Moderate GOP Senator Arlen Specter is running for a sixth term in 2010 -- despite the fact that he'll be 80 years old at the time, The Hill reports.

Specter, who narrowly survived a primary challenge from the right in 2004 from Pat Toomey, the President of the Club for Growth, is announcing his reelection bid early as a “preemptive move” to raise big bucks early and scare off potential challengers, says Pennsylvania pollster and analyst Terry Madonna. “He’s obviously trying to not set off a scramble within his own party,” Madonna tells the paper. “He’s sending a message to conservatives who want to do battle with him.”

More voting problems -- this time in Pennsylvania. From the Election Protection coalition's morning update email:

Poll monitors encountered countywide problems with voting machines in Allegheny County, where machines were not working and there was a lack of paper or provisional ballots—long lines resulted, with some voters leaving polling places without voting. EP officials were following up with election officials to resolve the problems. Additional voting machine-related delays were reported in Philadelphia and in Lebanon County.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum -- who's trailing Dem Bob Casey by double digits in polls -- has launched a remarkable attack on Casey: He's now accusing the Dem of "aiding and abetting terrorism and genocide." Today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Santorum is making this charge by rather creatively pointing out that Casey, who's state treasurer, hasn't ensured that pension funds were not invested in firms that do business with nations "linked" to terrorism, such as Iran and Syria. Of course, there's a small problem with this attack: As a Casey spokesman is noting, Santorum's own campaign has taken money from some of the very same companies which Casey allegedly failed to prevent pension fund investments in. Among them: Royal Dutch/Shell and Deutche Bank. More here.

One new ad from GOP Senator Rick Santorum shows a mushroom cloud next to the face of Dem challenger Bob Casey; another depicts Washington politicians as brawling pro-wrestlers. Side by side, the new ads give us a tale of two Santorums: A lighthearted, goofy Santorum, and a darker Santorum who thinks the world is on the verge of nuclear armageddon. View the dark one first -- it shows frightening images of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as it intones, “We just can’t take a chance on Bob Casey.”

Want to see the lighter side of Santorum? It's after the jump.

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Rick Santorum has a new ad out that juxtaposes an image of his opponent Bob Casey with a nuclear explosion. The ad shows North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as a group of terrorists who Casey apparently wants to grant amnesty to. The narrator intones, “We just can’t take a chance of Bob Casey.”

Conservative leaders across the country are desperately trying to save sinking GOP Rep. Rick Santorum -- not least because they see a Santorum loss as a potential turning point for the entire conservative movement. Today's L.A. Times reports that a a defeat for Santorum would mean a loss of a key liason to the national GOP leadership for conservatives. Colin Hanna, head of the conservative group Let Freedom Ring, sums up the stakes this way: "If Rick Santorum were to lose, it would be cited as a turning point in the social conservative movement." Some pastors in Pennsylvania are even stuffing voter guides into their Sunday bulletins in hopes of getting out the vote for him. The L.A. Times's interesting and extensive rundown on this is here.

The national GOP isn't giving any money for ads to help GOP Senator Rick Santorum hang on to his seat against Dem Bob Casey, raising questions about whether national Republican strategists have privately given up on the incumbent's campaign. Today's Patriot-News reports that neither the RNC nor the NRSC has reserved any air time at Pennsylvania TV stations for "independent expenditure ads for Santorum or against Casey. Though an NRSC spokesman denied to the paper that the committee had given up on Santorum, recent polls show Santorum trailing badly behind. And while the RNC isn't really helping Santorum, it's investing heavily in Senate races in Tennessee, Missouri and Ohio.

Why is the Iraq war so unpopular? GOP Senator Rick Santorum claims it's because of George Bush's bad public relations skills. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Santorum said of Bush: "He is managing the public relations on this war very poorly." Santorum added that Bush is more concerned with "making the State Department comfortable" than providing the American people with "a clear message and a clear understanding of what we are up against." There's more: As Think Progress noted, Santorum had sharp words for America's friends abroad, too. "I don't care if we offend our allies in the Middle East," Santorum said. Senatorial.

Dem Bob Casey appears to be pulling away from GOP Senator Rick Santorum. A new Quinnipiac University poll finds that Casey's lead has widened to 14 points, 54%-40%. Casey's lead has doubled since August, when a Quinnipiac poll found him ahead by seven. Today's poll reflected a head-to-head matchup between Casey and Santorum, and didn't include Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli, who was knocked off the ballot by a judge yesterday.

This is pretty interesting. Today at noon local Pennsylvania cable channel PCN featured a debate between GOP Senator Rick Santorum and Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli. But guess what -- Pennsylvania voters can't vote for Romanelli, even if they want to. This morning he was tossed from the ballot by a judge who found that the Greens fell almost 9,000 signatures short of the 67,000 they need to keep a spot on the ballot. As TPMmuckraker's Paul Kiel reports, "that strikes a deadly blow to Pennsylvania Republicans' gambit to draw votes away from Democrat Bob Casey by fielding a Green candidate." So why did they debate at all? A rep for the channel says the judge's decision came down when Romanelli “was already in the studio,” so the decision was made to go ahead with the forum.

Dem Bob Casey holds a 10-point lead over GOP Senator Rick Santorum in a poll just released by the Philadelphia Inquirer, reinforcing other polls on the race which have found Casey enjoying a similar lead. In another ominous sign for Santorum, today's New York Times reports that Casey's lead is holding despite the fact that the Campaign Media Analysis Group looked at the race and discovered that "the Santorum campaign and supporting groups overwhelmingly outspent the Casey forces in television advertising between late May and mid-September." Santorum's ads just don't appear to be moving those numbers -- while he's brought Casey down a bit, he just can't seem to rise much higher than 40% himself.

