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G. Terry Madonna laughed today when he heard an Internet search of his name and the term “Democratic hack” turned up 76 hits.

That’s because the Washington Post the Chicago Tribune other media outlets and political blogs all are reporting on Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s description of the Franklin & Marshall College pollster.

On “Fox News Sunday” Santorum described Madonna as a Democratic hack who “has probably singularly gotten more polls wrong than any person I know in the history of the state.”

Madonna’s most recent polls produced last week in conjunction with Lancaster Newspapers and other Pennsylvania media outlets showed Santorum’s lead in Pennsylvania was shrinking and that he would only win narrowly in his home state if the election was held now.

Cue the fireworks.

Santorum scoffed at the poll results Sunday saying that other polls show him up 20 points and 17 points.

“This is a pollster who just — I think he just draws numbers out of a hat sometimes” Santorum said of Madonna.

Not so fast said Madonna who has known Santorum since the 1980s and written and polled about him since then.

Madonna noted the polls he’s conducted at F&M and at Millersville University correctly predicted the outcome of other Santorum races showing him winning in 1994 and 2000 and losing in 2006 to Sen. Robert Casey.

Madonna said his polls also correctly predicted the wins of other GOP candidates in Pennsylvania.

Santorum’s campaign was contacted but has not yet returned requests for his follow-up comments on the issue.

Madonna said candidates often don’t like the results of a poll but usually will attack the poll’s methodology not the pollster himself.

“I was surprised it was personal” he said wondering if the trigger could have been Madonna’s recent comments to the press about Santorum.

In interviews with the national media last month Madonna commented on Santorum’s increasingly testy personality saying Santorum was “visceral emotional provocative. It’s who he is.”

“Most of us who followed his career were just stunned at how for seven or eight months he was remarkably disciplined” Madonna told the Washington Post.

Madonna told the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review. “The real Rick Santorum has emerged.”

“I was telling the truth” Madonna said Monday.

The resulting dust-up has drawn national attention to Madonna and let’s face it that’s not always bad news for someone regularly quoted by reporters.

But Madonna does not like the allegations implying he has a political agenda.

He said F&M’s Center for Opinion Research uses scientific polling methods. Madonna also said he does not poll for particular parties or candidates and doesn’t contribute to candidates or reveal how he votes.

To avoid even the appearance of any political conflicts he said he no longer speaks to Democratic or Republican party organizations.

“I do what I do and I try to do it as fairly as I can” he said. “I’m a columnist. I’m a commentator. I’m entitled to my views and I will continue to express them.

“It does not mean I’m in the tank for one party or another. It does not mean I support any party’s candidates.”

Rick Santorum is as unpopular in Pennsylvania today as he was six years ago when home-state voters kicked him out of the Senate in a rout. That sour public perception may doom his fading chances of sticking around in the GOP presidential race, along with other hurdles that dot his path to a possible, and needed, victory in the April 24 primary.

He failed to heal a rift with fiscal conservatives who had lost confidence in him or reassure party leaders that he could temper his hardline positions on social issues that repel the moderate and independent voters who are crucial to success in statewide elections in this diverse state. Even some who know Santorum say he isn’t the best candidate.

The former senator also faces a nearly insurmountable hurdle to stop Mitt Romney, who emerged as the nominee-in-waiting after his sweep of contests this week in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

None of that seems to be deterring Santorum.

“People in Pennsylvania know me,” he said last week while campaigning at a Pittsburgh-area diner. “We’ve got a strong base of support here, and we’re going to work very, very hard.”

That Pennsylvanians know Santorum may be part of the problem.

He spoke at the state’s largest annual gathering of conservatives several weeks ago, yet won a straw vote with less than half the vote. His support in the state also has slipped, according to surveys that highlight his apparent likeability problem.

Santorum is as unpopular now as he was at the time of his defeat. A February poll by Muhlenberg College showed that nearly half the registered voters surveyed viewed him unfavorably. Just 39 percent saw him favorably.

A March 28 poll by Franklin & Marshall College showed Santorum with 30 percent support to Romney’s 28 percent among registered Republicans, a significant drop from the 29-point advantage Santorum enjoyed in February.

Santorum’s image has suffered under a barrage of negative advertising by the better-funded Romney and his allies. Santorum lately also is battling the perception that Romney will be the nominee. He has complained, at times bitterly, about being badly outspent by Romney in states where he has lost to the former Massachusetts governor.

