re: #741 HappyWarrior

I am amazed that Santorum got elected to the Senate twice in Pennsylvania. I know we have some Pennsylvanians here. Was he always this batshit insane? I know he was really socially conservative but still.

Not as obviously I think.

He was my House Rep before being Senator. For those elections he first upset a fossilized 7-term Democratic Party machine politician. His district was then gerrymandered a bit to make it 60% Democratic registered. He was opposed by a bump-on-the-log and won because the local Democratic Party was complacent again.

That got his conservative credientials solidly in place for at least western PA, and I do not recall him coming across as a complete nut.

For the Senate run he was opposed by the Democrat who had finished out Heinz’ term after he was killed in a helicoptor crash. He won that in 1994 when the GOP made serious gains in Congress. His campaign in 2000 ended up being against a non-career politician (Ron Klink).

Since I’ve lived there Pennsylvania has had a tendency for leaning Democratic, going back and forth with the governor (term limits playing a role here), and generally having both Senators being Republicans.