2006 New Member Profiles
Pennsylvania Senate: Bob Casey (D)
The Almanac of American Politics
© National Journal Group Inc.
| Bob Casey |
| Born: |
April 13, 1960 |
| Family: |
Wife, Terese; four children |
| Religion: |
Catholic |
| Education: |
College of the Holy Cross, B.A. 1982; Catholic University, J.D. 1988 |
| Career: |
Lawyer |
Elected
Office: |
Pennsylvania auditor general, 1996-2004; Pennsylvania treasurer, 2004-06
|
Running in his fourth statewide race in six years,
Bob Casey defeated Republican Sen.
Rick Santorum in the most expensive Senate race in Pennsylvania history.
Casey, the son of the popular late governor of the same name, is only the second Democrat elected to the Senate from Pennsylvania since 1962. His victory highlights a brief but peripatetic political career. He won election as state auditor general in 1996, was re-elected in 2000, ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2002, won the treasurer's office in 2004, and then captured the Senate seat this year.
Just four years ago, Casey's prospects did not seem so bright after he suffered a bitter loss to former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Casey, who had strong labor support, ran as a cultural conservative who opposed abortion and gun control, while Rendell supported abortion rights and restrictions on gun ownership. Together, the two spent more than $25 million in a contest in which Casey's negative ads and tightly scripted campaign tarnished his image.
Casey first drew the national party's notice in 2004, when he recovered from his loss to Rendell to run for state treasurer and received 3.4 million votes -- more than any other candidate in state history. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee considered him the only prospective heavyweight challenger to Santorum this year.
The DSCC moved quickly to clear the potential Democratic field of serious challengers so that Casey could avoid a bruising and cash-draining race in the May 16 primary. At the time, the DSCC's heavy-handed involvement rankled many Democrats, particularly those in the abortion-rights lobby to whom the Casey name was anathema -- Casey's father had been a prominent abortion foe. Ultimately, Casey prevailed easily in the primary.
Resistance to Casey's candidacy among fellow Democrats faded in the run-up to the general election, as he maintained a steady lead over the incumbent in the polls. Although Santorum, as Senate Republican Conference chairman, was the third-ranking member of his party's leadership, he began the campaign in a difficult position. He was a high-profile social conservative in a state that had voted for the last four Democratic presidential nominees. And Pennsylvania was not nearly as welcoming to GOP statewide candidates as it had been when it first sent Santorum to the Senate in 1994.
The incumbent's aggressive style stood in stark contrast to Casey's stolid demeanor. But more important, Casey's socially conservative positions -- he indicated he would have voted for President Bush's Supreme Court nominees, John Roberts and Samuel Alito -- and his statewide familiarity blunted Santorum's advantages.
Despite raising more than $22 million -- only Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., raised more -- Santorum trailed in the polls as far back as mid-2005, and he never truly closed on Casey.
