Low-Key Democrat Leads High-Stakes Senate Race

Casey's eldest son, Bob, followed in his footsteps, graduating from the College of the Holy Cross and obtaining a law degree from Catholic University before entering politics and winning his first of two terms as state auditor general in 1996. Casey ran for governor in 2002 but lost to Rendell in the Democratic primary. In 2004, he ran against a little-known opponent and won the post of state treasurer with 3.3 million votes -- more votes than any other candidate for a statewide office in Pennsylvania history.

Being treasurer, Casey recalled recently, was the perfect reflection of why he got into politics -- not because of personal ambition, he said, but because of his notion of public service. Since his childhood in Scranton, he said, that's what his father and mother emphasized. "I don't remember my parents ever giving us a noblesse oblige speech," he said. Rather, he learned through everyday examples, especially from his father.

As a state official, Casey proved to be a traditional Democrat on most issues, but, like his father, he was an ardent foe of abortion.

So when the party that had kept his father from speaking in 1992 began courting him in late 2004 to run against Santorum, he had a conversation with one of his brothers.

"Isn't this interesting?" is the way that conversation went, Chris Casey said. "Isn't this ironic?"

Casey's sister Margi McGrath commented on why the national party sought out her brother: "It's not because they love him. He's not their tailor-made candidate."

Yet within days of his election as state treasurer, the Democrats were contacting him about running against Santorum.

Santorum, a former House member, first won election to the Senate in 1994 with 1.7 million votes, which was just under 50 percent of the popular vote. He was reelected in 2000 with 2.4 million votes, or 53 percent, and he became a prominent and polarizing conservative figure in the Senate.

Whatever the reason for the courtship, Casey didn't say yes immediately.

"He was agonizing about it," said McGrath.

Casey recounted a conversation with his wife: " 'You've got to think about this,' " he said she told him. "And I said, 'I'm going to think about it, very seriously.' And she said, 'But you've got to really think about this,' and these weren't her words, but basically she was saying, 'You can win this race, you can defeat him, and I'm not sure anyone else can.' And that weighed heavily on me because I knew, to be blunt about it, if I didn't run, he'd probably be reelected. And maybe easily."

For three months, Casey worked the angles, thinking about the implications of winning and of losing and his often-stated desire to become Pennsylvania's governor. He finally agreed, he said, because "you can make a tremendous contribution as a U.S. senator on issues I care about, like health care and like building an economy."