On the Ground at the Casey-Santorum Debate
[Editor’s Note: A warm welcome for guest blogger Catherine Haluschak, a resident of Pennsylvania and a long-time JK supporter, who’s working hard like JK is, to see that Bob Casey joins John Kerry in the Senate. She attended the Casey-Santorum debate and sent us this report along with some great pictures.]
On an absolutely brilliant fall day in the City of Pittsburgh, a match-up was held between challenger Bob Casey and Senator Rick “How do you get to Pittsburgh, again?” Santorum. The air was biting as the energized band of Casey supporters made our way from the Pittsburgh Hilton to the KDKA studios, just a short distance away, where the debate would be taped.
Amid chants of “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Rick Santorum’s got to go” and “What time is it? CASEY TIME!”, we waited for the next Senator from PA to arrive, holding up signs and waving at passing cars, many of whose occupants returned our greeting with an approving beep and thumbs up. <!
Good luck Mr. Casey. We’ll be watching you tonight as you work to rid the Senate of scourge of Rick Santorum, known to many of us here in the ‘burgh as one of the great minds of the 16th century (among other things).
The debate can be seen on KDKA in Pittsburgh at 7:00 p.m. tonight, at various times across Pennsylvania on PCN and on C-Span for everyone else. Check here for more details.
I should add that a grand total of three Santorum supporters showed up to support their candidate, but two were in costume (to keep from being recognized?) and all three arrived after their candidate had entered the building. I would post a picture, but it’s just too sad.
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CASEY TIME!!!
Great reporting, great pictures!
Thanks so much for the great report and pictures, Catherine.
Best of luck to Bob Casey!
How big of a lead does Bob Casey have ? Does anyone know ?
Not sure, but double digits last I heard. Whatever it is, it’s likely to be bigger after the debate airs tonight.
“A confident Bob Casey put Sen. Rick Santorum on the defensive Thursday on everything from Santorum’s residency to his stance on Iraq during an often contentious and feisty debate.”
Associated Press
October 12, 2006
I checked, as of today, Casey is up by 13.
Wow, thanks for the great report! it looks like you all had a great time.
I will be so thrilled to hear Mr. Casey’s name become part of the Senate roll call next session. Rick Santorum is just too divisive to lead in PA - Bob Casey is the kind of person who can help us heal this nation.
Great post Catherine. I’m looking forward to seeing the debate. Although to be honest, Santorum isn’t that bad a debater - he’s got the polish thing going, at least when he doesn’t lose his temper and yell, like he did last time. Of course, his policies and values are bankrupt, and no amount of polish can cover that up for any thinking person. And Casey has a great persona in contrast - I think after all the bad stuff we’ve been through the last 5 1/2 years, people are ready for a soft-spoken, thinking type person.
Okay, PA politics trivia quiz: Do you all know where the chant, “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Rick Santorum’s got to go” came from?
Hint: Santorum - or some of his supporters, anyway - brought it on himself.
Having Bob Casey running as the Democratic candidate for Senator this year is not an entirely unalloyed blessing here in Pennsylvania. He comes with a certain amount of personal and political baggage, as don’t we all, and his strongly-held positions on certain issues are antithetical to my own.
However, we do see eye-to-eye on certain other issues at the same time; some of that same baggage also gives him the ability to get things done in a notoriously cronyistic old-school political environment; and, of course, Casey is still a Democrat who is running against a Republican this year.
Not only that, but Casey is also an actual human being who is running against Rick Santorum this year as well. That by itself would be enough cause to give him my vote on November 7.
In fact, it’s safe to say that I would vote for an old yellow dog if it were running against Rick Santorum this year.
and not even a particularly charismatic old yellow dog at that,
Otter
Stream is up!
http://kdka.com/
Top of the page - click on “Web Extra”
Requires Active X though - doesn’t work in vanilla Firefox, sigh.
