What are the chances of getting rid of Santorum in 2006?

[election_2004]

I'm not a Pennsylvanian, but "Little Ricky" is definitely one of my least favorite senators.

Does he have any strong opponents waiting in the wings?

[Nite Owl]

1. Chris Heinz???

Just a thought. Maybe. Hopefully.

[Lenape85]

2. Well....

Wouldn't Hoeffel be a good choice if all else fails this year. I mean, Arlen Specter is more moderate than Santorum, and I could see a better showing for Hoeffel if it ends up Hoeffel vs. Santorum 2006.

[LynneSin]

7. We can do better than Joe Hoeffel

I like Joe, but he doesn't have much of a personality. We need someone who can go after Santorum headstrong. We failed once when we ran another bland candidate against him (Western PA's Ron Klink). This time we need to get the most dynamic democrat in Pennsylvania to run against him. I would love to see someone like Allyson Schwartz run against him because she'll be a strong candidate against him and she has strong support with the Emily's List crowd.

I would also love to see Chris Heinz run for dad's old seat. I think he's a few years younger than me which would probably make him old enough to run for US Senate (35)

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Chris Heinz is old legally enough

He is 31 years old now, so he would be 33 in 2006. Some may consider that a little young for a Senator, especially if he has not held any office beforehand. But probably not too young and inexperienced to run for the House.

[napi21]

3. I would say very slim.

I don't live in Pgh any more, but I did for 45 years, and still have lots of friends and relatives there. Santorum is one of those love/hate guys. He also has lots of financial backing. I'd like to see him gone too, but that would be a real difficult task.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Pretty good if you remember to take the FULL COURSE of

antibiotics prescribed, even if you start to feel better.

Nasty bacterial infections like that don't go away unless you are relentless in your course of treatment.

[DebJ]

5. We've got to start deposing him NOW. It won't be easy.

Pennsylvania just 'flip-flopped' back into weak Bush territory, unfortunately. But I can't wait for another week to go by and then see what the polls show.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. Santorum won 53% to 46% in 2000 despite

Gore carrying the state 51% to 47%. It will take a very strong challenger, rather than an anti-republican tide, to take him out.

[LynneSin]

8. He won because he had an extremely weak candidate running against him

Ron Klink won the nomination because two candidates from the Philadelphia area ran in the primaries and split the Philly vote giving Ron Klink the win. The combination of those 2 philly candidates would have easily defeated Klink the primaries.

After the primaries, Klink had no money to run against Santorum. Klink eventually conceded the philly area to Santorum by failing to run any campaign ads on Philly area television until just a few days before the election. By then Santorum had run tons of anti-klink/I'm this great guy Rick ads that had done enough damage.

Allyson Schwartz would be a fabulous candidate because she can raise Rick Santorum type money through her association with Emily's List (which helped get Maria Cantwell, Debbie Stabenow and Patty Murray elected statewide).

HOWEVER, Chris Heinz has built in name recognition.

:D

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. He also took out a sitting US Senator in 1994

PA has a tendancey to reelect its Senators. Santorum was the first person to defeat a sitting US Senator in in PA since Richard Schweiker in 1968.

[demokatgurrl]

12. We have a shot!

Santorum is extreme. We just need a good candidate. I think Hoeffel would have beat Santorum easier than Specter.

Chris Heinz... GREAT idea!!!!

[gauguin57]

9. Rumors ran rampant last year that Chris Matthews would challenge

Specter for Senate this year.

Maybe he'll be sick of the Hardball yell-fest by 2006, and he'll come back to his own state with -- if NOTHING else -- name recognition.

He'd be hilarious on the Senate floor ... spit flying and all ...

[Spritefox]

13. Yeah, and if Zell Miller wandered in, they could have a duel

wouldn't that be interesting?

In all seriousness, Santorum was recently described by one of my local papers as the "Rising Star" of the Republican Party. Now, this may just be because he is from my local area (I live in Pennsylvania) or it could have major significance for the 2008-2012 election cycle.

http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1094030513312521.xml?pennnpol

If we take this guy down, it could save a whole lot of grief in a couple of years.

"Santorum is extreme. We just need a good candidate. I think Hoeffel would have beat Santorum easier than Specter."

Agreed, Specter is a moderate and in fact he is so unliked by the local GOP leadership that he barely made the party nomination last time. On the other hand he has (as a moderate) a good base of support among those who typically vote democrat in this area.

[IrishDemocrat]

14. Bye, bye Pricky Boy

We can beat his sorry @ss and we will. Just not with Barb Hafer. I think Heinz, Casey Jr., or Joe Hoeffel can do it. Hoeffel may come off bland, but he has HUGE party support unlike Klink and he's pro-choice and anti-gun unlinke Col. Klinker.