An ex-aide to Pennsylvanian Rick Santorum wants to reclaim what his old boss lost in 2006: a seat in the United States Senate.
Marc Scaringi, a Harrisburg lawyer and Tea Party enthusiast, is the only Republican to throw his hat into the ring so far for the Senate race against Democrat Bob Casey, who defeated Santorum five years ago.
He knows it won’t be easy.
State GOP establishment insiders continue to hint that they wants someone with more political experience or personal wealth to mount an aggressive campaign. They don’t exactly see that in Scaringi, 40, who has never held elective office.
In an interview with The Daily Caller, Scaringi, whose law firm employs 17 people, said despite the fact he can’t finance his own campaign or count on high name-recognition, “this is something I feel called and compelled to do.”
“Everything I have been hearing through the grapevine is that no one is willing to step up to the plate to take on Bob Casey because they believe he cannot be beaten,” Scaringi said. “I believe that’s wrong. I believe that Bob Casey is vulnerable.”
He said that’s the case because “Bob Casey votes in lock step with President Obama and President Obama has some of the lowest approval and highest disapproval going back decades.” (RELATED: Santorum ties Obama in Pennsylvania, poll finds)
Scaringi, who opposed this week’s deal to raise the country’s debt ceiling, said the “Obama-Casey agenda” has “ruined this country.” He believes the Tea Party has “saved the Republican Party from itself.”
Political observers in Pennsylvania say it’s likely someone else will get in the race.
“Despite his good intentions, there are some real institutional challenges for him,” said Mike DeVanney, a Republican operative in Pennsylvania. “That is, not having been elected to an office, not having any name ID whatsoever and not demonstrating an ability to raise the necessary funds to wage a winning campaign.”
Scaringi only has 16 percent name recognition in the state, according to the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling. He also trails Casey by 18 points, at 47 percent to 29 percent. And while Casey has a war chest of $3.1 million, Scaringi raised less than $20,000 last quarter.
Still, DeVanney pointed to the GOP nomination of Christine O’Donnell in 2010 as an example of how “stranger things have happened.”
“No one thought Mike Castle would have lost in Delaware in the last cycle,” he said.
Scaringi supporters argue that he could be a 2012 dark-horse candidate, similarly to how the Tea Party-backed Joe Miller came out of nowhere in 2010 to win Alaska’s Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
“I see some parallels to the Miller–Murkowski campaign in Alaska,” said Randy DeSoto, a former Miller spokesman who worked with Scaringi on a campaign in 1996. “None in the establishment are willing to take on someone that looks unbeatable.”
As for the 2012 presidential race, Scaringi praised Santorum but said he isn’t automatically supporting him. He plans to take his time watching the policy positions the candidates take.
“The jury is still out,” he said.
