The race is on

Today, Bob Casey, Jr. announced his 2006 Democratic candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Republican Rick Santorum.

This represents a race with national implications. Rick Santorum, a Roman Catholic, is an up-and-coming Republican who gained his seat during the "Republican Revolution" of 1994. He was cited in Newsweek's year-end magazine as a "rising star" in politics.

It only gets more interesting. Bob Casey, Jr., also a Roman Catholic, from the heavily Catholic Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area in the northeast of the state, was the highest vote-getter overall in the Pennsylvania 2004 elections. He has impeccable pro-life credentials. His father, then Governor of Pennsylvania, was also a pro-life Democrat. For that reason alone he was refused an opportunity to speak at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Now Governor Ed Rendell, the former national chairman of the Democratic Party, has endorsed Casey and pressured Barbara Hafer, formerly a Republican and pro-choice, not to run for the Democratic ticket.

It will be fascinating to see whether Casey's name recognition and pro-life stance can cancel out Santorum's strength on the abortion issue. But will rank-and-file Democrats who are pro-choice support Casey? If Casey wins, it will be seen to prove that a more moderate stance on social issues might be what bumps the Dems over the hump. Whatever happens, it will greatly influence what the Democrats emphasize in 2008.

All eyes on Pennsylvania over the next couple of years.