Dem Bob Casey has just released a ferociously hard-hitting ad blasting back at GOP Senator Rick Santorum's recent ad depicting Casey donors behind bars. Casey's TV spot features popular Dem governor Ed Rendell mounting an aggressive defense of Casey: "To somehow insinuate that there are crooks or criminals behind his campaign, that sort of stuff is trash." The ad continues: "And it was Santorum who created a corrupt lobbying system exploited by felon Jack Abramoff." It concludes that Santorum is "everything that's wrong with Washington." Don't miss this very tough ad -- you can view it right here.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum -- who's trailing Dem Bob Casey in recent polls -- has now called in the Rudy Giuliani cavalry. He's just released a new ad featuring Rudy that's set in a firehouse (not exactly an original choice of setting for an ad featuring Rudy) and shows firemen sitting in rapt silence as Rudy says of Santorum: "When he tells you what he thinks, you know that it's coming from his mind and his heart and his conscience. It's not just something that you want to hear." The ad appears to be trying to take two two of Rudy's best-known perceived strengths -- his post-9/11 association with first responders, and his alleged tendency to say what he thinks -- and transfer them over to Santorum.

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Despite a blitz of ads from GOP Senator Rick Santorum, Dem challenger Bob Casey continues to hold a comfortable lead over the incumbent. A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that Casey holds a 10-point edge, 49%-39% -- a two-point increase since August.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum's ad campaign against Dem challenger Bob Casey appears to be doing little to help him. A new Patriot-News poll shows that Casey's lead over Santorum has widened to seven points among registered voters, who pick the Dem 45%-38%, a two point improvement from last month. Among likely voters, Casey leads 46%-41%.

This new ad just out from GOP Senator Rick Santorum's campaign attacking Dem challenger Bob Casey is really a doozy -- one of the most negative ads we've ever seen. In a scene reminiscent of Goodfellas, actors playing Casey donors puff on cigars -- while sitting in a prison cell. The ad intones that a "Philly businessman, " a "New Jersey developer" and other Casey donors (none named) are under investigation or have been indicted. Casey's response? The figures apparently referred to gave to previous Casey campaigns before being investigated; two others have given to Santorum, too; and a fifth is dead. Amazingly, a Santorum rep has even admitted that none of the men apparently being referred to has given to Casey's Senate campaign. View the ad here.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum apparently believes that today's terrorists are more dangerous than Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union or Mao Zedong. In a recent stump speech in Lewisburg, Santorum said: "This is an enemy more dangerous than any we have faced in the 20th century. This is the fight of our time."

The Casey campaign just spent $300,000 to run a new ad in the Pittsburgh market. Titled “Debbie’s Story”, the ad features a working mom—Debbie Balcik--who criticizes Santorum for comments in his book “It Takes A Family”, that implied that women shouldn’t seek work outside the home. The real-life wife and mother invites Santorum to come over to her house at the end of the month when they have to pay the bills and see how hard it is to support a family even when both husband and wife work full time. She also notes that unlike Santorum, she can’t vote to give herself a pay raise.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum has enlisted some new surrogates to attack his Dem challenger Bob Casey in a new TV ad: Santorum's own kids. In the ad, titled "Important Job," Santorum's children respond to Casey's recent criticism that their dad lives out of state while the kids attend a Pennsylvania public school over the internet. Johnny and Daniel Santorum gripe that Casey criticized "us" for moving to D.C so "he could spend more time with us." Elizabeth Santorum explains that Dad votes 40 weeks a year. But all the kids agree that Rick’s most important job is still "being our dad." View the ad here.

In a laughably awful new campaign ad, titled “Important Job,” Rick Santorum features several of his biggest supporters, his kids.  The ad is a response to Casey’s criticisms that Santorum lives out of state, and that his kids attend PA public school over the internet. Johnny and Daniel Santorum intone that their dad’s opponent criticized “us” for moving to Washington, so “he could spend more time with us.”  Eldest daughter Elizabeth Santorum explains—as she pops out the headphones of her iPod—that Dad has to vote almost 40 weeks a year.  Then young Patrick and Peter inform us about their dad’s hectic travel schedule.  However, according to his children, Rick’s most important job is still “being our dad.”<p>

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According to today's Pennsylvania Morning-Call, out-of-state money is gushing into the coffers of incumbent GOP Senator Rick Santorum and challenger Bob Casey race at a startling rate: "Nearly half of the $10.3 million Santorum has received in itemized individual donations during that time came from outside Pennsylvania...Casey's not far behind, drawing more than a third — 38 percent — of his $7.2 million in itemized contributions from the rest of the United States."

GOP Senator Rick Santorum and Dem challenger Bob Casey had their first debate today on Meet the Press. Santorum said Bush has been a "terrific President" and threw around the phrase "Islamic fascism," which drew the following retort from Casey: "What we need, Rick, is not a change in terminology, we need to change the tactics. Even as you're debating whether we call Osama Bin Laden a terrorist or a fascist, I don't think that really matters." Pennsyltucky Politics, the blog of The Patriot-News, says Casey won, while PoliticsPA's current online poll gives the nod to Santorum. Pennsyltucky Politics has some excerpts.

GOP Senator Rick Santorum and Dem challenger had their first debate today on Meet the Press. Santorum said Bush has been a "terrific President" and threw around the phrase "Islamic fascism," which drew the following retort from Casey: "What we need, Rick, is not a change in terminology, we need to change the tactics. Even as you're debating whether we call Osama Bin Laden a terrorist or a fascist, I don't think that really matters." Pennsyltucky Politics, the blog of The Patriot-News, says Casey won, while PoliticsPA's current online poll gives the nod to Santorum. The DSCC's. Pennsyltucky has some Pennsyltucky Politics, the blog of The Patriot-News, excerpts.

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