The sour feelings toward Santorum are also evident in his lack of endorsements from the state GOP establishment. Toomey, who won Specter’s seat in 2010, Gov. Tom Corbett, Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and state party chairman Rob Gleason all are publicly uncommitted. Former Govs. Tom Ridge and Mark Schweiker, four congressmen and GOP national committeeman Bob Asher, are backing Romney.

Even some who know Santorum well say he isn’t the best candidate for the times.

“It’s fairly clear Mitt Romney is a much better candidate than Rick Santorum to attract swing voters in a year like this,” said former Rep. Phil English, a Romney supporter who campaigned with Santorum in 2006.

Romney has more than half of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination, more than twice Santorum’s total, according to the latest tally by The Associated Press. Santorum would need to win 80 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the GOP’s national convention in August.

Santorum is helped some by the fact that Romney is struggling with his image in Pennsylvania, too. The Franklin & Marshall poll found Romney and Santorum with nearly identical unfavorable ratings, 25 percent and 26 percent, respectively.

But Santorum is under more pressure to win Pennsylvania.

“It would be the ultimate black eye to his campaign to lose his home state and really diminish his argument that he can take to the convention that he is an electable candidate” in November, said Muhlenberg College pollster Christopher Borick.

Once, the possibility of losing his home state’s primary election was almost unthinkable.

Once, Rick Santorum shockingly upset an entrenched Pittsburgh area Democratic congressman, Doug Walgren, then pulled another stunning upset four years later over Democratic Sen. Harris Wofford to win a Senate seat.

The same Rick Santorum got trounced in his 2006 Senate re-election bid by Democrat Bob Casey, but that was supposedly a sign of the times. No way the Republicans’ former number three man in the Senate from Southwest Pennsylvania could lose his former home state’s Republican presidential primary to ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Why only a month ago, a Franklin & Marshall College poll of registered Republicans had Santorum up almost 30 percentage points.

Just like Santorum’s congressional career, the lead faded.

As Romney piled up wins in other states over the last month, Santorum’s fortunes sank on the national level, and his standing in Pennsylvania along with them.

In the last two weeks, four polls of Pennsylvania Republican voters, including another by Franklin & Marshall, showed Santorum’s once dominant margin at 2 to 6 percentage points. One poll, by a Democratic-leaning firm, had Romney up 5 points.

The once unthinkable is suddenly possible.

“Absolutely, he could lose here,” political analyst Christopher P. Borick said.

With Romney coming off primary wins in Wisconsin, Washington, D.C. and Maryland on Tuesday, the Republican presidential nominating process is in a three-week stretch of campaigning leading up to primary elections April 24 in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island.

Pennsylvania’s 72 delegates are second only to New York’s 95 that day.

Santorum says the race is at “halftime,” but the truth is he has less than half the delegates of Romney – 655 to 272, according to the RealClearPolitics.com count.

“And who’s ready to charge out of the locker room in Pennsylvania for a strong second half?” Santorum asked a crowd in Mars, Butler County, the county where he was raised.

Well, Santorum better be ready because he needs a big third quarter and a big fourth quarter on top of that to regain serious hopes of contending again for the nomination.

Defeat in Pennsylvania would doom his chances this year for good.

As it was for former Sen. Hillary Clinton, when she fell behind in delegates in 2008 against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the math is against Santorum.

With 20 states to go, Santorum must win 82.8 percent of all the remaining delegates to reach the 1,144 needed for nomination while Romney only needs 46.4 percent. Santorum’s is task complicated by the fact that 16 of the 20 award delegates proportionally, which means Romney is almost certain to keep getting a share.

Another factor complicates matters here for Santorum, too. He fought so hard in earlier states to stay alive he could not recruit people to run as his delegates as actively as Romney. So he could win the popular vote, but watch Romney walk away with a larger share of delegates than normally expected.

Just adding delegates is Romney’s chief strategy here.

“We’re going to campaign and compete in Pennsylvania, but honestly we expect Santorum to win his home state just like Mitt won Massachusetts, Newt (Gingrich) won Georgia,” said Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for Romney’s campaign. “Our goal is to earn as many delegates as we can in Pennsylvania.”

Santorum has said he must win Pennsylvania, predicted he will win and spur his next revival.

