Party hardly

After learning that the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Tom Reynolds, had a distinct distaste for the "R" word on his own campaign website, a reader sent along this charming little story about how Rick Santorum is encouraging his donors to give money to the Green Party in the hopes that this will detract from his opponent Bob Casey's voter support. Nothing surprising about this, really, as it was a tactic employed by Republicans when they sent cash to Ralph Nader in the last presidential election. More interestingly, Santorum himself, number three Republican in the Senate, has also chosen the "admit no Republican affiliation" tactic. His campaign website, complete with an odd and un-Republican colour scheme of blue and mustard yellow, is also surprisingly bereft of any indication that Rick Santorum is, among other unpleasant things, a Republican.

We now have an excellent idea of how the campaign season is going to go down: Republicans are simply freemanmoxy-loving individuals, unaffiliated with the party that busted this country, and who want to do "the people's work." DeLay? Bush? Rove? Never heard of 'em.