Although the Democratic Party has thrown its support behind Bob Casey, Jr., a man with a political history not to be laughed at, the Primary is still a few months away and his Democratic challengers for the nomination are not to be ignored either.
A new Zogby poll reveals that versus Sen. Santorum, the "family-values" Republican who has declared homosexuals to be in the same category as practicers of beastiality, Casey seems to do poorer than his challengers, Chuck Pennacchio and Alan Sandals.
Admittedly, Casey didn't respond to questions about his issues profile and it had to be constructed from public statements. But Casey does better among Republicans and worse among some of the key demographics Democrats need when the responders were given issues profiles of the field:
Rick Santorum (Republican)
On abortion – pro-life
On stem cell research – opposed
Accepts PAC money – yes
War in Iraq – it was the right thing to do
Troops in Iraq – stay the course
National Health Care – opposed
Raising the minimum wage – supports an increase of $1.10
NAFTA/CAFTA – supports CAFTA; opposed NAFTA
Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
Bob Casey, Jr. (Democrat)
On abortion – pro-lfe
On stem cell research – opposed
Accepts PAC money – yes
War in Iraq – supported
Troops in Iraq – stay the course
National Health Care – opposed
Raising the minimum wage – supports
NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both
Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
Chuck Pennacchio (Democrat)
On abortion – pro-choice
On stem cell research – supports
Accepts PAC money – no
War in Iraq – opposed
Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible
National Health Care – supports
Raising the minimum wage – supports living wage with different levels depending on where the worker lives
NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both
Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports a filibuster
Alan Sandals (Democrat)
On abortion – pro-choice
On stem cell research – supports
Accepts PAC money – yes
War in Iraq – opposed
Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible
National Health Care – supports
Raising the minimum wage – supports
NAFTA/CAFTA – opposed both
Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports a filibuster
John Featherman (Republican)
On abortion – pro-choice
On stem cell research – supports
Accepts PAC money – no
War in Iraq – did support, but not since no WMD found
Troops in Iraq – out as soon as safely possible
National Health Care – opposed
Raising the minimum wage – opposed
NAFTA/CAFTA – support both
Alito confirmation to Supreme Court – supports confirmation
The question seems to be where the party goes next. Towards the right, with an anti-choice candidate who has more in common with the Republican opponent than with the majority of the party, or towards the left, with pro-choice, progressive candidates who actually seem to be in line with the party platform.Fighting Santorum will be hard, especially in an off-year election. Yet part of mid-terms elections is getting the party fired up over something, or more importantly, someone. Fortunately or not, this is a time when politics becomes about the struggle and not the solution. Casey is a smart man who will work hard on Capitol Hill. And Republican votes for Democrats are a nice cushion. But how much support liberals will be willing to give him remains a problem for him, especially in this part of the cycle.
Primaries are a chance for the party to show its true colours, to work for what it thinks it needs. They're also an opportunity for the members to show what they want. Pennsylvania Democrats are being given an incredible opportunity to choose between the liberal and moderate wings of their party and to send a message of what future it should have.
-LK
3 comments:
Very good.
I agree about Casey. He might be able to win, but we have to ask if its worth it to surrender our liberal values. And even if we do vote for Casey, he might not win, in which case we lose twice.
Personally I have recently gotten interested in Pennacchio. Here is a quote by him that I stole from a good Philly politics blog, www.rowhouselogic.com, that makes a similar point to what you are saying.
"In 2000, the Democrats settled on moderate, anti-choice Ron Klink as their candidate to take on Santorum. This aligned very well with the (still-prevailing) conventional wisdom that the Democrats had to move to the center to win a statewide race in Pennsylvania. Ron Klink had slight success at gaining moderate voters in Central PA; however, this was more than offset by the large number of pro-choice voters who did not cast a vote (over half a million more votes were cast in the presidential election than in the Senatorial election), and just as importantly, did not involve themselves in the Klink campaign. Pro-choice women, a major organizational and financial cog of the Democratic party, sat out the race, and the Democrats allowed a radical right-winger to represent them in Washington."
Interesting to note that Sandals is a Haverford graduate.
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