PA-SEN: Santorum Debates Non-Candidate Romanelli

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/sep/25/pa_sen_santorum_has_debate_with_man_no_one_can_vote_for

This is pretty interesting. Today at noon local Pennsylvania cable channel PCN featured a debate between GOP Senator Rick Santorum and Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli. But guess what -- Pennsylvania voters can't vote for Romanelli, even if they want to. This morning he was tossed from the ballot by a judge who found that the Greens fell almost 9,000 signatures short of the 67,000 they need to keep a spot on the ballot. As TPMmuckraker's Paul Kiel reports, "that strikes a deadly blow to Pennsylvania Republicans' gambit to draw votes away from Democrat Bob Casey by fielding a Green candidate." So why did they debate at all? A rep for the channel says the judge's decision came down when Romanelli “was already in the studio,” so the decision was made to go ahead with the forum.

Santorum just jumped the Great White Macaca Shark. I think KO needs a new category - Biggest Moran in the World!

Bush's drag on Santorum helps Casey to 10-point lead

By Thomas Fitzgerald
Inquirer Staff Writer

Disapproval of President Bush remains a powerful undertow in Pennsylvania politics, threatening Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and House, according to a new poll by Temple University and The Inquirer.

The Bush effect - strongest in the southeast region - is acting as a drag on Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, and tugs at GOP House incumbents in the suburbs of Philadelphia, who are locked in three of the nation's most competitive races.

Democrat Bob Casey Jr., the state treasurer, led Santorum, 49 percent to 39 percent, among the 666 likely voters polled. Three percent of respondents favored Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, and 8 percent said they were undecided.

"Some of the reason Santorum trails is due to national forces, but it's not the whole story," said pollster Michael G. Hagen, an associate professor of political science at Temple and director of the school's Institute for Public Affairs.

"It is also about his candidacy and his personality," Hagen said.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/15596583.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp