PA Dopers -- Rendell/Santorum???

Saw an election sign this morning for “Rendell/Santorum” – three of them, actually, clustered together, for those of us still not awake enough to be sure we’re not hallucinating.

It’s gotta be Santorum trying to jump on Rendell’s coattails – but how on earth could he align himself with Rendell?

Whaddya think?

Easy, neither one has done a thing for the state.

But no, I don’t get it. Haven’t seen them around here either. Strangely, I’ve seen far more anti-Santorum posters (rICK, Santorum Sucks, etc) than pro-Casey posters. Which makes sense since almost nobody will be voting FOR Bob Casey, he’s the Kerry of this election.

I was talking to Hallgirl1 last night, complaining about my choice in the voting polls. She said there should be an option “None of the Above”.

Yeah, it’s not a particularly inspiring array – but leaving aside your opinion on any individual candidate, doesn’t it seem really freaking odd that Rendell and Santorum would appear on the same campaign sign? Who amongst either one’s supporters would have the stomach to vote for the other?

That’s an excellent question, and I wish I knew the answer to it.

I voted for Casey and Rendell because I haven’t the stomach for Santorum or Swann. Yes, I held my nose as I voted for Casey.

Robin

I’m not in PA, but could it be either a spoof or a dirty trick of some kind?

that is inexplicable. hey, he did have that awful wrestling ad.

i’m just glad that after tonight i’m not gonna have to hear the latest thing that santorum did to bring shame unto pa. we have sport teams for that.

i’m fairly sure i don’t have to worry about casey tossing the beastiality card into public forums.

I heard on my local public broadcasting affiliate that the signs weren’t legit. Not sure who put them together, though.

Robin

That makes sense. If you hear any more, let us know.

Rendell’s people mentioned the signs last night. They said there were other varieties as well.

You can see a photo of one of the signs about two-thirds of the way down on this page. Small print on the placard indicates that Local 98 of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) was behind the campaign.

I am assuming you saw it in Philadelphia or the Southeast.

Essentially, the Santorum campaign divorced itself from Lynn Swann pretty early on. Governor Rendell is an electoral god down this way and they knew that Swann was going nowhere. The four collar counties voted very heavily for Rendell in the 2002 election but remain majority Republican.

There was also a belief that Rendell and Casey are not all that close given the bitter 2002 Democratic Primary. Rendell, despite his endorsement of Casey, even made complimentary statements about Santorum at one point in the campaign.

The Santorum strategy was to let work to convince Republican voters that its ok to vote D at the top of the ticket as long as you return home for the rest of the campaign.

Thanks, Slug – that makes a lot of sense! (And, yes, the signs I saw were in Philly – Roxborough, to be exact.)