Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of CSP Daily News stories that will highlight election campaign issues and races of interest to the convenience-store industry. To read yesterday's installment, click here.
The 2006 mid-term elections will either mark a sea-change in legislative momentum, further mire congressional accord or result in business as usual. Despite being dominated by national issues, the 2006 midterm elections will play out on [image-nocss] a local stage. Today, CSP Daily News features a key race in Pennsylvania, where an election loss by incumbent Republican Senator Rick Santorum would mean the loss of one of the c-store and petroleum industries' most loyal proponents in Congress.
According to an August 15 Quinnipiac University poll, incumbent Santorum trailed his Democratic competitor, state treasurer Bob Casey, 39% to 45%; a third candidate, the Green Party's Carl Romanelli, earned 5%. Casey's lead is narrowingat one point, 18 points separated him from second placebut Santorum still has his work cut out for him.
He's crawling, clawing and scratching his way slowly back into this race, being double digits behind and now 6 to 8 percentage points behind using a variety of tactics, said Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics & Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. Though he hasn't improved his own numbersvery much, he's dragging Casey down a bit, moving more voters into the undecided column. Given his situation earlier in the year, he's running a more-than-good campaign using every weapon and tool he has at his disposal.
Lyle Beckwith, NACS' senior vice president of government affairs, told CSP Daily News that Santorum has always been a strong supporter of industry issues. We have a wonderful relationship with him. We don't have to lobby him too much; he's always spot-on with our issues, he said. That would be a big loss for us if he didn't return; not only is he good on our issues, but he's in leadership. So that's a key race for us.
Santorum's Senate committee involvement includes agriculture; banking, housing and urban affairs; rules and administration; and the finance committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Social Security & Family Policy.
I think Santorum will make this race close, said Madonna. The only thing he can do is batter Casey up and drive voters into the undecided column. He can't seem to get his own numbers up, and he's losing badly in the suburbs of Philadelphia, which are lethal for Republicans.
[For a complete look at this election season and how it relates to the industry, watch for the October issue of CSP magazine.]
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