One of You Thought I Was Joking

... when I said that Republicans were in big trouble in 2006.

Well here is the proof: Before any campaigning starts. Before the challenger even states that he stands for anything. Before they even really know who the challenger is:

Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who is the third-most-powerful member of the Republican party is trailing the challenger, Democrat Bob Casey, by an astounding 14 points, 38% to 52%.

... and that's a GOP poll.

I don't care how you spin it. Having only 4 out of 10 people say that they are going to vote for an incumbent, top-shelf, exceptionally-well-known and powerful senator... that's Tip O'Neill territory ladies and gentlemen. Having 5 out of 10 people say they are going to vote for the challenger without knowing the first thing about him... well that's even worse news.

Can you imagine what the not-Santorum Republican Senators... who aren't chairmen of committees, who aren't holding the purse strings to billions of dollars, who don't have the ears of the country's most powerful people listening to what they say, who aren't delivering back to their constituents nearly as well as Senator Santorum is... Can you imagine what they are facing?