We were surprised when Deirdre began her questioning of Rick with the following question, "Why did your Communications Director call me asking me if I would write an op-ed piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer, quote, praising your work on the CAA bill?"

Rick answers that he has found it very hard to get the Pennsylvania media to cover his hard work on the bill and says that Deirdre deserves a great deal of credit for her hard work. Deirdre responds by saying she doesn't want credit, she just wanted the bill passed and she hopes Rick isn't looking for her to write an op-ed as a quid pro quo.

Imus later chimed in to say he told Deirdre not to write the op-ed because, "all Senator Santorum is doing, is doing what we're paying him to do."

Here's the video:

Click image to watch clip

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's bus tour got off to a bumpy start this morning. Santorum's campaign RV, which features pictures of him and his family, was pulled off the road
after blowing a tire around 11:25 a.m.

The campaign was en route from Armstrong County to Jefferson County on U.S. Route 422 when a loud bang was heard. "I didn't know if somebody was shooting at us," said Santorum, who had just spoken at a fire company in Kittanning.

The RV was left by the roadside for repairs as Santorum and staff rode in cars to the next event.

Worse, senators sometimes share their moving sanctums with staff members, lobbyists and T-shirt-clad tourists who apparently missed (or ignored or cannot read) the senators-only signs.

Or, double-worse, with reporters.

“No, no, no, c’mon, c’mon,” Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania complained recently as about 10 reporters trailed his colleague Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York onto a senators-only elevator.

Standing outside the elevator, Mr. Santorum complained that “some of the rest of us” need to get on board, too. (He eventually squeezed in.)