The Washington Times offers a downbeat look at Rick Santorum's battle for reelection. Charles Hurt runs down a list of problems plaguing Santorum's campaign, most notably the lingering bitterness among conservatives over Santorum's decision to support moderate Arlen Specter over conservative Pat Toomey in 2004:

"I still feel the knife in my back from that," Mr. Clift said. "We worked very hard for Pat Toomey. All [Mr. Santorum] had to do was keep his mouth shut, and we'd all be fat, dumb and happy supporting him right now. I won't lift a finger to help him."

In addition, he said, "I'm not pulling the Santorum lever this time. I'll write my own name in before I'll vote for him."

Although many conservatives told The Washington Times that they will not campaign for Mr. Santorum as actively as they would have otherwise, they'll still vote for him.

"There is no enthusiasm," said Tim Krieger, a lawyer in Westmoreland. "If you press Republicans, they say, 'Yeah, Santorum is better than Casey,' but they're not going to spend their Saturdays knocking on doors."

This race has narrowed considerably in the recent weeks. The Santorum campaign feels they'll be able to make up even more ground in the debates, and they've been pressing hard to get the two men on stage as many times as possible between now and November. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports today that Casey has agreed to four debates with Santorum, including a nationally televised match up on Meet the Press on September 3.

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