2006 election sweeps out two PA capital pillars

By TOM KANE

PENNSYLVANIA - A year ago, few could have predicted that two pillars in Pennsylvania politics would be absent from the scene at the beginning of the 110th Congress.

Once considered the fourth most influential Republican in the U.S. Senate, Rick Santorum, who had the ear of President Bush on most issues, lost with 41 percent of the popular vote, while his rival, Bob Casey Jr., gained a hearty 59 percent.

In the days immediately preceding the election, as voters grew discontent about the Iraq War, Santorum echoed the “stay the course” mantra of his boss. Thereafter, polls of Pennsylvania voters showed a steady decline of the senator’s approval.

The Casey win helped tip the Senate balance of power to the Democrats, who will now chair all the Senate Congressional committees and commissions.

Four-term veteran Republican House member Don Sherwood suffered a similar fate in his defeat by Chris Carney. Carney, who has a background of involvement with the Pentagon where he served as a counterinsurgency officer, beat the incumbent Sherwood by capturing 53 percent of the vote. Sherwood got 47 percent.

Carney, who is being placed right of center by pundits, won more by default (Sherwood’s default) than by stellar campaigning, according to some observers.

In the months leading up to the elections, Sherwood’s campaign was mortally wounded by a civil case against him by his alleged mistress, who claimed Sherwood attempted to strangle her.

That allegation, which was blasted in all local papers, received additional ammunition by a heart-rending public letter by Sherwood’s wife, accusing Carney of cruelty and pandering over her husband’s misdeed. The letter merely opened up the wound again for anyone who hadn’t heard or who had forgotten.