Ohio State shocked the nation by beating undefeated #1 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I'm sure all my friends from Illinois, that follow college basketball, are in mourning.
In other news, Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Democrats have endorsed State Treasurer Bob Casey, Jr. for US Senator in 2006. No Democrat has won a Senate seat in 14 straight elections. Barbara Hafer announced and then pulled out upon hearing the endorsements. If I were in PA, I'd be voting for Dr. Chuck Pennacchio.
Gov. Ed Rendell, who beat Casey in the 2002 gubernatorial primary, endorsed his former foe after helping to clear the field of major opposition by shooing away a competitor.Pennacchio reminds me so much of the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota.
"It was always his goal to try to have a united front," said Penny Lee, Rendell's communication director.
Casey's father, who died in 2000, made headlines when Democratic leaders prevented him from speaking on his anti-abortion views at the party's national conventions in 1992 and 1996.
But Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and some other Democratic abortion foes are urging the party to take a more conciliatory stance on abortion. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton recently made a high-profile appeal for common ground, and she and Reid are among the sponsors of a bill seeking to reduce the number of abortions by increasing spending on family-planning clinics, among other things.
Casey had not seriously considered running for Senate until Reid and other party leaders urged him to run.
His predecessor as treasurer, Barbara Hafer, said Wednesday that she planned to run, raising the specter of a primary fight, but on Friday said she changed her mind at Rendell's request.
Former U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, who unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. Arlen Specter last year and had said he was contemplating a bid against Santorum, said he also agreed not to run after talking with Casey.
"I really want to see Rick Santorum defeated, and it seems to me that Bob Casey has the best chance to do that," Hoeffel said Friday.
Casey, 44, was sworn into a four-year term as state treasurer just two months ago. He served two four-year terms as auditor general and lost to Rendell in 2002. He received the most votes of any candidate in state history in his landslide victory in the treasurer's race in November.
In a statement issued by his Senate office, Santorum said he looks forward to "a spirited debate" on issues.
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