U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum delivered a scathing indictment of liberal policies yesterday, winning a long ovation, and a large donation, from members of the Republican National Committee.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at a Republican National Committee luncheon yesterday at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown. Click photo for larger image.

Santorum, who faces what is expected to be a hard fought re-election battle next year, was the featured speaker at the summer meeting of the RNC at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown. The group's annual session opened Thursday and concludes today.

Ken Mehlman, RNC chairman, and former campaign manager for the Bush-Cheney re-election effort, noted that the Pennsylvania contest helped draw the Republican gathering.

"One of the reasons we held this meeting [in Pittsburgh] is because of Senator Santorum," he said. "We, at the national committee, intend to be very, very helpful in providing resources and sharing ideas and doing whatever we can do."

Emphasizing the national character of the race, David Norcross, the GOP national committeeman from New Jersey and the new chairman of its rules committee, called it the "grudge match for Daschle-Thune."

He referred to last year's Senate race in South Dakota, in which political attention, operatives and cash from across the country focused on John Thune's successful challenge to former Sen. Thomas Daschle, then Democratic leader of the Senate.

In his luncheon speech, Santorum delivered what amounted to a Cliffs Notes version of several chapters of his new book, "It Takes A Family."

To the cheers of the partisan crowd, he denounced what he characterized as the debilitating effects of liberal social programs. At the same time, he argued that Republicans had sometimes been remiss in providing alternatives to those programs.

Speaking of his early years in Congress, the two-term senator said, "The thing that frustrated me the most, to be very honest with you, is that Republicans from the time of the Great Society and for many years afterward, simply accepted the solutions that the left put forward. They just wanted to spend less money on them."

"Liberalism is a failure," Santorum argued. "It doesn't work ... it, in fact, destroys."

Assessing the effect of Democratic policies on families and communities, the Republican contended: "As well-intentioned as it was, and I give them credit for being well-intentioned, it was destructive."

Following his remarks in the William Penn's Urban Room, Jo Ann Davidson, the RNC's vice chairwoman, pledged the group's financial support for his re-election campaign.

"We're making a down payment of $75,000 because we believe in you, senator," she said.

Santorum, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, is expected to face Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. on next year's ballot. Casey has the united support of the state's senior Democratic leadership, although he faces at least two primary opponents -- Chuck Pennacchio, a Philadelphia college professor, and Alan Sandals, a Philadelphia lawyer.