“He’s already done,” said Michael Federici, Ph.D., chairman of the political science department at Mercyhurst University. “And he’s already done in part because if you look at the lineup of primaries and you look at the delegate count, he can’t get anywhere near (the nominating number). His only hope would be a brokered convention.”

In a brokered Republican National Convention, Romney would fail to win nomination on the first ballot and maybe committed delegates would be free to back others on subsequent ballots.

Despite the delegate math, Santorum, never a quitter, fights on, and other math remains in his favor. Poll numbers underlying even his narrower lead show a candidate who remains popular and respected.

- More than half (52 percent) of the Republicans who answered a recent Quinnipiac University poll said Santorum has more honesty and integrity than most people in public life. Only a quarter (25 percent) said that of Romney.

- Almost half (49 percent) said Santorum changes his position less often than most public figures. Slightly more than a quarter (27 percent) said that about Romney.

- Almost two-thirds (64 percent) had a favorable view of Santorum while about six in 10 (59 percent) had a favorable view of Romney.

As in other states, Santorum polls well with broad swaths of the Republican electorate here. In the Quinnipiac poll, he did better than Romney by substantial or wide margins among self-identified conservatives; white-born-again-evangelicals; Tea Party members; people lacking college degrees and earning less than $100,000; and all age groups except senior citizens.

They form his conservative base, but as even Santorum has acknowledged, Pennsylvania’s Republicans are a more diverse group that comes late to staunch conservatism if at all.

“He’s trying to make the case that they will lose if they nominate Romney,” said G. Terry Madonna, Ph.D., the director of the Franklin & Marshall polls that Santorum last Sunday criticized as the work of “a Democratic hack” before other polling verified the race’s closeness. “Now, the big question I have is does he stay on that message or does he shift the paradigm back to the economy and back to the issues that moderate voters care about, which are debts and deficits and budget matters and fiscal matters, not social issues.”

Santorum is still the favorite to win Pennsylvania, but to widen his margin beyond current polls, he must enlarge his current base or appeal to moderates, Dr. Madonna said.

It is a difficult task for a conservative Republican who lost all four Republican-vote-rich suburban Philadelphia counties to Casey in 2006. Most observers attributed Santorum’s 2006 loss to a political environment that had turned against President George W. Bush, whom Santorum has staunchly supported, but his tepid showing in polls points to perhaps other reasons.

Some conservative Republicans could also be feeling less warmth for Santorum because of his 2004 support for the re-election of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who narrowly defeated conservative darling Pat Toomey in the primary that year.

“It’s hard for Santorum to make the argument, if people remember that, that he’s Conservative because (they say) ‘Really, Arlen Specter?’” Dr. Federici said.

Though Santorum grew up in Pennsylvania and sees himself as the hometown candidate, he has moved to Virginia and is not seen as much that way by voters here any longer, Allegheny County Republican Party Chairman Jim Roddey said,

“I just don’t think that his message resonates with independents and moderate Democrats,” Roddey said.

“His message is a good message for the conservative part of the Republican Party, but we’re really trying to choose someone to run in November. Rick is a remarkable campaigner, he’s gone further than any of us ever imagined that he would, but nevertheless he’s not going to be the nominee. And I think the people in Pennsylvania really want someone that can win. To them, I think it’s more important to win than to have somebody that they sort of feel like they have an obligation to support.”

Santorum’s emphasis on social issues is off target, Roddey said.

“While it will appeal to some voters, most people are concerned about the economy and jobs,” Roddey said. “And I think that Rick is not even talking about that.”

Roddey predicted a close outcome.

“I think it’s a toss-up,” he said. “I think Romney probably has the momentum, he’s got a better organization, he’s obviously got more money. So I think he will close that gap, and I think it’s really about turnout whether or not Rick gets his old faithful supporters from the middle of the state to come out.”

Even in his loss to Casey, Santorum won 34 of 67 counties, almost all of them in the state’s Republican ‘T’ – the northern and central Pennsylvania counties that are solidly Republican.

They are where Santorum’s base voters live, many of them the born-again evangelicals who have formed the core of his support in other states and view him in an almost messianic way,

“He sees this (campaign) in almost apocalyptic terms,” Dr. Madonna said. “He sees this campaign as a mission to save America from falling off the precipice … I think he believes that this is his place in time, his moment, and that (this is) his mission – (with) deeply felt feelings about freedom, government encroachment on all aspects of life, including religion and culture – that it’s his time and I think that this is as much mission as it is a campaign.”

