Dead Heat

After getting a bump from the speculation about and announcement of his candidacey, Bob Casey, Jr.'s numbers have come back down to earth. A new poll shows that Casey's lead is now a single point, statistically insignificant. These numbers are no big surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the race, as it has been widely expected to be a barnburner.

Three developments in the past week are an appropriate beginning of a race that can only be compared to a Duke-UNC basketball game, up-tempo, including a few runs, but never out of reach. First, the American Spectator accused Junior Casey of cutting a deal with Democratic leadership in exchange for their support. The Casey campaign promptly denied this allegation.

Then, Catholics for Faithful Citizenship endorsed Casey, saying that while Santorum sides with the bishops on abortion and gay marriage, Casey is pro-life, against gay marriage (sort of), and is allied with the Church on numerous other issues involving social programs. The endorsement is just the beginning of Sen. Mudd's Catholic problem. Even with Casey's conservative position on abortion, the issue that brought Catholics to the GOP by the millions, Mudd would've had the upperhand. Then he endorsed Specter. Whether Catholics are willing to forgive him for his transgressions may well determine the outcome of this race. (Full disclosure: I have contributed to the Casey campaign.)

Finally, in an effort to bridge this gap, little Ricky is apparently rethinking his position on capital punishment. He has said that he never really thought about the issue when he favored its use. Capital punishment is a fundamental issue and one on which I myself have problems with the Pope's statements on the issue. The Church has a history of allowing the death penalty, but the Pope and bishops have said recently that it is all but unnecessary in America today. The death penalty is a highly controversial issue that speaks volumes about our culture. Unlike abortion, reasonable people can disagree on the issue, as many who favor it argue that it can effectively deter crime and as such is the pro-life position. Others make the case that it's never licit to end life if it no longer poses a threat to society. Either way, life hangs in the balance. For a sitting Senator to say that he has supported capital punishment without really thinking about it and to then change his position when he's in cycle because of innocent people having been put on death row, years after those reports came out, is simply ludicrous.

Casey is no prize package, but Santorum's blind ambition and ignorance are at best troubling, and at worst frightening.