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"I couldn't live with myself," he says about his refusal to stop talking of what he sees as the dangers that lie ahead.

Neither could Winston Churchill in the 1930s as he watched the ominous rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. For almost a decade Churchill poured out speeches, articles, and letters warning again and again of the disaster that lay ahead if the British people did not act to defeat Hitler before it was too late. It is striking to go back and see the extent to which Churchill quite willingly put his own career on the line to warn his fellow Englishmen of what was coming, only to be pilloried for his efforts. Yet no one listened, the predicted devastation coming to Britain and to the rest of the world as well. "The Unnecessary War" Churchill called it years later, painfully recalling the unwillingness of millions to listen to his repeated alarms. In America, over 400,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen died, including over 10,000 dead, missing and wounded from Santorum's Pennsylvania.

As Santorum and his tired family leave to climb back into a small motorcade of supporters taking him to his next stop, the current total of Islamic terror attacks around the world since 9/11 stands at 17. Hundreds have been killed in violent attacks that have spread outward from Pennsylvania itself (the downing of United 93), New York and Washington to a list that includes but is certainly not limited to London, Madrid, Casablanca, Istanbul, Amman, Bali, Moscow and Cairo.

The next day a poll shows Santorum has drawn within four points of his opponent. It comes as Casey not only reaffirms his support for Senator John Kerry after Kerry's much ballyhooed "botched joke" about the lack of smarts of American soldiers. Casey has gone the extra-step to show his contempt for Santorum's views by bringing in anti-war San Francisco Representative and Speaker of the House-hopeful Nancy Pelosi to campaign for him.

WILL SANTORUM, FAMOUS FOR BEING a good closer, really win? No one knows, while the skeptics abound. Certainly it is safe to say it doesn't look good.

But there is one thing that has been established without doubt.

At the very real risk of losing his Senate seat Rick Santorum has made his stand. He has made it with heart and with incredible political courage. The irony, however unintended, is not unlike Abraham Lincoln's tenacious refusal to back away from his anti-slavery stance in his famous losing 1858 Senate race against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. (Although Casey is certainly no Stephen Douglas.)

Whether Rick Santorum's race ends in a win, a loss or an unlikely draw, his conduct in this election will ensure him of a leading role in national politics for years to come. In the spirit of Browning's line from "The Patriot," the Pennsylvania Senator has left nothing undone in his fight to awaken Americans to the danger he sees ahead. Churchill-like, he refuses to yield.

Whatever else his immediate audience thinks as they walk out into the darkness gathering over Carlisle, they know with certainty they have just seen that rarity in American politics.

Leadership.

topics:
Nancy Pelosi, Television, Islam, Military, Iraq, Iran, NATO, North Korea, Fascism