Sen. Rick Santorum took a tactical risk in publishing, "It Takes a Family," his critique of liberalism and conservative prescription for healing families and communities.

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Excerpts from the 400-plus page book were immediate fodder for Democratic critics, who picked apart its questioning of families with two working parents and its observation that "radical feminism" had created an environment in which many women find more fulfillment in working outside the home than in raising children.

John Brabender, Santorum's longtime Pittsburgh-based media strategist, contends that despite the immediate controversy, the book will emerge as a political asset for the senator. Still, he acknowledged, 15 months before Santorum's crucial re-election bid, the work is "an opposition researcher's dream."

The book, whose title is a self-conscious rebuttal to Sen. Hillary Clinton's "It Takes a Village," could strengthen the GOP senator's already tight hold on his conservative base of voters. But critics and scholars noted that it also posed the risk of alienating other key constituencies, such as the traditionally Republican but socially moderate counties that surround Philadelphia.

Santorum captured those counties six years ago in winning re-election over former U.S. Rep. Ron Klink. He also ran well ahead of now-President George Bush there, home to roughly 40 percent of the state's voters.

One critical dynamic of Santorum's anticipated matchup with Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. next year is whether the anti-abortion Democrat can attract the allegiance of the moderate Republicans around Philadelphia who have increasingly been open to appeals from national Democrats.

"Why I think he's in trouble is, obviously, what's happened in this state is that you've got five counties that are clearly more liberal than the rest of the state," said Neil Oxman, the Democratic consultant who handled Gov. Ed Rendell's media in 2002, referring to Philadelphia and adjoining Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties.

"That's where Clinton won [Pennsylvania]; that's how Gore won; that's how Rendell won; that's how Kerry won."

Oxman argued that despite Santorum's relatively strong showing in the region six years ago, he is vulnerable now because his rising national profile has highlighted his conservative ideology, underscored by the new book.

"I don't know that's there's anything he can do to redefine himself or make himself acceptable here," he said.

Brabender and other Santorum partisans claim that the early criticism of "It Takes a Family" has been driven by Democrats and liberal Web bloggers, who, in his view, took passages out of context in a concerted effort to paint Santorum as an out-of touch arch-conservative.

"We knew, from Day One, that the Democrats would take small parts of this out of context and we fully understand that," Brabender said. "I will tell you that I think once people actually read this book and see he's talking about real solutions to things that families have to contend with, people will find lots of things they agree with .... Rick Santorum is critical of conservatives on some things too, and I think that's an important part of the message."

He referred to passages in which Santorum criticizes elements of his own party for not having been sufficiently concerned with offering help and solutions to poorer communities. But the usually disciplined Santorum operation failed to get out such messages in the mix of initial publicity surrounding the senator's book. Rather than putting it out with their own talking points and packaged excerpts, the Santorum forces were playing defense against an initial wave of public attention dominated by their critics.

"The [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] has sent their e-mail barrages out; it may be snippets; it may be out of context but it's out there," said Terry Madonna, a political scientist at Franklin and Marshall College who directs the Keystone poll. "How does that help him in the Philadelphia suburbs? ... The Santorum folks had better create a new image, a new way of thinking about this book."

But any effort to steer perceptions toward a compassionate conservative gloss were crowded out in late last week by renewed attention to a 2002 article by Santorum in which he linked the clergy abuse scandal in the Catholic church to what he characterized as the liberal, permissive culture of Boston. That brought a Senate floor rebuke from Sen. Edward Kennedy, along with criticism from other Massachusetts politicians and leading advocates for the victims of priest misconduct.

The exchanges led to more criticism of Santorum as a polarizing figure. Still, some Republican partisans welcomed the confrontation with such a liberal icon, calculating that it would further strengthen Santorum's bonds with conservative voters.

Santorum showed no inclination to mute the exchange Thursday in a conference call with representatives of Catholic media outlets. Brett Lieberman of the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported that Santorum told the callers, "I don't think Ted Kennedy lecturing me on the teachings of the church and how the church should handle these problems is something I'm going to take particularly seriously."

Beyond its effect on public opinion polls, the week's controversies can also be expected to affect the national fund raising that will be decisive in the 2006 race.

The book-driven issues and exchanges that might be problematic for a Republican woman in Montgomery County could be considerable advantage for Santorum with conservative contributors across the country. But that factor cuts both ways.

Pro-life Democrats, such as Casey, traditionally have been a tougher sell to national Democratic contributors, a fact that hampered Klink's 2000 challenge. But the more that Democrats can portray Santorum as a divisive ideologue, the more potential Casey will have in attracting liberal contributors who may not share all of his views but who want to beat Santorum at any cost.

Looking forward to 2008, the image of an articulate defender and definer of conservatism that "It Takes Family" is calculated to create could be an early asset in the wide open GOP presidential race. Santorum has repeatedly dismissed talk of presidential ambitions, but his name has been a fixture in speculation about the contest for the 2008 Republican nomination -- a process in which Christian conservatives have a disproportionately influential voice, particularly in key states such as Iowa.

"I don't think it's going to work, but the only way this book makes sense is appealing to the conservative base," said Oxman, the Democratic consultant

"In 2000, Santorum moderated himself against Klink; he's not going to be able to do that again. He's too well known. What I think is going on is that in a normal [non-presidential] year, something like 3.5 million people come out to vote. I think he thinks he can drive that up toward 4 million and everyone extra will be from his base."

Madonna said Santorum would be better advised to emphasize the appeal to voters across the board that he followed six years ago. "He has got to stop being the senator from the cultural right and be the senator from Pennsylvania," he said.

Brabender rebuts the notion of political calculation.

"This book was not written for political strategic reasons," he insisted. "The thing that I think is interesting is that you have a sitting senator who is willing to put out there the things he believes, who's willing to put out what some would call an opposition researchers's dream. I think there are a lot of people who will see this as refreshing, who say, 'Well, I may not agree with every single issue but I appreciate someone who is willing to say what he believes.' "