Is this what it's come down to?

So far the Santorum camp's main line of attack has been that Bob Casey has not been in the office for more than what you would expect. That and some guy dressed up in duck suit and are shocked that Casey has attacked their guy. I would remind my friends on the other side that this Congress has been in session the least amount of days since the "do nothing" Congress of 1948 that President Truman ran against. Not that there is anything to do.

WASHINGTON -It's great how Congress got that immigration policy resolved, huh? And did you like the way congressmen hammered out the details on a better code of ethics for themselves? How about that pension-system overhaul – really dodged a bullet on that one, didn't they?

Oops. Slipped my mind for a moment. All those things are still on the to-do list......So unless something radically changes, we'll continue paying full-time salaries for part-time work; we'll get far less oversight of the executive branch by the legislative branch: and we gradually will accept the notion that what we want from our elected federal officials is a lot of posturing and very little progress.

The Washington Post has a piece on the Senate race.

Since 1990, Santorum, 47, has proven to be a canny, come-from-behind campaigner who has risen to the Senate GOP's third-highest leadership post. But this year, Democrats say, his charmed political life may end as he faces an unusually imposing set of challenges.
They start with the sagging, 38 percent approval rating of President Bush, to whom Santorum is closely tied. Pennsylvanians also say Santorum has suffered self-inflicted wounds since 2000, when he won reelection despite the belief of some that he is too conservative for this centrist state. He published a book that seemed to slight public schools and mothers who work outside the home. He endured widespread criticism when it was learned in 2004 that Pennsylvania paid about $70,000 through an online program to educate his children at their home in Leesburg.

But his biggest problem, many say, is that Casey is the scion of a well-known political family and has won three statewide races....Still, Casey faces possible pitfalls, starting with his longtime opposition to legalized abortion. Democratic Party leaders wanted to neutralize Santorum's antiabortion activism, and last year they persuaded a prominent abortion-rights candidate to step aside in favor of Casey. The move angered abortion-rights groups, and it may complicate efforts to unite the party's base this fall.

Casey said the election "is going to be, to a large extent, a referendum on the president and on Senator Santorum's record." Santorum counters that Bush lost Pennsylvania by four percentage points in 2000, while "I won by seven."

"So if the president is at 40 percent [approval rating]," Santorum said, "I'm in good shape."

Whereas Casey is cool and patient, Santorum seems edgy and eager. He dismisses his challenger, saying, "If his name wasn't Bob Casey, he wouldn't be a candidate."