Mar 18, 2005  |  By: JOE CREA  | COMMENTS     

Gay rights advocates are salivating after a recent poll showed anti-gay Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) trailing his unofficial opponent in the 2006 election, moderate Democrat Bob Casey.

In the latest Quinnipiac poll released last month, Casey, Pennsylvania’s state treasurer, leads Santorum by five percentage points.

For many gays, Santorum represents public enemy No. 1. A vocal opponent of gay rights, Santorum made disparaging comments about gays in 2003 when commenting on the Texas sodomy case that was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court at the time.

Santorum, chair of the GOP conference in the Senate, is the third-ranking member of his party’s leadership. In a 2003 interview, he said, “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.”

Mark Farinella, interim campaign manager for Casey, said the treasurer “feels strongly the Republican leadership is taking the country in the wrong direction, especially after the 2004 election.”

Farinella said that Santorum is neglecting Pennsylvania citizens by supporting the partial privatization of Social Security and the budget cuts President Bush has recently proposed.

“Pennsylvania needs a Senator representing the middle class and those trying to get into the middle class. That’s not what we have right now,” Farinella said.

Santorum’s office did not respond to Blade interview requests by press time.

Casey, who ran unsuccessfully in 2002 for the Democratic nomination for governor, was recently endorsed by Gov. Edward G. Rendell, a fellow Democrat.

On the contentious issue of gay marriage, Casey’s position is no different than that expressed by many Democrats and moderate Republicans. While he’s opposed to same-sex marriage, he remains against a constitutional amendment to define marriage and backs civil unions for gay couples.

“He believes the amendment to ban same-sex marriage is both divisive and unnecessary because there are already laws banning gay marriage,” Farinella said. “He’s for civil unions. In our view, Santorum and others have used [gay marriage] to create a division.”

Casey and Santorum are both pro-life, but support exceptions for cases of incest and rape.

David Smith, vice president of policy and strategy at the Human Rights Campaign, said that while “Santorum has quite successfully fought for the mantle of the new Jesse Helms” of the U.S. Senate, it is too early to determine if HRC will make an endorsement in the 2006 Pennsylvania race. In the 2004 Pennsylvania Senate race, HRC was criticized by some for endorsing Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, the Democratic opponent of venerable GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, who has a largely pro-gay voting record.

Joe Solmonese, who last week was named new president of HRC, served as CEO of Emily’s List since 2003, a group that works to elect pro-choice women to political office.

But Smith said that Casey’s anti-abortion views would not preclude him from receiving an endorsement since the gay group has endorsed or supported candidates in the past who do not support abortion laws, like Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).

Taking a nuanced position on the issue of same-sex marriage will likely make Casey prone to attacks by the Santorum camp.

“Santorum will likely make him the mayor of San Francisco before they are done,” said Edward Mitchell, a media strategist in Pennsylvania.

Mitchell, who creates television and radio ads for Democrats in the state, said that painting Casey as a liberal supporter of gay marriage because of his pro-civil unions position could backfire on Santorum.

“When it comes down to what Pennsylvanians are all about, this is not Nebraska or Georgia,” Mitchell said. “They are a very cosmopolitan people, very progressive and I just don’t think he can play that card. The more he does, it will backfire with the national groups who will just pour money into this state.”

Democratic Pennsylvania State Treasurer trong>Bob Casey plans to challenge Republican Rick Santorum for his U.S. Senate seat next year. Santorum is a leading opponent of gay rights. (Photos by AP)

Joe Cooper, an associate at LSG Strategies, a political consulting business, said that because the candidates share common ground on social issues, the debate will be on Casey’s terms since it will be difficult for Santorum to peg him as a liberal.

Cooper noted that Santorum is not without his strengths, chief among them is that, like President Bush, “he says what he ...