Rick Santorum for governor?

I've seen this Pittsburgh Tribune Review story pop up on both Carpetbagger Report and Shakesville. From The Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

Say it slowly: Gov. Rick Santorum.

Interesting concept, isn't it?

The former Pennsylvania GOP senator, trounced in his re-election bid last year by seldom-seen Democrat Bob Casey Jr., apparently has grown weary of beating the drums about the ongoing terrorist threat as a senior fellow with the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center.

The American Spectator reported last week that Santorum is seriously mulling a run for governor in 2010, when the race will be wide open. Term limits will force current Gov. Ed Rendell from seeking a third term.

Said one unnamed political adviser in The Spectator item: "Rick is a politician. He loves the competition and the process of running. He's getting back in and he's young enough that a gubernatorial run would set him up for greater opportunities politically down the road."

Of course, a Santorum gubernatorial bid is dependent on the Virginia resident being agreeable to actually living in Pennsylvania again. When he was a senator, you may recall, he found that idea abhorrent.

I guess you just can't keep a good right-wing ideologue down. Will Santorum run? I can't say. If Santorum wants to become governor, he is going to have to live in Pennsylvania if he wants to avoid the residency controversy that plagued his Senate reelection campaign in 2006. But Rick Santorum is a politician. He may be hoping that in 2010, the American public will forget about the controversies surrounding Santorum. In other words, Santorum runs for the Pennsylvania governorship with a clean political slate.

I guess in 2010, we'll have Rick Santorum to kick around.