The AP's Kimberly Hefling passes on an extremely troubling piece of news out of Capitol Hill regarding the junior Senator from Pennsylvania. She writes,

Two days before Sen. Rick Santorum introduced a bill that critics say would restrict the National Weather Service, his political action committee received a $2,000 donation from the chief executive of AccuWeather Inc., a leading provider of weather data.

The disclosure has renewed criticism of the measure, which Santorum, R-Pa., maintains would allow the weather service to better focus on its core mission of getting threatening weather info out in a "timely and speedy basis."

Opponents say the bill would endanger the public by preventing the dissemination of certain weather data, and force taxpayers to pay for the data twice. The bill would prevent the weather service from competing for certain services offered by the private sector.

This news cannot help Santorum, who is engaged in a pitched battle for his political life. Futher, it doesn't come at a particularly good time for the Republican Party as it tries to shrug off charges of hubris and corruption. Lastly, it doesn't help AccuWeather, as buying influence -- or even the perception of an attempt to do so -- is not generally regarded as acceptable business practice in this country (at least when it's publicized).

With Congress in recess, this will be a tough period for Santorum. Coming home to Pennsylvania -- where a large proportion of his constituents are elderly -- his views on partial privatization are highly unliked. What's more, his failure to protect military bases in the state has not endeared him to many voters. Now, with this scandal hanging over his head, I'd be surprised to see if he didn't just try and lay low for a while. If he does stay out of the limelight, though, his Democratic challenger Bob Casey will have that much more of an opportunity to hammer him in the press. It's a tough time to be in the Republican Congressional leadership...