Santorum has large lead in Pennsylvania, poll shows

[PA Democrat]

Republicans in Pennsylvania are giving native son Rick Santorum a big edge over rival Mitt Romney heading into next month's presidential primary, according to a poll released this morning.

The Quinnipiac University poll showed Mr. Santorum with a 36-22 percent margin over the former Massachusetts governor in the Keystone State. Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has 12 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has 8 percent.

GOP voters said that, in a head-to-head matchup, Mr. Santorum would top Mr. Romney 52-32 percent, the poll says.

If Mr. Santorum receives the Republican nomination, he would get 44 percent of Pennsylvania voters to 45 percent for President Barack Obama -- too close to call. In other possible November matchups:

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-state/santorum-has-large-lead-in-state-poll-shows-270556/

In contrast, not a single state GOP leader will officially endorse Man-on-Dog. They apparently have better memories than the voters of the state of the political disaster known as Rick Santorum.

Not a single major, statewide Republican leader in Pennsylvania has endorsed him. Not Gov. Tom Corbett or U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey. The chairman of the state party, Rob Gleason, is sitting it out. None of the five candidates vying to take on Democrat Bob Casey for Mr. Santorum's old Senate seat is pushing for him.

Not even his friend, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, who is fighting a primary battle to hold onto Mr. Santorum's former congressional seat, is announcing an endorsement in the presidential race. Nor is his tea party-aligned challenger, Evan Feinberg.

"All of these Republican officials basically sucked up to Rick Santorum when he was in power. Now that he's out of power and he's a liability they don't want anything to do with him," said Ryan Shafik, a Republican strategist in Harrisburg and former Santorum intern. "It's that simple. They all say it privately but won't say it publicly."

Mr. Santorum was atop the GOP ticket in 2006 when he lost his U.S. Senate seat by 18 points, and the party lost its majority in the state congressional delegation and the state House. The party won back the governor's mansion, the Senate seat now held by Mr. Toomey and the House in 2010 and many Republican operatives are in no mood to relive the upheaval of six years ago.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/politics-national/santorum-is-pennsylvanias-not-so-favorite-son-so-far-221873/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Forthy is NOT a "native son"

Newt Gingrich = "native son" of PA
Ron Paul = "native son" of PA

But Frothy was born in VA and lived there with his family while Senator - bilking PA tax money for home-schooling his children who never lived in PA.

Plus they neglect to say that the seat that Toomey has was Specter's seat and Specter was a rethug (since 1980) all the way up to 2009 when he switched to Dem.

[PA Democrat]

2. The majority of Pennsylvanians were aware of Santorum's

residency issues and that was part of why he lost so badly in 2006. Santorum had criticized his opponent (Doug Walgren) in the 1990 election to the House for living outside of his district. Santorum's google problem is funny, but a more accurate definition of Santorum would be "hypocrite".

On issue after issue, Ricky says one thing and does another.

I just hope that if it came down to the general election (doubtful, I know) that people in my state have better memories than these poll numbers would lead us to believe.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. Agree as a 5th generation PAer!

It's ironic how the media keeps using the same playbook over and over about this state and refuse to deal with the turnout issue making the impact.

And what is sad is that the off-year elections that have so much "local" impact, tend to be blown off by the electorate meaning that the crazies end up getting in. Could be because of all those judges that appear on the ballot some years.

[PRETZEL]

4. I think it's more telling that he's not getting any support from any of his former GOP allies

I can understand Corbett hedging his bets on his endorsement, but there are plenty of Sanatorium clones in the legislature that haven't come out yet.

The President will be fine here in PA. It's the R's ball game right now so let them have at it. Once everyone knows who the President will be facing in the general election, it won't be too hard to change those poll numbers.

Rmoney won't be able to support the positions that this asshole governor has put into place and Sanatorium and Corbett together will only hurt the GOP here.

[brooklynite]

5. Polling being generally pointless...

...this far out from actual voting.

[PA Democrat]

6. You are missing the point.

This poll helps keep Santorum in the race, extending the Republican primary, and doing more damage to the Republican brand in the process.