Taranto on Alito's nomination and PA politics.

The Keystone Angle

The Alito nomination may have interesting implications for politics in Pennsylvania, politically one of the most interesting states in the country. The Keystone State leans Democratic but is a perennial swing state in presidential races: Al Gore carried it by 4.2% in 2000, and John Kerry* by 2.5% in 2004.

Pennsylvania also has two Republican senators. Both were elected in years when the GOP took a Senate majority--Arlen Specter (Look here - F.G.) in 1980 and Rick Santorum in 1994--but other than that they have little in common. Specter is from Philadelphia, Santorum from suburban Pittsburgh. Specter is Jewish, Santorum Catholic. (Where is the word "observant"? - F.G.) Specter is 75, Santorum under 50. Specter is strongly pro-abortion, Santorum strongly antiabortion. Specter almost lost his renomination bid last year to a conservative Republican; Santorum faces an uphill re-election battle next year against a moderate Democrat.
But the pair have developed a symbiotic relationship. Santorum's support helped Specter to a narrow primary victory against Rep. Pat Toomey, and Santorum is counting on help from Specter next year.

Repansycan politics got in the way of reality.

Enter Alito. The Third Circuit includes Pennsylvania (along with Delaware, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands), and in 1991 Alito cast a dissenting vote in Planned Parenthood v. Casey in which he argued for upholding a democratically enacted regulation of abortion. (The case subsequently went to the Supreme Court, which, by a 5-4 vote, agreed with the Third Circuit majority.)

Specter presumably will find Alito's Planned Parenthood views hard to swallow, given his own antidemocracy (heehee! - F.G.) stance on abortion. But he is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and, as Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics notes, "it's time for Specter to earn that Judiciary Committee chairmanship and to return the favor to the White House for backing him over Pat Toomey in the 2004 PA Senate primary."

Meanwhile, National Review's Kathryn Lopez notes that "an Alito battle and confirmation should help Rick Santorum's reelection campaign." This sounds right to us, especially since Santorum's likely opponent, Bob Casey Jr., is also an abortion foe.

* "Remember: Integrity, integrity, integrity."