ISO candidate

While he doesn’t yet know who they will be, Republican Chairman Rob Gleason said Thursday that he is confident that GOP candidates will defeat President Obama and Sen. Bob Casey  next year.

“When the president goes down, Bob Casey is going to go down,’’ Mr. Gleason told reporters in a conference call yesterday.

But according to the political adage, you can’t beat somebody with nobody, and Mr. Gleason acknowledged that with less than a year to go before the primary, his party has yet to unite behind any specific challenger to the Scranton Democrat.

“I’m talking to people on a regular basis about being candidate,’’

Mr. Gleason said.  “People are careful and cautious … this could be a $25 to $30 million dollar race’’

We have many people considering it,’’ he added.  “Our polls show that Sen. Casey is very vulnerable.’’

Still, as the P-G’s Dan Malloy noted in an ER post earlier this week, the GOP has yet to produce a top-tier candidate for the race.  State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Neverheardofhim, was the biggest name floated for the race so far until he ruled himself out last week.  Mark Scaringi, a former staffer for the man Casey beat, Rick Santorum, has said he’s in the contest.  Laureen Cummings, a Moosic Tea Party activist is also reportedly interested.

But Mr. Gleason takes comfort in the GOP sweep of 2010 and sees those results as omens of the future.

“What’s really different is that last year we had more takeaways than any of the 50 states,’’ he said, referring to Republican successes in last years Senate and congressional contests.  “There’s clearly a Republican trend in Pennsylvania … the reason I'm confident about wining is that the president’s polls are miserable in Pa.  I think we are poised to win whoever our nominee is.’’