A loose collection of Things About Senators

Call it significant or don't, but PA Sen. Rick Santorum took a pass on appearing with Bush when he was in the state recently. Just a matter of scheduling, or related to the President's rather low popularity? You make the call.

Recent polls show bad trends for both Santorum and Rendell, perhaps catching the back-draft of pay-hike anger.

And finally, local blogger BooMan takes a look at the Democratic field for Senate, bemoaning the mindless power of name recognition and documenting unfair coverage of the lesser-known candidates (Pennacchio and Sandals) by the media. He argues that with Santorum so unexpectedly weak, the party should be putting forward a candidate based on principles rather than just one with that vague sheen of "electability." A little too late, I fear.