by 11 points.

As more people have heard about Santorum’s book, It Takes a Family, and as the senator has come under attack for comments he made about Hurricane Katrina, a negative impression has begun to congeal, Strategic Vision CEO David Johnson said.

“The good thing for him is it’s happening now,” Johnson said.

I'll say. Rickey's got a lotta 'splaining" to do between now and the election. Yes it's early and so on, but he's fourteen points down and only seven percent are undecided and he's losing ground, and... It just doesn't look good for him. Of course, these polls only measure the general public mood. In an off-year election in which both sides are trying to suppress the turnout, what really counts is whether you can energize your base and that is Santorum's task right now.