The Bob Casey, Jr. era began yesterday for Pennsylvanians. Of all the Democrats elected to the Senate this year, Casey seemed to me by far to be the least impressive. In addition to being positively soporific, Casey ran a campaign that had all the same attributes as a Seinfeld episode: it was a show about "nothing." The best thing one can say about Casey is that he was disciplined enough to stay out of sight long enough to let voters to toss Rick Santorum out of office.

If you remember his nationally televised debate on Meet the Press, Casey's strategy seemed to be born to a large degree out of necessity. He struggled to put two coherent thoughts together and didn't seem to have much of a command over any issue beyond boilerplate talking points. In particular, his response to Tim Russert's question of what to do about Social Security was striking for its complete vacuity.

A week or so after the election I was doing a wrap up show on the radio and the host asked me to name someone who lost in November that I'd miss seeing in Congress. The first person who came to mind was Rick Santorum - not because I'm necessarily the biggest fan of his, but because he was a passionate and eloquent defender of many of his party's values. The Senate needs more people like Santorum, not less, and in my opinion the chamber will be a less interesting place without him in the same way I think the Senate (and the public debate in general) misses the fiery passion of a character like Paul Wellstone.

That's not to say we need 100 firebrands in the Senate. It takes all types. Perhaps Casey will turn out to be a decent Senator in his own bland, low-wattage way - though I doubt that's where the smart money is. We'll have to watch him over time and see how he does - assuming that when he's on C-Span we can stay awake long enough to form an opinion.