Casey stumping in PA

Santorum opponent visits Lake, Wayne and Lackawanna counties

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA ¾ Bob Casey, the Democratic candidate for the Pennsylvania seat in the U.S. Senate, rolled into the Town and Country Diner on Main Street on August 21. Casey, who is opposing incumbent Republican Rick Santorum, visited three eastern PA counties in his campaign bus.

A rousing crowd of about 90 Democrats and other supporters crammed into the diner side room to greeted him.

Casey spoke of the “wrong” direction the country was going in and accused his opponent of rubberstamping every “flawed” decision and policy of President Bush.

To each accusation and indictment, the crowd roared their approval.

Casey, the son of the popular governor Robert P. Casey Sr., was elected as Pennsylvania State Auditor General in 1996 and serves as State Treasurer, an office he assumed in January 2005.

Some liberal members of the Democratic Party have criticized Casey for his opposition to abortion, gun control, the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and public statements in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade.

“He has the support of the Democratic Party throughout the state and has won several state-wide elections,” said Ann Bursis, former head of the Wayne County Democratic Party in support of Casey’s democratic credentials.

The 46-year-old, born and raised in Scranton, said he was urged to enter the race by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Senator Harry Reid of Nevada. Casey received his law degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and started practicing law in Scranton in 1991.

In 2002, he ran against and lost the Democratic primary to present Governor Ed Rendell.