While Clinton and Kerry were announcing last week they would vote against the Alito nomination, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Treasurer Robert P Casey, Jr. and Gov. Ed Rendell were announcing their support for Alito.
The Casey and Rendell decisions say more about the real political state of play in the country than the partisan posturing of Senate Democrats who have presidential ambitions and believe they must appease their party’s left-wing activist base to win the Democratic nomination. Casey is running for Senate against pro-life conservative Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. Rendell is running for re-election and could face charismatic Republican pro-life conservative Lynn Swann, the Hall-of-Fame former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver. Pennsylvania went Democrat for President in 2000 and 2004, but has been trending right on cultural and social issues.
