Ron Klink actually would have been a good fit for PA, considering he was conservative on most social issues and liberal economically. However, this was before Santorum went off the deep end. He was a conservative, yes, but Pennsylvanians will only dump an incumbent if they prove absolutely intolerable. In 2000, Rick Santorum hadn't reached that point yet. Ron Klink lacked money and presence as well.
Part of the problem for Klink was that the Feminist Left pretty much disowned Klink. Santorum was vulnerable in 2000, but the Feminist Left wouldn't go along. As the Senate Democrats lost ground in 2002 and 2004, even the most out-there Gender Feminists came to their senses and recognized that they needed to get behind the strongest possible candidate, period, which, in 2006, was the pro-life Bob Casey.
One reason the Democrats do not have a hammerlock on the electorate today is that they made the social issues (abortion, LGBT issues, gender feminism) a litmus test for Democrats. The end result is that we have abortion on demand, the most exotic demands of hard-core feminists and gays being prioritized, often with little opposition, while Blue States elect GOP Governors that enact Right-To-Work laws. This criminally stupid strategy was foisted on the Democrats by the Clintons, and now the Democratic Party can elect an occasional President, but cannot hope to control the House of Representatives.
