AT vs. loose chipleader

Here's the situation: the chipleader is a calling station who's made some lucky catches to take a big lead. He's called pre-flop raises with 52s and usually min bets when he catches a piece of the flop, even if it's just bottom pair. The 2nd stack is a solid player who has proven quite adept at taking advantage of the chipleader's loose calls to increase his stack size. I think he'll be willing to let me steal his big blinds, but with the chipleader limping or minraising most hands pre-flop, my stealing opportunities are slimmer than I'd like.

Here's the hand, apologies for the unattractive presentation.

$22 STT on Party, blinds 50/100, 3 hands to go until 100/200.

Villain (5395) Posts 50
Hero (1710) Posts 100
Button (1895) Folds
Hero has AT
Villain Raises to 200
Hero Re-Raises to 600
Villain Calls
Flop 246 rainbow
Villain Bets 1200
Hero Calls 1110 All-In
Villain shows 77

I don't like my call on the flop here. At the time I interpreted the large bet from a guy who usually min bets the flop as a steal, but once I saw his cards it made sense. But I think the fundamental problem was my re-raise pre-flop, it was too small against this loose chipleader. So here are my questions:

1. Should I have re-raised more or just called pre-flop? I feel like my re-raise was about the most I could put in without committing my whole stack, and I didn't want to push 1700 chips after a pot of 300.

2. If I just call pre-flop and he comes out firing with 300-500 at a pot of 400 on a 246 flop, do I just fold at the point?

3. Given that I did re-raise, should I still fold to the all-in on the flop? My concern was that that leaves him with a monster stack, and even if he is a calling station, it could take him a while to piss it away. I'm also close to half the 2nd stack at this point, who I think is more likely to accumulate chips than lose them from here on out. So I felt like 3rd was a likely finish for me if I folded here anyway, whereas a double up would make me a very strong contendor for 1st. I'm about 25% vs. a pocket pair and can beat most bluffs. My odds are especially good against a worse A, which I thought was a real possibility.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[tigerite]

Push preflop in the first place, though he's not going anywhere.

Thanks. What do you think about my call after the flop, given that I did make a smaller re-raise? Was I sufficiently committed at that point, or could I give him credit for a PP and fold?

[RobGW]

Try to see cheap flops to hit a piece. Then value bet all the way to the river. If you take a coin flip against a horrible player you are the one making the mistake.