Santorum's Woes Accumulate

WTAE in Pittsburgh is doing some serious investigative reporting on Santorum's charity, Operation Good Neighbor Foundation, which is being administered by Washington lobbyists. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here, but questions are being asked and, as Baretta used to say, you know the name of that tune. So far all we have is hints and innuendo, nothing solid, but that's all it takes, and the groups that have targeted Santorum have never been known for fighting fair. This is going to get really slimy before it's over.

Check the report out here.

RELATED:

Hollywood's Usual Suspects Are Heard From

The Post-Gazette [Sun-Telegraph, if I remember right] reports:

An independent political group critical of U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum is raising thousands of dollars from contributors that include entertainer Barbra Streisand and media mogul Robert F.X. Sillerman, whose company owns "American Idol."

A group of Pennsylvania political operatives formed The Lantern Project last year as a tax-exempt organization known as a 527 group, and IRS filings say the group's purpose is to educate the public on issues in the 2006 elections.

Their public presence at the moment is limited to an anti-Santorum Web site known as "Santorum Exposed," but organizers say they are looking at many different ways of communicating with voters, including television ads....

The Lantern Project's treasurer, Brian Donlen, said the group's work is not bound by the election cycle, and he described the project as "an educational endeavor" to provide information "about what we see as [Mr. Santorum's] extremism and his tendency to be hypocritical."

The fact that the Philadelphia-based group raised $328,750 before the end of last year -- 11 months before the election -- is an early sign of the prominent role 527 groups are likely to play in the next election cycle. The groups, which get their name from Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code and are not subject to limits that are placed on donations to campaigns, raised millions of dollars to influence the 2004 presidential elections.

Read it here.

This could be a possible line of attack for Santorum. There is a lot of animosity directed toward Hollywood liberals in some parts of Pennsylvania. But that's not gonna do much for him. He really needs to boost his turnout in Allegheny County and the Philly suburbs, and running against Hollywood does nothing for him there.