PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Tom Ferrick Jr.
Inquirer Columnist
When it comes to U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, you have to wonder about the Wacko Factor.
That's my name for that nagging suspicion among voters that an elected official is a little... well... wacky.
In politics, to be seen as a wacko is nearly always fatal. If it happens to Santorum in the 2006 election, my bet is that the coroner will rule it a suicide.
Make that an assisted suicide.
For all intents and purposes, the Republican incumbent's campaign against Democrat Bob Casey Jr. has already begun. Opposition research is in full throttle. Every Santorum statement, past and present, is being unearthed, scrutinized, publicized and criticized.
A case in point: the contretemps Wednesday over Santorum's comments, posted on a Catholic Web site in 2002, about the priest sex-abuse scandal in Boston.
"While it is no excuse for this scandal," Santorum wrote, "it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."