Rick Santorum

Although it's very early in Campaign 2000, there's evidence that U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., could face re-election trouble next year. A Daily News/Fox 29 Keystone Poll, an "opening snapshot" of the race ahead, shows statewide voters less than enchanted with their freshman senator. The 41-year-old conservative wunderkind of Pittsburgh, a favorite of the pro-life, pro-gun political right, shows only a 41 percent overall approval rating, low for any incumbent with no real controversy but especially for one in a GOP-dominated state enjoying a strong economy.

Don't expect to see Sen. Rick Santorum's name on the 2008 presidential ballot. "Absolutely, positively not. Absolutely not," Santorum said yesterday on The Michael Smerconish Show on WPHT-AM (1210). "My wife would throw me out of the house if I do anything in '08. " Even though he lost his Senate seat last week by 18 points to Democrat Bob Casey Jr., some supporters hoped he would still fill the social conservative niche on the Republican ticket. William J. Bennett, the former U.S. secretary of education and national drug czar, had predicted a "draft Rick Santorum" movement, citing a lack of conservatism on the part of the current GOP front-runners, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

NOW THAT the Elmer Gantry tent-revival that's Rick Santorum's campaign finally is collapsing, he should fold it up and forgo his unofficial home-state primary. I say unofficial because he was born in Virginia and lives in Virginia, although he represented Pennsylvania for 16 years - four in the House, 12 in the Senate. I say forgo because losing or narrowly winning our April 24 primary after such long representation amounts to a huge embarrassment. Heck, even born-in-Pennsylvania Newt won his unofficial home state of Georgia with 47 percent of the vote.

AS FAR as the political pundits go, it's the No. 1 race in America: the mano y mano battle for the junior Senate seat for Pennsylvania between incumbent Rick Santorum and challenger Bob Casey Jr. It has it all. It's has Red State conservative values vs. Purple (as opposed to Blue) State moderate values. It has the slick vs. the sincere. It has two politicians with big, even huge, name recognition not only in the state, but the nation as well. Every poll has Casey ahead of the controversial Santorum by double digits.

FOR A GUY who is essentially breaking the rules over where he lives, Sen. Rick Santorum has suddenly developed an ironic interest in the illegal immigration issue. Last week the senator, who continues to trail in the polls against Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr., got on the immigration bandwagon with two advertisements and a Internet-based campaign that pushed gutting any immigration reform package that grants what he calls "amnesty. " At Santorum's Web site the senator has launched a petition drive where people can indicate that they "stand with Rick Santorum in sending a strong message to Washington, D.C. that we need real immigration reform that does not include amnesty NOW. " And in his ads, Santorum criticizes Casey, who has said he would have voted for an immigration-reform package, defeated in the Senate, that would have allowed the majority of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States to become citizens if they paid some back taxes and a $3,200 fine.

John Featherman, a Center City real-estate broker and privacy consultant, says he is running against Sen. Rick Santorum in the 2006 Republican primary because "government should get out of our bedrooms and pocketbooks. " The state GOP organization is poised to give Santorum its endorsement and, as a two-term incumbent, he is an overwhelming favorite for the nomination. But Featherman said he wants to offer moderate Republicans an alternative to Santorum's socially conservative positions on abortion and gay marriage.

Robert P. Casey Jr.'s campaign criticized U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum yesterday for making "insensitive" remarks about last week's hurricane victims when he suggested in a television interview that people who ignore evacuation warnings should face tough penalties. But in an interview yesterday, Santorum said his comments, which aired Sunday on WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, were not aimed at those who could not escape the hurricane. And an aide to the Pennsylvania Republican criticized Casey for raising the issue in an e-mail that included a link to donate to the Democrat's campaign to unseat Santorum in 2006.

It always seemed like a long shot. But Delaware County District Attorney William H. Ryan Jr. said he finally quit the U.S. Senate race this weekend after failing to make a significant dent in the support of others seeking the Republican nomination. The surprise announcement Saturday came just before the Pennsylvania Republican Party made its endorsements for state offices. U.S. Rep. Rick Santorum of Pittsburgh, who has been the leading Republican in the senatorial race in recent months, received the GOP endorsement after Ryan announced his backing for Santorum.

James Carville, one of the nation's most recognizable - and contentious - Democrats, dropped into the state last night to help Ron Klink raise money to compete with U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Carville, "the ragin' Cajun," says he's willing to do "everything I can" to help fund Klink's underdog campaign against the well-financed freshman senator. Klink, a western Pennsylvania congressman, has trouble raising money from traditional Democratic sources, partly because he is pro-life and pro-gun, and partly because major Democratic fund-raising is based in eastern Pennsylvania.

This year, Pennsylvania Republicans hope to take back the U.S. Senate seat long held by the late John Heinz, the one that Democrat Harris Wofford won three years ago. The GOP organization is backing U.S. Rep. Rick Santorum of Pittsburgh, 35, an Energizer Bunny of a conservative. His underfunded rival in the primary is Joe Watkins, 40, a self-employed business consultant who was a staffer at the Bush White House. When Mr. Watkins first showed interest in this race, it seemed possible that he would emerge as the better political heir to Sen. Heinz, who was a diligent lawmaker respected by senators of both parties.