Otter,
I would think that even if there were several areas of disagreement with Casey it would be easy to vote for him for two reasons (which you also refer to):
1) He is not Rick Santorum
2) He could be the deciding vote on whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate, which could have considerable influence on many issues (regardless of Casey’s position on them).
Thanks MH for the link.
From C-Span’s campaign page it says it will be on at 10:30 p.m.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Pennsylvania Senate Debate
on C-SPAN at 10:30pm ET
http://www.campaignnetwork.org/
Okay, you all are right that “not Rick Santorum” is an overwhelming qualification for PA Senate this year. But I think you’re selling Bob Casey short to emphasize that point. Casey:
<ul><li>is solid on the environment, including opposing drilling in ANWR;</li>
<li>is pro family planning, including contraception, including Plan B, to avoid unplanned pregnancies so that abortion isn’t necessary</li>
<li>has a strong record in his former job as state auditor, of stopping abuse in private human services companies (such as private nursing homes)</li>
<li>supports offering domestic partnership benefits to employees</li>
<li>came out with an ethics reform plan very early in his campaign - November 2005- before it was particularly popular, and showing that ethics reform is a priority for him.</li></ul>
On the issues, Bob Casey is an excellent candidate, over and above being “not Rick Santorum.”
This is awesome! Looks like PA may be getting rid of Santorum! Yay! Go Casey! Great photos!
Thanks Catherine!
Great news for Pa. over here in Ohio, Sherrod Brown is in a dog fight with Mike Dewine. We need a huge push down the home stretch, but I think Sherrod will pull it out.
No one knows the answer to the trivia question? Okay, here you go.
There’s a (very) brief video here to back it up.
Those of you following the electronic voting machine issues will be happy to know that John Kerry signed on to an open letter today, sent to the “Governors, Secretaries of State and State Election Directors of all 50 states urging them to immediately create and implement plans and procedures for allowing the use of Emergency Paper Ballots at every local jurisdiction during this November’s general election.”
A copy of the letter and more on the ongoing effort to ensure back up paper ballots in the mid-terms is available here - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4448
Just before Congress went into recess John Kerry and Russ Feingold introduced a resolution calling for back up plans to electronic voting machines and both co-sponsored legislation by Senators Boxer and Dodd. Three cheers for Brad Friedman of Brad Blog for pushing this issue and getting the attention of Kerry, Feingold, Boxer, Dodd and Rep. Holt.
Off topic but related to Kerry (or this evening’s blog whoring):
The Cato Institute has a report out showing that libertarians supported Bush over Gore by 72% to 20% but Bush’s margin dropped to 59% to 38% when Bush faced John Kerry. Despite this jump in libertarian support for Democrats when Kerry ran, they totally miss Kerry’s libertarian leanings on issues such as the war, civil liberties, and gay marriage, and falsely attribute the increase in Democratic votes from libertarians as purely being anti-Bush.
Libertarian voters, as well as attracting the votes of Starbucks Repubicans and South Park Refugees is the topic of a new post at Liberal Values. The post includes a correction of the misrepresentations of Kerry’s positions in the Cato Institute’s report.
Great post. It looks like it was a lot of fun. We are getting down to the wire, I am happy to see everyone keeping up the momentum.
Go Casey! Beat tricky Ricky.
Bush: Country ‘better off’ with Hastert in power
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP)—President Bush stood shoulder-to-shoulder with embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Thursday, offering a powerful boost in his moment of need and declaring the country “better off” with Hastert in power.
“I am proud to be standing with the current speaker of the House who is going to be the future speaker of the House,” Bush said as he opened a speech to raise money for two Illinois congressional candidates.
The $1.1 million fundraiser provided the first picture of Bush with Hastert since a scandal broke involving a Republican congressman pursuing underage male pages.
Bush defended him, without mentioning the Foley case.
“Speaker Denny Hastert has a long record of accomplishment,” Bush said. “He’s not one of these Washington politicians who spews a lot of hot air. He just gets the job done.”