In Earthly terms, there is still an election to win. On Thursday, according to published reports, Santorum met with conservative leaders to strategize. They apparently concluded one way is to increase pressure on Gingrich, the former House Speaker, to drop out so conservatives coalesce around Santorum.

“It’s almost a no-win situation for Santorum,” said Dr. Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.

Winning Pennsylvania could offer Santorum some redemption for 2006, he said.

“But it doesn’t change anything and it really doesn’t prove much other than he was able to hold on to his home state,” Dr. Borick said. “If he loses here, the combination of that loss and his defeat in 2006 is a scathing repudiation by his home state voters. And that’s hard to swallow.”

The College of New Jersey women’s lacrosse team saw its 18-game home winning streak come to an end as the Lions fell to visiting Franklin & Marshall College 16-12 in a match-up of top-10 teams on Friday.

Third-ranked TCNJ, which last fell at home during the 2010 season, dropped to 10-2 on the season, while the eighth-ranked Diplomats improved to 9-2.

The Diplomats led by as many as five goals in the opening half before carrying a 10-6 lead into the break. The Lions had trailed 9-4, before junior Alex Spark (Harvey Cedars, NJ/Southern Regional) and senior Leigh Mitchell (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) netted consecutive goals.

F&M got one of those back with 30 seconds left in the frame as Cat Serpe (Essex Falls, NJ/West Essex) tallied making it a 10-6 difference at the break.

TCNJ came out firing in the second half putting the first four goals of the period up on the scoreboard. Junior Trenna Hill (Syracuse, NY/Lafayette) potted the first of those goals 3:57 into the frame and less than a minute later Spark cashed in on a feed from Mitchell. Spark then scored off of a free-position attempt and then tied the game at 10 goals apiece with an unassisted goal with 19:55 left in the game.

The Diplomats then scored two goals 12 seconds apart with Erin Dunne (North Brunswick, NJ/North Brunswick Twp.) getting the first of those goals and Lauren Ehrhardt (Westbury, NY/Kellenberg Memorial) scoring the latter. Those goals put F&M back in front at 12-10.

Mitchell trimmed that to 12-11 with 16:34 left, but F&M scored four straight goals as their cushion expanded to 16-11.

Hill scored the game’s final goal 6:51 remaining as the Diplomats were able to protect that lead.

Spark led all players with seven goals, while Mitchell had two goals and two assists for the Lions. Spark has been on fire of late with 22 goals in the last three games and leads the team with a career-high 43 on the season.

For F&M, Serpe had five goals and Ehrhardt had four.

TCNJ plays again on Tuesday, April 10 when they travel to Montclair State University for a chance to claim the 2012 New Jersey Athletic Conference title. The Lions are 3-0 in conference play. Game time is 7 p.m.

The Diplomats are right back in action tomorrow, hosting Swarthmore College at 4 p.m.

After coming back from a strong showing (6-3) in their Florida spring training trip, the Shorewomen took on Stevenson College on March 21. Stevenson took the first game with a score of 5-1, and junior Brittany Walter was 3 for 3 in the game as she knocked in Washington’s sole run. In the second game, the Shorewomen came back from a 2-5 deficit to win 6-5.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, junior Shaelan Nottingham hit a double and was knocked in by freshman Kristen Cooper’s homerun to trim the lead to one for Stevenson. Senior Sally Snover then hit a double to right field and was hit in by sophomore Kylie Nottingham’s single up the middle to give Washington the final lead.

On Sunday, the Shorewomen faced their first Centennial Conference matchup in Franklin & Marshall College. In two extremely close games, the Shorewomen swept the Diplomats with scores 9-8 and 6-5. F&M took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning with a two-run homer. Washington would not give up. The Shorewomen put together a six-run inning, ignited by Cooper’s grand slam and sophomore Lauren Dockrill’s two-run home run in the second. The Diplomats battled back in the fifth inning with selective hitting to even the score at 8 after Washington had added two runs. In the bottom of the seventh, Cooper garnered a walk and then was advanced to second by Snover’s sacrifice bunt. Anderson hit a walk-off single to drive in Cooper and win the game 9-8.

The second game followed the same dramatic fashion as the two teams flipped the lead four times. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs, the Shorewomen were down 5-4. For the second time in a day they would rally to take another win from the Diplomats. Kristen Cooper earned a walk and was advanced to second base on a single from Shaelan Nottingham. With runners on first and second, Snover launched a game-winning double to right field that got the winning run in just under the tag at home plate.

