As U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) flip-flops to call for an increase in the federal debt limit, he is conspicuously not demanding a vote on the matter be tied to deficit reductions – putting him to the left of many of his liberal Democrat Senate colleagues.

As Politico reports this morning, “[Senator Sherrod] Brown sounded open to backing a ‘clean’ debt limit increase, as did fellow in-cycle Democrats Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Ben Cardin of Maryland — but some of their fellow in-cycle Democrats do not, exemplifying the growing divide within their party.”

Casey’s failure to tie a vote on raising the debt limit to a serious deficit reduction plan puts him to the left of some of his most liberal Democrat Senate colleagues. As Politico also notes today:

“Now it’s time to have that vote tied in with getting some progress on the long-term debt for the country,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who initially held out her vote in 2010 to increase the debt ceiling until Obama agreed to create a bipartisan fiscal commission. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who faces voters next year, has raised similar concerns. And a number of others who have voted in 2010 for a debt ceiling hike – including Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) – declined to directly say Tuesday if they’ll back the White House on a clean vote this time around.

Notably, Casey’s current demands for a debt ceiling increase stand in stark contrast to his 2006 campaign rhetoric. As Politico’s Jon Allen notes in The Huddle this morning: Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) sounds amenable to pushing for a “clean” debt ceiling vote, even though he’s up for re-election in 2012. That’s not the tune he was singing in 2006, when he hammered then-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) over debt-ceiling hikes in a “Meet the Press” debate. “I’m for fiscal responsibility,” Casey said as he turned toward his foe. “Hey, Rick, there’s only one guy sitting at this table running for the Senate who voted for those record deficits and voted to raise the debt number more in a couple of years than every president from George Washington to Bill Clinton. You’ve got a lot of explaining to do. I’m the one who has been fiscally responsible in my work. You ought to try it.” Expect to see that tape again. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/PennsylvaniaSenateDeb/start/2101/stop/2131

“Not only has Senator Casey flip-flopped to demand raising the debt ceiling, he’s standing to the left of some of the most liberal Democrats in Washington by failing to demand a serious plan for reducing our deficit before casting that vote,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond. “Once again, Casey’s hypocritical behavior doesn’t match his campaign rhetoric, and he’s jumping right on board with President Obama’s reckless spending agenda.”