Württemberger, this has been hashed out on other threads. Santorum's opponent was from the wrong part of the state and completely broke coming out of the primary, so he wasn't even considered a real candidate by voters in SEPA who split Gore-Santorum that year. Also Santorum hadn't yet acquired his image as a complete gay-sex-obsessed buffoon that doomed him in 2006.
Santorum was still polarizing and Klink won comfortable victories out west, which Schwartz or Foley wouldn't have won (at least not Schwartz). Schwartz wasn't going to get 54% of the vote in Allegheny (which had roughly 240,000 more votes cast than Montco, where Santorum got 54%, by the way).
So they would have do better in the SE, yes, and that's a big deal but don't act like Santorum wouldn't have gained in other areas.
All this means is that winning in PA in a GOP wave by two points doesn't mean you're finished in your re-election bid. And Toomey has advantages that Santorum didn't have even when he wasn't considered super controversial.
Württemberger, this has been hashed out on other threads. Santorum's opponent was from the wrong part of the state and completely broke coming out of the primary, so he wasn't even considered a real candidate by voters in SEPA who split Gore-Santorum that year. Also Santorum hadn't yet acquired his image as a complete gay-sex-obsessed buffoon that doomed him in 2006.
Ok, then what about Arlen Specter? He survived both 1992 and 2004.
That's a completely different case. Not a fair comparison at all. Specter obviously had better standing with Dems and overall moderates.
Poll
