Today I thought we might go on a trip to Pennsylvania and the lovely Senate race there.

Republican Sanctimonious Santorum, the incumbent sparred with his Democrat Robert Casey in Pittsburgh yesterday. The debate was called “a barroom brawl” minus fists by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Casey has been ahead in the polls against Santorum for quite some time. The gap narrowed during the summer, but Santorum still sputtered. He has pulled out every dirty trick in the book. Among his bag of goodies was to say that his opponents popularity is due to his father and namesake, former Governor Robert Casey, Jr. In other words, they did not know that he was both dead and as such not running for US Senate. In other words, he thought that Penna. voters were stupid.

Then he tried advertising himself. “Things you don’t know about Rick Santorum.” Sadly, he neglected “I am owned by the corporate establishment,” or “I don’t even live in Pennsylvania except on Election Day.”

I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be so mean. It’s too easy. Santorum, who’s non-presence in PA has caused trouble, but by a vast left-wing conspiracy of course, has been cruising for an electoral bruising for some time. He has come to epitomize the right-wing in the US Senate. Frankly, I think he at times makes Bill Frist (who seems to have vanished this, the last year of his Senate term), look like a “left-wing, homosexual pornographer” in the immortal words of Woody Allen‘s Alvy Singer.

After twelve years in the Senate, Pennsylvania needs somebody who is in tune with not just their state, but the real world. He has sought language that would encourage teaching intelligent design. Santorum, a Roman Catholic, ought to give his parish priest and call and learn that the church doesn’t oppose evolution at all. He has advocated partial privatization of Social Security, the National Weather Service and more. His comments about homosexuals often make statements from the Vatican look like the editorial board of the Advocate. Hell, its no surprise. He said the clergy abuse scandal in Boston is due to the city’s liberal tilt. I’m sorry, but for all his flaws, liberal is not a word I’d use to describe former archbishop Bernard Law.

Thank God, according to the Washington Post, he doesn’t plan to run for President. While I would love to see another Roman Catholic be president, preferably a Democrat, for a pluralistic and primarily secular society, this nation doesn’t need a president to the right of Pope.

Hopefully, it’ll all be irrelevant with the delivery of Santorum’s much delayed pink slip. Yes, Bob Casey isn’t perfect, nor pretends to be. He opposes abortion completely, but even NARAL said he’s better than Santorum. Plus, he’d efforts to reduce the need, rather than just the availability of such things. Maybe if Santorum took after the state’s Senior Senator, Arlen Specter… He’s fair, even-handed, and dare I say a little liberal at times? He’s willing to challenge our know-all see-all president and put country above blind party loyalty and a banal urge for power.

Tell your Pennsylvania friends, or maybe you are a Pennsylvanian friend, “restore sanity to your state’s Junior Senate seat.