The Shorewomen faced Haverford College on Tuesday at home, hoping to keep their undefeated conference record alive. In the first game, Washington developed an early 5-0 lead that they would not relinquish. Cooper launched her third home run of the season to ignite the Shorewomen. Kylie Nottingham and Suzanne Patinella put together key hits in the third to extend the lead and win with a final of 8-3. In the second game of the day, Washington was down 0-2 in the bottom of the sixth when they went on a dramatic rally.

The Shorewomen would score 6 runs in the inning off of hits from Patinella, Cooper, S. Nottingham, Glascock, and Graham, as well as walks from Dockrill and K. Nottingham. Washington would take the win with a score of 6-2, sweeping Haverford for the third straight season.

Kristen Cooper has been named Centennial Conference player and pitcher of the week, as well as Shorewoman of the week, as she batted .571 with two home runs and had an ERA of 0.00 in 12 2/3 innings.

The team faces Widener on Thursday at home and then Muhlenberg on Saturday as they hope to keep their undefeated conference record alive.

Nothing is sacred about your religion when it comes to getting a state identification card without a photo.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation offers ID cards for those with religious objections to being photographed. The Amish and certain sects of the Mennonite community are among those who object to having their photos taken because of their faith.

To get a nonphoto ID for religious reasons, applicants must answer a series of 18 questions that delve deeply into their faiths and other personal information.

Now that Pennsylvania has passed one of the nation’s toughest voter ID laws to prevent voter fraud, the scope of the questions is drawing criticism.

The first item on PennDOT’s form asks applicants to “describe your religion.” It is followed by more questions that devout followers might struggle to answer, and some that inquire about the lives of family members.

How many members are there of your religion?

How many congregations?

What’s the process by which you came to the religion?

What religious practices do you observe?

Do other family members hold the same religious beliefs?

Submitting that form, once notarized, is not enough. Applicants must fill out another form.

If they lack proof of identification, yet another form must be completed before a nonphoto ID is issued. The ID is valid for four years, and the renewal process is simpler.

Going through this process is essential if those who hold religious objections to being photographed want to vote. Anyone who wants to vote must show identification in the November election.

Two Republican senators, both of whom supported the voter ID law, have expressed concerns about what it takes to get a nonphoto ID.

State Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, said the questions seem intrusive, and he wonders why all that information is needed.

“They are going to be keeping them from the polls, keeping American citizens from the polls,” Folmer said. “That’s what I’m concerned about.”

“That form is an overreach in my opinion,” said Sen. Mike Brubaker, R-Lancaster. “I don’t want persons for religious reasons not to have a photo taken, to go through a process that is any more cumbersome than absolutely necessary to get the proper identification to be able to vote.”

Those concerns prompted Brubaker and his chief of staff to meet with PennDOT officials Friday to understand why such a cumbersome process is required.

Afterward, Brubaker said he came away with a better understanding that PennDOT’s multistep process is intended to weed out people who are seeking nonphoto IDs for fraudulent purposes.

“They need to have a relatively tight process for that reason,” Brubaker said. But he said he still has issues that he hopes to get addressed.

Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, said some of the questions on the affidavit are relevant to determine if the applicant’s beliefs are sincere.

But she added, “I have no idea what the purpose would be of some of the other questions they have here.”

A PennDOT spokeswoman said the forms for a nonphoto ID have existed for a year.

PennDOT spokeswoman Jan McKnight said the questions on the affidavit were created by the agency’s lawyers based on federal and state case law.

“It can’t be too simple because we are talking about a legal ID,” McKnight said. “We are not here to stand in the way of them getting their ID, but we’re just recognizing the fact that this is of such importance to them that they don’t want to have their picture taken.”

The answers are reviewed by PennDOT personnel and not shared with any other agency, a requirement of the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, she said.

Not answering all the questions on the affidavit form is reason for denying the issuance of a nonphoto ID, PennDOT spokesman Craig Yetter said. And there have been denials.

In the past, the Amish have submitted a letter from their bishop affirming their membership in that religious order instead of completing the affidavit to get the ID card. Those Amish seeking simply to renew a photo ID card can still rely on a letter from their bishop.

Going forward, new Amish applicants must fill out the PennDOT forms and questions to get an ID.

