Watch politics long enough, and you start to pick up certain behavior patterns. For example, when former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum lost his bitter fight for a third term against Bob Casey Jr. in 2006, the Republican decided instead of changing his issue stances to accommodate the moods of voters - which had turned against the uber conservative - he would go out on his terms. Santorum saw the polls. They didn’t look good. And so he railed, he shouted, he beat the drum about terrorism abroad and Islamo-fascism. Remember when he ran the mushroom cloud ad with Casey’s picture next to the president of Iran’s?
Scary stuff. The electorate wasn’t buying it, though, and Santorum fell on that sword as Casey steamrolled to victory.
G. Terry Madonna, friend to the Nest and the director of Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Politics & Public Affairs, told me during that fall:
“It’s almost like (Santorum is) saying ‘I may lose, but if I do, I’m going down drawing attention to an issue that transcends our time,’ ” Madonna said.
Well, fastforward to 2009 and another Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania appears to be headed down a similar path:
Sen. Specter ignored the outrage of fiscal conservatives in his state, whose support he may need for re-election in 2010, by supporting compromise economic stimulus legislation with a price tag of about $780 billion. Youza! That’s a big bag of money, too big for any House Republican and most GOP Senators, but Specter showed off his usual maverickness by breaking ranks and supporting it.
The difference between Santorum and Specter, though, is that Specter isn’t beyond mending fences with those he might have ticked off, according to the Patriot-News:
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., phoned home Thursday to unhappy members of the Pennsylvania State Republican Committee.
The conference call was initiated by Specter, his office said. It was a “conversation” to explain his thinking for backing the spending plan that Democrats hope will deliver jobs for the tanking U.S. economy.
It may not be enough. As I’ve noted before, the Republican Party in Pennsylvania has grown more conservative in the last couple of years … and can be unforgiving. And in a sign of things to come, the state GOP’s chairman, Bob Gleason, put out the following statement:
“I would like to applaud Pennsylvania’s Republican Congressmen for standing up against the bloated government and uncontrolled spending policies contained within in this spending bill. Our Republican Congressmen continue to do what’s best for our country and our Commonwealth and I commend them for making decisions that are deeply rooted in our Republican principles of lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.
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“As Chairman of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, I extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to Pennsylvania’s Republican Congressmen, Joe Pitts, Todd Platts, Bill Shuster, Jim Gerlach, Tim Murphy, Charlie Dent and Glenn Thompson, for standing up for our Party’s principles.”
No call for applause to honor Specter’s bipartisanship. Nothing about Specter whatsoever. There’s a cold wind coming from state GOP headquarters directed at Specter’s office in Washington, and Specter could use a few Republican friends these days, one year from his bid for another 6-year term.
