Thread: Still Trailing in Polls, Santorum Hammers on Illegal Immigra

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/pol ... 08-01.html

Posted: August 1, 2006, 1:30 PM ET


Still Trailing in Polls, Santorum Hammers on Illegal Immigration

For months, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., has trailed Pennsylvania Treasurer Bob Casey in his fight for re-election and now the incumbent Republican has latched onto the immigration debate in hopes of finding an issue to rally support.

The two-term senator's campaign Web site outlines his general policy: "Rick believes that the current Senate proposal, which offers a broad amnesty program, increased financial burdens on honest tax-paying American citizens, and incentives for illegal immigrants to raid the Social Security system and lie about their work history, should be rejected."

Santorum further emphasizes the importance of the issue in an advertising spot about Casey's support for the compromise Senate immigration bill. In the ad, Santorum discusses his own immigrant roots, but adds, "Unfortunately today, some enter our country with more sinister intentions. That's why I fought so hard to add thousands of new guards, to beef up our borders and for critical high-tech surveillance."

An ad on Santorum's site puts it more bluntly, saying, "Bobby Casey supports a bill that would give amnesty to millions who have entered our country illegally. Casey not only support special tax breaks for illegal aliens but in some cases giving them higher wages than American workers doing the same job."

For the Democrat's part, Casey, who was in the midst of his first campaign swing through southwestern part of the state when the Santorum ad hit the airwaves in early July, dismissed the ads, criticizing Santorum and the Republicans for fostering divisions among Pennsylvanian voters.

"I think it's pretty sad that a guy who's been in the Senate for 12 years, his first ad ... out of the blocks is a one-issue ad on an issue [immigration] that's he done nothing about," Casey told reporters, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They have tried to use issues that demonize and divide people, that appeal to emotion and fear, and sometimes worse than that, in order to try to make up ground. ... They did it with gay marriage, they tried to do it with the flag amendment. I'm sure there will be others as well. I think a lot of Americans are tired of it."

Santorum aides said the advertising campaign amounted to "a no-brainer", according to CNN's Dana Bash.

"He's appealing to his conservative base plus it sets him apart from both an unpopular president and his Democratic opponent," she reported.

Analysts agreed with the goal of focusing on illegal immigration in a state where only 1.4 percent of the population is Latino could rally conservative support and cost Santorum little.

"What Santorum is trying to do is find an issue to make sure that his conservative base comes out," said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, told The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

"The gun issue and abortion are essentially mooted [since Casey agrees with Santorum], so he needs something else to stir up his base because Iraq just isn't going to work the way it did two years ago."

The heated rhetoric has already started to draw some fire from observers.

"GOP Sen. Rick Santorum has made it an issue with Democrat Bob Casey Jr. ... The politicians have fabricated a bogeyman to blame all our problems on," The Allentown Morning Call editorialized on Sunday. "The danger is that real people, citizens most of them, will suffer as a result. It has happened before."

Even his fellow Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who as Judiciary Committee Chairman drafted much of the bill Santorum now lambastes, has balked at Santorum's criticisms.

"Senator Santorum is entitled to his views," Specter told The Philadelphia Inquirer in early July. "'Amnesty' is a buzz word that is used in derogation. ... I think we're moving past that."

A recent survey of Pennsylvanians seems to affirm Specter's point that some 83 percent say they oppose amnesty for illegal immigrants already in the country.

The effectiveness of the immigration issue has yet to develop in most political polls, but analysts predict conservative voters may respond to Santorum's call for tougher action against illegal immigrants and with few Latino voters, pollsters say he may not pay a heavy price for it at the polls.

Unfortunately illegal immigration isn't a hot button issue here since it is not a problem. Santorum has twice the money but is trailing badly in the polls. I guess we have to wait until November to see how it all plays out.

I just have a few comments to make on this issue. I am from Pa, and I wouldn't vote for either one of them. Bob Casey has no clue about illegal immigration. No one really does unless you have lived it, or is living it now. He gets his votes because of his father. In the city of Scranton there is a nun named Sister Adrian Barrett. She invites everyone here who needs help. Years ago she actually advertised in the papers of nearby states for the poor people to come to Scranton to get welfare, because its benefits are much better than other states. She runs the food drives that happen at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but can never seem to achieve her goal. She sends kids to summer camps that are not even from this area. I know that she means well, but she is very narrow-minded in her thinking. She is not looking outside of the box. Bob Casey supports her. On the other side, Rick Santorum talks out of both sides of his mouth. Check his past record. He is only using the illegal immigration problem to get his vote. He will do nothing about it, I can assure you of that. By the way, Bob Casey is from Scranton, and that is where his home is. Depending on who you talk to in this City of Scranton, some see an illegal immigration problem, and some do not. The ones whose once quiet neighborhoods are now being taken over by shootings, thefts, and prostitution, sure see it, but the local Government here does not, and it will get worse now, because we are only 45 minutes from Hazleton, where Mayor Lou Barletta is doing something about the illegal problem. Now they will all come here. Hopefully then someone will wake up. I am thankful that I live in a suburb of Scranton, and I don't have to deal with the problem yet.