IT'S NOT SMOOTH SAILING for Republican Sen. Rick Santorum this year as he seeks another term. His Democratic opponent is state Treasurer Bob Casey, popular in his own right and the son of a much-admired governor of Pennsylvania. So what's a politician do when he finds himself all at sea and fighting difficult political winds? Why, he tacks, sometimes to port, sometimes to starboard, and this is what Sen. Santorum has been doing -- each wave of news finds him adjusting his sails. Before Christmas, a spectacular course adjustment came when Sen. Santorum, previously a supporter of the concept of intelligent design, withdrew his affiliation with the Thomas More Law Center, which unsuccessfully defended the Dover Area School District's policy of including intelligent design in science classes touching upon evolution. A federal judge ruled that the policy was motived by religious belief -- a statement of the obvious that shocked Sen. Santorum into severing his link with the group.

BUT WAIT! Wouldn't seeming to change his mind about intelligent design (even if he does not admit this) make him less popular with some of his right-wing evangelical supporters? Could be, but those folks can rest easy, because the bow of the good ship Santorum is sure to swing around again. This morning the senator will speak at a rally organized by conservative Christians at a Baptist church in Philadelphia to support the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the right quarters, Sen. Santorum will score some brownie points by appearing at Justice Sunday III with warriors of the culture wars such as the Rev. Jerry Falwell and James Dobson of Focus on the Family.

IS THERE ANYTHING for moderates here? Sure, with just a quick turn of the wheel, Sen. Santorum charts a course of reasonableness for a real war, the one in Iraq. Aside from a few quibbles, Sen. Santorum has been firmly behind the Bush administration's policies on the war. But with the American public becoming war-weary, Sen. Santorum has now sent a letter to the president asking him to create an independent, nonpartisan commission to make a judgment on progress in military and civil operations in Iraq. While Sen. Santorum believes the good stories in Iraq aren't being told by the media, his idea is a fine one. But it is also another example of him throwing up enough spray with his various tacks so that a voter looking through a telescope could see one boat through the left eye and a different one through the right. It's enough to make some people seasick.