Democratic state Treasurer Bob Casey decisively defeated U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum yesterday as the veteran conservative fell victim to his own polarizing image and a war-weary electorate's tide of reaction against President Bush and Republican control of Congress.

Matt Rourke, Associated Press Senator-elect Bob Casey embraces his wife, Terese, during an election night celebration in Scranton last night. Click photo for larger image. Listen In Victory speech, beginning with an introduction by Terese Casey, followed by remarks from Bob Casey Jr. Related story Santorum supporters shed tears over election defeat

Mr. Casey, the son of the late governor, built a landslide of almost 20 percentage points with a relentless focus on the incumbent, constantly tying him to a president whose popularity in Pennsylvania had sharply eroded since the 2004 re-election in which he narrowly missed carrying the state.

Mr. Santorum complained that his opponent was trying to turn the election into a referendum on the president. But while exploiting unrest over the administration and its conduct of an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, the Democrat was equally intent on making yesterday's vote a referendum on Mr. Santorum.

Polls showing a consistent lead for Mr. Casey for more than a year led national Democrats to count on the Santorum seat as one of the six they would need to capture control of the Senate.

As the dimensions of the Casey victory became clear, his party got good news from other state races, as Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat, held onto his seat in New Jersey and Rep. Sherrod Brown ousted Republican Mike DeWine in Ohio. Former state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse defeated incumbent anti-war Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island.

But Democrats needed to pick off at least three more Republicans among competitive races in Virginia, Tennessee, Montana and Missouri to capture the majority.

In Pennsylvania, an often harsh campaign ended with healing statements from antagonists who had sparred for nearly 20 months.

	Robin Rombach, Post-Gazette Eight-year-old Sarah Maria Santorum weeps as her father, Rick Santorum, concedes the U.S. Senate race to Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr. last night. Other family members at his side include son John, far left, wife, Karen, daughter Elizabeth and son, Dan. Click photo for larger image. Listen in Concession speech by U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Lauding the Republican's words during a phone call of concession, Mr. Casey said, "Any politics going forward has to be as much about healing as debate on issues. ... I wish him and his family God's blessing tonight."

As more than 50 relatives, including his wife, mother and four daughters, applauded with the crowd of 700 in the Scranton Cultural Center ballroom, he said, "We have to chart a new course for all of America."

Repeating frequent campaign themes, he said that agenda includes providing health care for 8.3 million uninsured children, raising the minimum wage, and controlling the deficit.

He also emphasized the issue that had cast such a long shadow on races here and across the country, saying that the new Congress was obliged to press the administration to "give us a plan to stabilize Iraq and get Americans out of harm's way."

Introducing the winner, Terese Casey said "Tonight I am so proud of the strength, the stamina, the character, the commitment, the resolve and the resiliency of my husband."

Mr. Casey invoked memory of his father, the late Gov. Robert Casey.

"In so many ways tonight I am thinking of my father," he said. "His legend lives throughout this state, a legacy of public service ... and a legacy of compassion for those who don't always have a voice. Tonight, I take one step toward living up to that standard."

In a gracious concession speech a few moments earlier, Mr. Santorum said of the opponent he has regularly derided for more than a year: "I congratulate him; I mean that wholeheartedly. He ran an excellent campaign. ... He is a fine man and he'll do a fine job for Pennsylvania."

The defeated senator then coaxed a reluctant round of applause from the crowd at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Downtown Pittsburgh.

"Give him a round of applause," he said. "C'mon give it up; give him a round of applause."

A smiling Mr. Santorum, surrounded by his wife and their six children, spoke of the faith that he frequently mentioned.

"Karen and I and the kids just want to thank God for blessing us with this tremendous opportunity to serve the greatest country in the history of the world and the greatest state in the country," he said.

	Graphic: U.S. Senate: Pennsylvania, by county

He predicted that his defeat would allow him to "be a better husband and father to this wonderful family."

Elected to Congress in an improbable 1990 upset in the Pittsburgh suburbs, Mr. Santorum captured his Senate seat in the GOP's 1994 tsunami and rose to the third ranking position in the chamber's Republican caucus. As a force in national politics and a leader in the state's GOP, he became one of the most influential politicians Pennsylvania has produced in decades.

But his national ascent as pillar of the conservative wing of his party was accompanied by growing estrangement from voters who had given him a narrow victory over Sen. Harris Wofford in the Republican landslide of 1994, and a comfortable re-election victory in 2000.

Mr. Santorum had won the intense allegiance among many social and religious conservatives with his leadership in congressional fights against abortion and gay marriage. But those stands brought opposition as well, as did his prominent role in bringing congressional intervention in the Florida litigation over Terri Schiavo, and his support for conservative champions of the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to the theory of evolution.

Mr. Santorum's most prominent legislative accomplishment in his first Senate term came through his leading role in the enactment of landmark welfare reform. In his second term, however, Mr. Santorum, a career-long advocate of Social Security revisions, became wedded to the president's unsuccessful effort to introduce private accounts as part of the system.

He reinforced elements of his controversial image with the publication of his book, "It Takes a Family," a critique of aspects of American culture that he said were at war with the preservation of the family. While his targets in the outspoken book included his own party at times, it stirred intense ire for passages that seemed to question the choices of some working women.

As if that weren't enough, the Republican's re-election prospects were also hobbled by a local controversy over whether he had been entitled to use Penn Hills tax dollars to pay for his children's tuition at a cyber school they attended from a home in the Virginia suburbs of Washington.

Al Quinlan, who polled Pennsylvania for the Rendell campaign throughout the election cycle, said that his surveys showed that voters had an image of Mr. Santorum as a creature of Washington that proved a strong liability.

"He was seen as a polished professional politician to a much greater degree than a lot of us thought," Mr. Quinlan said. "He was seen as part of the political class; that was really what put him in the very, weak position."

Unlike some other Republicans, Mr. Santorum remained an unflinching supporter of Mr. Bush's policies on Iraq. In the face of increasing public resistance to the war, Mr. Santorum, in fact, often seemed more bellicose than the administration, urging a tougher line on "Islamic facism" and pointing to a "gathering storm of U.S. enemies in countries from Korea to Venezuela."

He acknowledged in last night's concession speech that the public had not been receptive to those warnings, but he pledged to continue to press his argument about national threats despite his loss.

Mr. Casey, a lawyer who started his political career winning two terms as auditor general, pursued in 2002 the inherited ambition of winning the governor's mansion. But he was soundly defeated by Gov. Ed Rendell in the Democratic primary for governor. Mr. Casey rebounded from a thumping defeat with a record victory in the 2004 race for treasurer, winning more votes than any candidate for a statewide office in Pennsylvania history.

That show of strength, coupled with his conservative stances on social issues such as abortion and gun control, led state and national Democratic leaders, including Mr. Rendell, to court him as their candidate against Mr. Santorum. From the time he entered the race, he never trailed in public opinion polls.

Mr. Santorum, who raised more than $20 million to make him the best-financed Senate candidate in state history, did all he could to turn the debate from his own record to the qualifications of Mr. Casey. He launched a vigorous television assault on the Democrat in mid-summer, and spent twice as much as his opponent during the third quarter of the year, but never dented the major gap between them.

Mr. Santorum's candidacy was one casualty of a national Democratic wave. It also represented a major turning point in Western Pennsylvania politics. Another of yesterday's victims was U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart, whose victory in a 1990 state Senate race, the same day than Mr. Santorum was elected to the House, marked the beginning of a conservative ascendance in the region's politics.

Asked if the senator would consider a run for another office, such as governor, his longtime aide, Robert Traynham said, "He's not talking about it."