G. Terry Madonna laughed Monday when he heard an Internet search of his name and the term "Democratic hack" produced 76 hits.

That's because the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, other media outlets and political blogs all are reporting on Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum's description of the Franklin & Marshall College pollster.

On "Fox News Sunday," Santorum described Madonna as a "Democratic hack" who "has probably singularly gotten more polls wrong than any person I know in the history of the state."

Madonna's most recent polls, produced last week in conjunction with Lancaster Newspapers and other Pennsylvania media outlets, showed Santorum's lead in Pennsylvania was shrinking and that he would win only narrowly in his home state if the election were held now.

Cue the fireworks.

Santorum scoffed at the poll results Sunday, saying that other polls show him up 20 points and 17 points.

"This is a pollster who just — I think he just draws numbers out of a hat sometimes," Santorum said of Madonna.

Not so fast, said Madonna, who has known Santorum since the 1980s and has written and polled about him since then.

Madonna said the polls he's conducted at F&M and at Millersville University correctly predicted the outcome of other Santorum races, showing him winning in 1994 and 2000, and losing in 2006 to Sen. Bob Casey Jr.

Madonna said his polls also correctly predicted the wins of other GOP candidates in Pennsylvania.

Santorum's campaign did not immediately return a request for follow-up comments on the issue.

Madonna said candidates often don't like the results of a poll, but usually will attack the poll's methodology, not the pollster himself.

"I was surprised it was personal," he said, wondering if the trigger could have been Madonna's recent comments in the press about Santorum.

In interviews last month, Madonna commented on Santorum's increasingly testy personality, saying Santorum was "visceral, emotional, provocative. It's who he is."

"Most of us who followed his career were just stunned at how, for seven or eight months, he was remarkably disciplined," Madonna told the Washington Post.

Madonna also told the Pittsburgh-Tribune Review: "The real Rick Santorum has emerged."

"I was telling the truth," Madonna said Monday.

The resulting dust-up has drawn national attention to Madonna, and, to be sure, that's not always bad news for someone who is looked to as a political guru and is regularly quoted by reporters all over the country.

But Madonna does not like the allegations implying he has a political agenda.

He said F&M's Center for Opinion Research uses scientific polling methods. Madonna also said he does not poll for particular parties or candidates, and doesn't contribute to candidates or reveal how he votes.

To avoid even the appearance of any political conflicts, he said he no longer speaks to Democratic or Republican party organizations.

"I do what I do, and I try to do it as fairly as I can," he said. "I'm a columnist. I'm a commentator. I'm entitled to my views, and I will continue to express them.

"It does not mean I'm in the tank for one party or another. It does not mean I support any party's candidates."

cstauffer@lnpnews.com