Pennsylvania Politics -- Savaging Casey

Last night Bob Casey finally went public in an attempt to quiet his liberal critics. It wasn't pretty.

At Franklin & Marshall College Casey took on his two liberal competitors, History professor Chuck Pennacchio and Philadelphia attorney Alan Sandels, in open debate. Casey, seeking to appeal to moderate voters whose votes he will need to beat Santorum, stressed his independence from Democrat Party leadership, promised to stay the course in Iraq, endorsed overturning Roe v. Wade, praised Samuel Alito, and generally approved of President Bush's tax cuts.

Not bad -- I'd vote for that. But these were college liberals he was speaking to.

Not surprisingly the other speakers took exception to each and every one of these positions. They (especially Pennacchio) hectored and patronized Casey throughout, branding him a coward for not standing up for Democrat principles. Sandal endorsed raising taxes on capital gains and dividends, Pennacchio demanded a single-payer health care system, strong environmental regulation of business, and a guaranteed income for the poor, all of which Casey opposes. Both opposed free trade which Casey supports. [Read about it here].

The debate highlighted the immense gulf between Casey and Pennsylvania's liberal establishment as well as the general agreement among Casey and Santorum [and for that matter, George Bush]. Casey outlined his differences with the incumbent:

1) no tax breaks for multimillionaires
2) raise the minimum wage
3) support consumers against big business
4) Santorum is a surrogate for the Bush administration

In other words -- no real differences on cultural or international issues; just a replay of thirty's style "soak the rich" rhetoric. Pretty small beer on which to run a campaign.

The exposure may well have cost Casey some critical support. The audience, packed with Pennacchio's supporters, was certainly hostile. [Read the Philly Daily News account here]. Casey's performance was so bad that the Daily News compared him to Al Gore and suggested that his double-digit lead over Santorum would probably disappear altogether unless he dramatically improved his public persona. [here] So savage were the attacks and so inept Casey's responses that the conservatives over at NRO's "Sixers" actually began to feel sorry for him. [here]

This has been the Santorum camp's biggest hope all along. They feel that Casey is a bit dim and that debates will expose his intellectual shortcomings, especially when contrasted with Santorum who is a bright guy and a sharp debater. Certainly Casey's performance in yesterday's liberal forum must encourage them. They are already demanding ten debates. Maybe they'll up the offfer to twenty.