Looking over the questions asked on the affidavit, McKnight agreed that some might seem a bit personal.

“It’s hard not to get personal when you are talking about matters of religion,” McKnight said.

The department does not track how many times it has denied requests for nonphoto IDs, which cost $13.50.

Donald Kraybill, a senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College, said the Amish objection to being photographed is grounded in their beliefs.

The Amish view it as following the Second Commandment “of not making graven images (idolatry) … focusing on the individual, calling attention to individual, rather than community.”

Asking Amish people to fill out an 18-question survey reflecting their religious views will be problematic for them, Kraybill said.

“‘Describe your religion’ would be difficult for many people, let alone ones with an eighth-grade education,” he said.

But an even bigger issue for them is providing all this information to the government agencies without knowing how it will be used or who sees it, Kraybill said.

“Amish people may be willing to jump over all these hurdles if necessary for purposes of international travel or to open a bank account, but I’m doubtful that many would be willing to do it just to vote,” he said.

PennDOT indicates it has issued nearly 4,000 nonphoto IDs that are currently valid to people with religious objections. Pennsylvania is home to 61,000 Amish.

G. Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, said a lot of Amish and Mennonites don’t vote. When they do, they tend to vote Republican.

Democrats voiced most of the opposition to the voter ID law, saying it could hurt turnout among minority groups and those in cities who don’t drive.

But when the GOP-backed voter ID legislation was being debated, Madonna said at the time that it would be filled with unintended consequences.

“That’s what we’re seeing here,” he said.

The Rev. Sandy Strauss, director of public advocacy for the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, reviewed the questions on the affidavit. She said it would be difficult to complete without extensive research.

“We at the Pennsylvania Council of Churches couldn’t even give an accurate count of all congregations, total members, etc.,” she said.

Strauss also wonders what difference it makes if other family members share the applicant’s beliefs.

She noted that in her own case, her family was Roman Catholic and she chose to become a Presbyterian. Her husband’s family was raised Methodist and now he is the one who holds that faith. Others in his family chose to become a Sufi Muslim, one Assemblies of God, one Catholic and one agnostic.

She asks, “Would those who went in another direction have their rights questioned?”

Brubaker said he discussed the process for obtaining the nonphoto IDs with the Old Order Steering Committee, an Amish liaison group that meets with government officials on issues that intersect with Amish life. He said they have significant concerns about the process.

“They want a nonphoto ID and want the process to be as user-friendly as possible,” he said. “Members of the Old Order Steering Committee have a concern (that this process) could potentially have a dampening effect on voter turnout. We don’t want that.”

Kristin Crawford, Brubaker’s chief of staff, said PennDOT explained Friday that Amish who have had a nonphoto ID for years don’t need to fill out multiple forms and questions simply to renew it; that will only apply to first-time applicants.

When that was explained to a member of the Old Order Steering Committee, Crawford said that seemed to satisfy some of the Amish’s concerns.

Erik Arneson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, agrees with the voter ID law. But Arneson said it does seem appropriate to take a fresh look at the process involved in getting a nonphoto IDs “to see if that level of scrutiny is truly necessary.”

Folmer said he was assured that his concerns about people with religious objections to having their photo taken had been addressed. Looking over the PennDOT affidavit, he said he now thinks otherwise.

A devout Presbyterian, he said he would have problems answering some of the questions on that form without doing research.

“The Amish were pretty lackadaisical about voting when they started seeing their farming capabilities and the way they farm being encroached. They decided to get a little more active, as did the Mennonite community,” Folmer said. “I don’t want to hurt that, and I would have voted ‘no’ on voter ID if I hadn’t been told that they had taken care of that.”

Sticking close to Rick Santorum is Senators co-owner and Harrisburg-area Realtor Greg Rothman

If you catch Rick Santorum campaigning in the Keystone State this month, you are sure to see the wide toothy grin of Greg Rothman nearby.

Rothman, an area Realtor and part owner of the Harrisburg Senators, has put his life on hold to be Santorum’s ever-present campaign right hand.
In August, Rothman hosted a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser at the West Shore Country Club for his longtime friend and the former U.S. senator. Since then, he’s done everything from stuff envelopes, charge Santorum’s mobile phone and take out office garbage.
He was with Santorum last month for the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference. He joined Santorum as he stumped through Florida. And he was with him two weeks ago when Santorum bowled a turkey — three strikes in a row — at a Wisconsin bowling alley.

