Pennsylvania Senate Race Whittled Down

Judge Rules GOP-Backed Green Party Nominee Lacks Signatures

(CBS/AP)  The time and money Republicans spent helping the Green Party field a U.S. Senate candidate may be a lost cause — unless Pennsylvania's highest court steps in and decides that he can compete against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum and Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey.

Carl Romanelli, whose candidacy was backed by Santorum, is hoping the state Supreme Court will rule that state elections officials required him to gather far too many petition signatures to make the Nov. 7 ballot.

Commonwealth Court Judge James R. Kelley said during a hearing Monday that Romanelli, a railroad industry consultant from Wilkes-Barre, was 8,931 signatures shy of 67,070 he needed to qualify as a minor-party candidate.

Clifford Levine, an attorney for the Democrats, said the ruling "allows there to be a head-to-head matchup between Bob Casey and Rick Santorum, which is what obviously, in our view, Sen. Santorum was trying to avoid."

Romanelli has garnered about 5 percent in recent independent polls and campaign experts expect that the majority of those votes would go to Casey, which is precisely why Santorum and Republicans want Romanelli on the ballot, the Harrisburg Patriot-News said.

Romanelli did not attend Monday's hearing. In a statement issued later in the day, he said his fate would ultimately depend on the state Supreme Court determining how many signatures he needed to get on the ballot.

"The Democrats have a long way to go to get me off the ballot," Romanelli said.

[drgoodwin12]

Do 2 things vote and For everyone that is against Bush because he deliberately mislead us into war in Iraq,go online and contribute $10,25 or any amount of money you can afford to the Democratic Party and do so before the elections.There are good republican senators like Specter and Warner however in order for this country to change course we have to change it's leadership first.It's crunch time for the elections and in order to restore this country we need new leadership in the house and senate.

[heresmy2cent]

Rick Santorum is getting desperate as his opponent Bob Casey currently has a 54 to 40 percent lead in the polls.

Santorum has been an embarrisment for the state of Pennsylvania for many years and it is time him to go.

The television commercials that his handlers have been running here in western Pennsylvania make him look foolish, especially his ridiculous "Champion" ad.

Pennsylvania will certainly survive without Rick Santorum's "leadership."