The crowd of Republican donors standing in a downtown Chicago hotel ballroom responded with loud applause.
“I have worked with him up close,” Bush continued. “I know what it’s like to work with a speaker who is determined to protect the United States of America and a speaker who wants to make sure that everybody who wants a job in America can find one.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/12/bush.hastert.ap/index.html
GO CASEY!
Sen. John Kerry tried to use the Bush-Hastert appearance to raise money for Democratic candidates, calling it “a meeting of the no accountability caucus of the Republican Party.”
“Denny Hastert has been the longest-running Republican speaker in history,” Kerry, D-Massachusetts., wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “But in 25 days, we can take the gavel out of his hands—and the smirk off George W. Bush’s face.”
Catherine:
Thanks for this wonderful report. It’s phenomenal to see people all over the country so psyched about electing good Democrats this year! Best of luck with this race and with retiring Santorum from his perch in the Senate. This would be doing the rest of the country a favor as well!
I was born and raised in Pennsylvania but now I’m an Oregonian. I am watching the Senate race with much fervor and I will be rejoicing with you when Bob Casey unseats Santorum.
Have you read “Letters to Gabriel” written by the Santorums? They brought their dead fetus home from the hospital and allowed their children to play with it .....telling them that it was their brother.
I reserve my opinion .........make up your own minds.
I never thought I’d get this involved or be this passionate about any candidate but “Our John” as my friends and I call Senator Kerry - because we were just babies when the President Kennedy was in office - really has turned my life around politically. I bless him everyday for that.
Now then, about Mr. Casey vs. Mr. Santorum! I have been watching Rick Santorum say the most outrageous things about Pennsylvania, Pennsylvanians, women and just about everybody else for years now. It’s hard to look someone from another state in the eye and talk to them when they point out to you what your senator said about important issues. I’m tired of being ashamed to admit I’m from Pennsylvania. This great commonwealth deserves much more then Santorum has given it these many years. It’s time to elect someone we know cares about Pennsylvania and Pennsylvanians of both genders, all races and all lifestyle choices. I have a sister who raised four children alone and is still struggling now that they’re grown to make ends meet. Santorum’s comments about working women seemed like a slap in the face to women like her. I have friends who are in committed gay relationships who genuinely would like to be able to care for each other and be treated fairly under the law like everyone else - Santorum’s comments just added another hurt to the many hurts these people have suffered over the years.
Enough is enough…we need Bob Casey.
Thank you for making this available for people who feel as I do!
Mary
I have an idea for a consistent democratic stand on the war, without which we are certainly doomed in 2008-how about this? The war was a a mistake based on misinformation. When you make a wrong turn you do not stay the course. We did not break Iraq. It was broken when we got there. On the contrary when our heroic troops deposed Sadaam Hussein, the people of Iraq were given the gift, the opportunity of their lifetimes- a fair shot at a free, democratic society bought and paid for with the blood and money of Americans. They have chosen to squandor that opportunity, allowing their tribal and religious allegiances to over-ride the greater good. We cannot stop, nor be a party to their insistence on torturing and murdering one another. It is time for us to come home. The Iraqis may then chose without our inflammatory presence to be free or to stay their course of anarchy and murder.
Kathleen Plesko:
I agree that we need to work on bringing the troops home soon. But, in my opinion, the people of Iraq are not to blame for the chaos and civil war that are raging in their country right now. We invaded a nation that was already a powderkeg, but the Bush administration’s mismanagement of a war that was a mistake to begin with lit the fuse.
Our troops have been dying because this administration went to war without a plan and without understanding or caring to understand the reality on the ground. Thousands of Iraqis have suffered and died, too.
As Senator Kerry has been saying, we need to set benchmarks, redeploy, and do our best to encourage talks that involve all parties—that is the best way to keep our troops out of harm’s way and bring them home soon.
I absolutely agree with you that “staying the course” can only lead to more death and sorrow.