The percentage of likely Republican voters in Pennsylvania who say it’s better for the GOP if Rick Santorum remains in the race. Source: Quinnipiac University poll

THE RACE FOR SENATE

The race among Republicans hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., had been drowsily polite until Wednesday, when two of the five candidates confronted their past dalliances with the Democratic Party.

The campaign woke up when retired Armstrong County coal executive Tom Smith began running television ads and shot to the front of the five-person field.

The late-March Franklin & Marshall College poll had Smith drawing 9 percent support, and former state Rep. Sam Rohrer, R-Berks County, came next with 7 percent.

Chester County entrepreneur Steve Welch went on the offensive at Wednesday’s debate in Philadelphia. Welch, the endorsed Republican candidate, criticized Smith for spending decades as a Democrat before switching parties within the last two years. Welch himself switched parties in 2005 and returned to the GOP in 2009.

Welch is tied for third in the Franklin & Marshall poll. Welch, Harrisburg attorney Marc Scaringi and decorated Vietnam Veteran David Christian each drew 1 percent in the poll.

Some 81 percent of the likely GOP voters were undecided.

THE WORD

“We have a president who I think is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps.” — Mitt Romney at a campaign stop in Harrisburg last week. Romney spent four years at Harvard; President Obama spent three years there.

THE HOT RACE

Dauphin County’s headline race is quite likely the one to succeed state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola.

Three candidates are vying for the Republican nomination: establishment choice John McNally, an attorney and former chairman of the Dauphin County Republican Committee, Harrisburg businessman Josh First; and Lower Paxton Township Supervisor Bill Seeds.

Democrats have a contested primary, too, pitting Rob Teplitz, chief counsel for the state Auditor General’s office, against Alvin Q. Taylor, a pastor and businessman.

Piccola, who has represented nearly all of Dauphin County in the 15th District since 1995, opted not to seek re-election.

When La’Keisha Sutton left Trenton Catholic Academy, everyone knew she was capable of playing at the Division-I level.

After arriving at South Carolina four years ago, Sutton showed everyone she could excel at the highest level the game has to offer. she was instrumental in leading the Gamecocks to the Sweet 16 this season.

“I’m so blessed to have come so far,” said Sutton. “It all has been so much fun and I always wanted to make the best of it.”

Sutton averaged 10.6 points a game and had 18 in the Sweet 16 game, wHICH saw the Gamecocks fall to Stanford, 76-60.

“I can’t really put it all into words,” said Sutton, “But it’s not bad for a little guard from Trenton to be one of the best in the SEC.”

When she arrived at TCA, Sutton was a part of building a legacy in girls basketball. now she has done the same at South Carolina, leading it to the Sweet 16.

It is a legacy Sutton has earned, and one she can carry with pride.

DeBonis Does It Again, Kowalski Triples and Koontz Hurls.

According to a Franklin and Marshall College poll released Wednesday, the former Pennsylvania senator now leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by only two percentage points in the state. He led Romney by nearly 30 points in a Franklin and Marshall poll released in mid-February.Rick Santorum’s home state advantage may be disappearing.

Santorum has 30 percent support, and Romney has 28 percent in the latest poll. Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 9 percent, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich rounds out the field with 6 percent. Santorum leads Romney, 37-25, among conservative voters. Romney leads by 21 points among moderate voters, however. Santorum leads among female voters, 32-24, while Romney leads among male voters, 33-29. Those with a household income of less than $35,000 overwhelmingly favor Santorum, while those with an income of over $75,000 prefer Romney by 10 points.

The poll comes on the heels of big wins by Romney in Illinois and Santorum in Louisiana last week. Despite calls from several Republican leaders for the party to begin to coalesce around Romney and prepare for the general election, Santorum insists he is in the race for the long haul. On Monday, he went to the Supreme Court, where justices were hearing oral arguments on President Obama’s health care law, to slam his rival on the issue.

Santorum has turned his attention to Wisconsin, which votes next Tuesday. A Marquette University poll released this week shows Romney leading him there by eight points. The calendar is generally favorable to Romney in the coming month, with the race shifting away from the South and Midwest, where Santorum is stronger, to the mid-Atlantic states and Northeast.

As a result, Pennsylvania will take on outsized importance for Santorum, who represented the Keystone State in the U.S. Senate for 12 years before losing by 18 points in 2006 to Bob Casey Jr.