Trying to bridge red-blue gap in Pa.

Democrats thrive around Pittsburgh, in the Southeast, but the GOP dominates almost everywhere else.

The talk began almost immediately after Election Day: Run Democrat Bob Casey Jr. for U.S. Senate in 2006.

Casey had just won the state treasurer's job by receiving more votes than any other candidate in Pennsylvania history and sweeping socially conservative counties increasingly unkind to Democrats. Party operatives quickly saw a match in pitting Casey, an abortion and gun-control opponent, against Republican Sen. Rick Santorum.

That unexpected shift to Casey, who suffered a bruising primary defeat for governor just two years ago, stemmed not only from the size of his Nov. 2 victory, but also its scope. It illustrated that, not unlike the national party, state Democrats are chasing ways to bridge Pennsylvania's own red-blue schism.

Even though the state went to Democrat John Kerry in the presidential race, some see the party as growing marginalized - flourishing in the Southeast and the Pittsburgh area, but losing almost everywhere else to Republicans.

"Pennsylvania has 67 counties. We need a strategy for every one of those counties," said Teri Simon, a member of the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion and Narberth, who organized an event this month titled "Learning to Speak Purple in a Red Nation."

Attention has turned to Democrats such as Casey because he defied the trend. He won 32 out of 47 Republican counties and, to some, embodied the type of candidate the party should more readily embrace.

National Democrats, who are hungry to defeat Santorum, have taken notice.

Casey received a call Wednesday from New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who encouraged him to run. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada did the same two weeks ago.

Casey, 44, said he is "open to any suggestion" but remains focused on finishing his second term as state auditor general and being sworn in next month as treasurer. His goal is to be governor someday, but he appears to be taking the Senate idea seriously, discussing a bid with supporters and family.

While deciding how to spend his political capital, Casey has begun talking bluntly about the health of his party and the need, as he sees it, to appeal beyond the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas...

Kerry carried 13 counties in Pennsylvania, down from 27 for the party's nominee in 1992. Bush won seven of 12 Western counties where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans.

"For the Democratic Party," Casey said, "that is unacceptable."

State Rep. T.J. Rooney, Pennsylvania's Democratic chairman, concedes that there is a "glaring need" to focus on the southwest. Yet in the last two years, he said, Democrats won three of four state judgeships and two of three row offices.

"We are far away from being broken," said Rooney, a Northampton legislator also mentioned as a Senate contender.

But to some in the once-reliably Democratic west, the party seems painfully distant.

"People would rather be fired, have their homes taken and kids sold into slavery than miss the first day of hunting season," said Richard Yeager, chair of the Greene County GOP. "The Democratic Party doesn't represent them anymore. And they are mad about it. In this past election, it was never clearer."

Like Greene County, Lawrence County went Republican for president for the first time since 1972, a shift that local Democrats attributed to the GOP's success at portraying the Democratic Party as pro-abortion and spiritually devoid. Casey won almost the entire western half of the state.

"The party has to really discuss how it is being depicted," said Peter Vessella, head of the Lawrence County Democrats.

Simon, the Lower Merion Democrat, and Philadelphia ward leader Terry Gillen initiated the discussion this month. More than 160 people turned out at St. Joseph's University to get tips on reaching red America from the Rev. Tony Campolo, an evangelical minister and adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

Now, Simon suggests that Democrats weave more religious overtones into the message. Maybe soften the party's abortion position, to return attention to health care and the economy. Embrace candidates such as Casey, whose Scranton ties and family name feel comfortable to voters, Simon said.

"He is one of them, and we need to learn to be one of them," she said.

Simon isn't alone. Kerry reportedly urged Democrats in a postelection meeting to welcome more antiabortion candidates, upsetting activists such as Kate Michelman, a past president of NARAL Pro-Choice America and former executive director of Harrisburg's Planned Parenthood.

"We need to be terribly careful and stand on our principles," Michelman said. "Do we see this election as a message that we have to run a Bob Casey who holds these anti-choice views? It is not necessarily the only prescription."

Rooney questioned whether the socially moderate Southeast would deliver votes and money for an abortion foe. The only exception might be Casey, he said. Still, Rooney is skeptical.

"We ran someone like Santorum last time, and we didn't do so well," Rooney said of the 2000 nominee, Democrat Ron Klink. "I think you have to be different than Rick Santorum."

Such a comparison makes Casey cringe. The similarities pretty much end with abortion and guns, he said.

For others, Casey has been hard to resist.

"It is about opening up the party," said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia public-affairs consultant. "It sends a good message to the voters of Pennsylvania and nationally."

The high-level courting is a turnaround from 12 years ago, when the party rebuffed his father, the former Gov. Robert Casey, over a request to speak against abortion at the Democratic National Convention.

The campaign would still be difficult, certainly more so than the treasurer's race against Republican Jean Craige Pepper. Santorum, 46, has already raised $3 million. And other Democrats are lining up to run.

Party leaders say that because Santorum could be hard to beat, they hope to avoid a Democratic primary and settle on a candidate early.

At this point, Casey appears more comfortable discussing anything other than the Senate, given that he has yet to begin his job as treasurer.

But when pressed, he revealed some apprehension. His family has endured five campaigns in eight years, he said. Asked whether that means he does not want to jump back in, Casey dropped his head.

"It means that any political decision is freighted with a lot of considerations," he said.

By Carrie Budoff, Inquirer Staff Writer