Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) is embroiled in what many see as the most difficult race for any incumbent Senator in the country these days, but today's news from The Philadelphia Enquirer's Carrie Budoff isn't likely to help out his campaign.

Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's office acknowledged yesterday that it cannot locate public statements of the senator questioning the Iraq war, despite the senator's claim last week that he has publicly expressed his concerns.

But Santorum said that doesn't mean he hasn't made the comments.

In an interview last week, he said he had publicly and privately raised questions about efforts to contain the insurgency and to limit Baathist involvement in the new Iraqi government. He made his remarks in response to a charge by his leading Democratic challenger, Robert P. Casey Jr., that Santorum has failed to "ask the tough questions" about Iraq.

In related news, Financial Times' team of Peter Spiegel and Demetri Sevastopulo report that the United States might just be preparing to begin the withdrawal of troops from Iraq sooner than you might have expected.

The US is expected to pull significant numbers of troops out of Iraq in the next 12 months in spite of the continuing violence, according to the general responsible for near-term planning in the country.

Maj Gen Douglas Lute, director of operations at US Central Command, yesterday said the reductions were part of a push by Gen John Abizaid, commander of all US troops in the region, to put the burden of defending Iraq on Iraqi forces.

He denied the withdrawal was motivated by political pressure from Washington.

He said: “We believe at some point, in order to break this dependence on the . . . coalition, you simply have to back off and let the Iraqis step forward.

“You have to undercut the perception of occupation in Iraq. It's very difficult to do that when you have 150,000-plus, largely western, foreign troops occupying the country.”

And lastly, Salt Lake City's mayor is asking for an apology from his state's senior Senator for calling the thousands of anti-war protesters in the area "nutcakes." The Deseret Morning News' Brady Snyder reports.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson wants an apology from Utah's senior senator after Orrin Hatch said Monday that anti-President Bush protesters, led by Anderson, were "nutcakes."

The call for an "I'm sorry" was rebuffed by Hatch's office Wednesday, with the senator saying it was the mayor who should be contrite.

Anderson told the Deseret Morning News Tuesday that Hatch should apologize, ticking off a list of influential anti-Bush protesters who were "among the people that Orrin Hatch referred to as nutcakes."

The leader of one of Salt Lake City's largest Jewish congregations was there, as was a representative of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. Also, Anderson noted, several mothers, whose sons had lost their lives in Iraq, were in attendance. There were lawyers, architects and even several veterans, including one who wore his green beret.

"This was a very broad range of great people who came out with heart-felt concern about the direction which our nation has been taking," Anderson said. "I don't think calling people names, especially by a United States senator, has any place in civil dialogue."

Hatch's response: "If any apology must be given, it should come from Mayor Anderson to the president and Mrs. Bush."