As evidence, the
former
Lehigh
Valley
congressman traveled
to
State
College
recently to
introduce
Santorum at a
political dinner. It
was their first
joint appearance
since September,
when Toomey endorsed
Santorum's
2006 re-election
effort at an event
in
Pittsburgh.
"Sen.
Santorum and
I don't agree on
everything," Toomey
said in a recent
interview. "As a
matter of fact, we
still have a small
outstanding
difference of
opinion about my
race. But I'm
supporting him
anyway because he
has a terrific
voting record."
Toomey's
endorsement could
help
Santorum,
who's from western
Pennsylvania,
in the
Lehigh
Valley.
Toomey
outpolled
Specter locally in
the 2004 Republican
primary and
represented the
Valley on Capitol
Hill for six years.
The endorsement
could also mollify
any lingering
resentment state
conservatives feel
toward Santorum for
helping Specter eke
out a win. If not
for Santorum, Toomey
might be a
U.S.
senator today.
But his
rapprochement with
Santorum does
not mean that Toomey
has made peace with
the Republican
establishment that
Santorum --
the No. 3 GOP leader
in the Senate --
represents. And some
believe
Toomey's
efforts could even
hurt Santorum this
year in his expected
showdown with
Democrat Bob Casey
Jr.
In
Toomey's
former home state of
Rhode Island, for
instance, the Club
for
Growth's
political action
committee is helping
fuel an intra-party
squabble by
endorsing Stephen
Laffey over
Sen. Lincoln
Chafee in the
Republican primary.
Toomey, 44, of
Upper
Milford
Township,
became president of
the Club for Growth
after losing to
Specter. The Club
backs Republicans
who prefer Uncle Sam
to be tight-fisted
-- even if that
means targeting a
GOP incumbent.
The Club backed
Toomey over Specter
two years ago.
In fact, the
Laffey-Chafee
race has more than a
few similarities to
the Toomey-Specter
battle.
Like Toomey,
Laffey comes
from a blue-collar
Rhode
Island
family, earned a
Harvard pedigree and
enjoyed a successful
business career
before turning to
politics. Laffey was
elected mayor of
Cranston, the
state's
third-largest city,
in 2002.
Like Specter,
Chafee has
earned the epitaph
of
RINO
-- Republican in
Name Only -- for his
lack of fealty to
conservative
principles. He voted
to reduce President
Bush's tax
cuts, fought for
greater
environmental
regulation and was
the only Republican
senator to oppose
military action in
Iraq.
Adding insult to
injury,
Chafee told a
Rhode
Island
newspaper that he
wrote in
Bush's father
for president in
2004 as a protest
against
Bush's
divisiveness.
There's even a
Specter
subplot to
the race. Specter's
2004 campaign
manager,
pollster and
media adviser all
are working for
Chafee.
Specter served 18
years in the Senate
with
Chafee's
father, John, who
died in 1999.
(In another
subplot,
Toomey was a
Washington
intern for John
Chafee while
in college. But
that's not
surprising in
Rhode
Island,
which has just over
1 million
residents.)
Adding to the
intrigue, the
Rhode
Island
primary is pitting
the same combatants
who took sides in
the Toomey-Specter
race. And they're
making many of the
same arguments over
what the race means
for the Republican
Party.
The moderate
Republican Main
Street Partnership,
which backed
Specter, is
supporting
Chafee and
believes the race
risks the
GOP's tenuous
foothold in Rhode
Island, a heavily
Democratic state
that in 80 years has
sent only two
Republicans to the
Senate -- both named
Chafee.
"There's no question
we will lose
Rhode
Island
with Stephen
Laffey," said
Sarah Chamberlain
Resnick,
executive director
of
Main
Street.
"Some day, it could
be [Rep.] Patrick
Kennedy in that
seat, and then we
would have two
Kennedys in
the Senate."
Kennedy, D-R.I., is
the son of Sen. Ted
Kennedy, D-Mass.
"Admittedly, you may
not love the way
Lincoln
Chafee votes
all the time, but
come on, he's still
a Republican,"
Resnick said,
adding that
Chafee has
supported all of
Bush's
judicial nominees
and voted for a
trade pact with
Central America
favored by the Club
for Growth.
Resnick said
the race also is
diverting GOP
resources that could
be spent helping
incumbents like
Santorum or
defeating Democrats
in other states. The
Rhode
Island
primary is in
September, just two
months before the
general election in
Pennsylvania.
"The money we're
wasting is just
ridiculous," she
said. "Any dollar
spent to help
Lincoln
Chafee is a
dollar less that
could be used in
Pennsylvania."
The National
Republican
Senatorial
Committee, which
supported Specter,
is also behind
Chafee, and
not worried about a
lack of resources,
given that Rhode
Island, with only
one major media
market, is a cheap
campaign buy.
"The notion that a
primary in the
nation's smallest
state is going to
hamstring
Sen.
Santorum or
our ability to help
him is more than
nonsense. It's silly
talk," spokesman Dan
Ronayne said.
Santorum's
campaign is not
worried either, said
spokeswoman
Virginia Davis. As
of September,
Santorum had $6.6
million on hand,
compared with $3
million for Casey.
But the national
committee is
concerned about
losing
Rhode
Island
and has already run
ads attacking
Laffey for
raising taxes and
spending in
Cranston.
"Without
Chafee,
you're going to get
an extremely liberal
Democrat in that
seat,"
Ronayne said.
Toomey, whose own
Senate campaign
benefited from the
Club for
Growth's
largesse under its
previous leadership,
believes
Rhode
Island
already has an
extremely liberal
senator, which is
why the Club is
backing
Laffey.
"We advocate
economic freedom,"
Toomey said. "And
Lincoln
Chafee has
been very hostile to
economic freedom. I
think he has the
most anti-growth
voting record of any
Republican senator
in the U.S. Senate."
Toomey said
Laffey is
committed to the
Club's agenda of
lower taxes and
limited government,
even though he
raised taxes in
Cranston.
Toomey said Laffey
had no choice after
inheriting a city on
the brink of
financial collapse.
Toomey believes
Laffey can
win in November,
given his success in
Cranston,
which is
overwhelmingly
Democratic. But
first, Laffey has to
beat
Chafee, and
his victory would be
a first for a
Club-backed
candidate over a
Republican
incumbent.
Santorum's
spokeswoman
said he considers
Chafee a
friend and "the
party's best hope to
hold on to that
seat." But he hasn't
tried to talk Toomey
into dropping the
Club's endorsement
of
Laffey.
"We haven't had that
conversation," said
Toomey, who
considers it
"standard operating
procedure" for
Republican senators
to back each other.
"It's always been
that way," he said.
"Sadly, it probably
always will be that
way. Whatever they
say or wish won't
influence what the
Club for Growth
does."
