CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL - Forward Newspaper Online

CAMPAIGN CONFIDENTIAL - Forward Newspaper Online: "Sunday Swipe: Senator Rick Santorum, the Pennsylvania Republican running for re-election this year, declared at an evangelical Christian rally Sunday that liberal judges are "destroying traditional morality, creating a new moral code and prohibiting any dissent."


At the Justice Sunday III rally, held by a consortium of Christian conservative groups at a Philadelphia megachurch, Santorum said, "The only way to restore this republic our founders envisioned is to elevate honorable jurists like Samuel Alito."


The event drew the participation of the leader of Focus on the Family, James Dobson; the director of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins; and the founder of the Moral Majority Coalition, Jerry Falwell, who last year urged Americans to "vote Christian."


Falwell's presence at the event, much noted in the Philadelphia press, drew a swipe from the campaign of Santorum's opponent, Democratic State Treasurer Robert Casey Jr.


"It's no surprise that Rick Santorum is spending time with Jerry Falwell since they have both made a career of supporting divisive ideology rather than commonsense solutions," said a Casey spokesman, Larry Smar. "After all, Falwell has said that he would vote for Santorum for president."


Smar was referring to a television interview Falwell gave to MSNBC last August in which he declared, "I'd vote for [Santorum] for president today. And put that in the bank. I like Rick. He`s a bright, young star.""