Specter Scores Narrow Pennsylvania Victory

Yahoo News ^ | 4/28/04 | John Whitesides, AP

[kattracks]

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Moderate Republican Sen. Arlen Specter scored a narrow primary win over a conservative congressman on Tuesday in a race that could influence the November battles for control of the Senate and White House.

Specter, a four-term Senate veteran and one of the chamber's last moderate Republicans, outlasted Rep. Pat Toomey, 51-49 percent, winning by about 15,000 votes out of more than one million ballots cast.

"It's been a very, very difficult campaign," Specter told supporters in a downtown Philadelphia ballroom before the final results were tallied, lamenting the criticism he has faced for his support for abortion rights and the strong out-of-state financial support for Toomey.

"We have had our hands full," Specter said of the race, seen by both sides as an ideological struggle for the party's future.

A Specter loss could have had broad implications, giving Democrats an unexpected shot at picking up one of the two Senate seats they need to reclaim control of the chamber.

It also would have made a win in the state tougher in November for President Bush (news - web sites), who narrowly lost Pennsylvania in 2000. A conservative firebrand like Toomey could have kept swing voters at home and brought Democrats to the polls in larger numbers in November.

Bush and other establishment Republicans like former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news - web sites) campaigned for Specter, who ran campaign ads emphasizing his strong relationship with the president.

But Toomey received an injection of nearly $2 million from the anti-tax crusading Club for Growth and campaign visits from conservative activists like James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family.

The campaign's ideological war drew national attention to a race that mirrored the battles in the national Republican Party, where conservatives have sometimes crowded out the party's shrinking band of moderate voices.

SPECTER LOST GROUND

Specter, 74, began his re-election bid well ahead of Toomey, 42, but the challenger steadily gained ground through the campaign.

"We knew we had a steep hill to climb," Toomey told supporters in Allentown after the loss, pressing his ideas for a limited government, limited taxes and a strong defense. "These ideas are at the heart of the Republican Party."

Specter had drawn the anger of party conservatives over the years, particularly with his staunch opposition to President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in 1987. Bork recently backed Toomey.

That conservative anger helped fuel Toomey's race, along with Specter's role in reducing the size of Bush's tax cuts, his support of abortion rights and his votes with Senate Democrats on issues like minimum wage increases and health maintenance organization regulation.

Toomey, a product of working-class Allentown, has been a leader in debt reduction and challenging pork-barrel Appropriations Committee spending, winning the praise and support of deficit hawks and anti-tax groups like the Club for Growth, which aired several ads on his behalf.

In November, Specter will face Democratic Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, a three-term congressman from northeast Philadelphia and the city suburbs, who would have gone from a decided underdog to an early favorite if Specter had been knocked out.

Specter has enjoyed a long and varied public career. As a staff member of the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, he helped develop the single-bullet theory of Kennedy's death.

He later served two terms as Philadelphia district attorney and famously insisted on invoking Scottish law to vote "not proven" on the charges against President Bill Clinton (news - web sites) during his 1999 Senate impeachment trial.

Specter also plays a prominent role on the Judiciary Committee (news - web sites). He became the target of angry feminists nationwide for his grilling of Anita Hill during the 1992 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Clarence Thomas (news - web sites), years after angering conservatives during the Bork hearings.

[WOSG]

Another defeat for the conservative movement

[Mr. Mojo]

Yep, Rinoism prevails yet again.

[victim soul]

Shame on President Bush and Senator Santorom for campaigning for this man.

Shame on Pennsylvanians.

How can they all so easily forget and demean Robert Casey's and Judge Bork's political courage and legacy.

They have all stuck a spear into the heart the pro-life movement while defenseless children will continue to lose their lives and a voice in the U.S. Senate.

Rino Party uber alles.

Pragmatism over idealism.

I am sick at heart.

[Egg]

Specter may have had the best overall polls going into this race, but he's hardly a guy who will inspire people to get out the vote come November. There will be many who vote for him just because he's not the Democrat in this race and many others who are desperate to keep a Republican majority in the senate. But how many will show up because they really like Specter himself?

The GOP passed on another opportunity to energize their base.

[aft_lizard]

Burn me for this but IMO this is a good thing for now. We can save precious money on other campaigns like Thune in SD rather than wage a very expensive battle in PA. When it comes down to it Specter will generally fall in line with the party on party line issues and help us maintain power, I like Toomey and his conservative issues but we have to look at the bigger picture here.

[tkathy]

In this critical election, energy should be spent defeating Democrats, not Republicans.

[SupplySider]

Damn. Steel tariffs, the farm bill, "compassionate conservatism", Keynesian "stimulating the economy", now support of the likes of Arlen Specter against a real conservative who could have won...

I love a lot of things about Pres. Bush, but sometimes he reminds me way too much of his father.

[KQQL]

As things stand right now:

Fl= Toss Up
NC= Toss UP
AK = Toss Up
OK = Toss Up (only if Coburn is the GOP nominee)
GA= Leans GOP
IL= Leans Dem
SD= Slight lean to Dem
SC= Leans GOP
CO= Slight lean for Dem
PA= Depends on who is GOP nominee
UPDATE: PA leans GOP
LA: Slight lean to Dem (Vitter has to win in Nov)
(Dems will win the run off)

[afamily]

Come on fellow conservatives. Let's admit it. Our party doesn't like us or our ideals. If we want to move the conservative agenda we need to start playing the role as spoilers. If we just keep voting for RINOs just to have elected officials with a R next to their name we loose the long term battle.

I know I'm going to take heat for this, but I will not vote for Specter. I will vote for Hoffel. I know some have suggested a protest write in vote for Toomey in the fall but that won't do the job.

Sometimes you have to give up power to gain it in the long term. If conservatives are to ever have a voice we must make ourselves relevant. Given that we are an obvious minority in the republican party we need to learn to use the tactics of Specter and Snow who routinely hold the Senate Republicans hostage for their votes. We need to do the same. We must defeat Arlen in the fall to prove to the republican party that they can't take conservatives for granted.

OK, let the flames begin.

[patriciaruth]

Let's defeat Tom Daschel in the fall elections!

John Thune for U.S. Senate--click here to make a donation

[SupplySider]

You've got a point.

I'd like to add that the main rational I see for just voting for the candidate with the R. in front of the name is to secure Senate confirmation of possible Supreme Court nominees. Specter, though, is apt to be as effective as Ted Kennedy in defeating anyone with principles.

[Gunder]

Well said. I totally agree.

Some posters will call me a RINO, but oh well. I'd rather we spend that $$ on bringing down Daschle.

[goldensky]

The big picture includes the fact that it's over and, like it or not, Specter may be the key to retaining the majority. And PA does have ONE conservative republican Senator, which is one more than some of the rest of us have.

[No Dems 2004]

I can't say that I'm overly worried about this. If a Toomey victory now would have meant a Toomey defeat in November, then I don't really want that. I don't know why, I just never could get excited about this race.

[Willie Green]

Oh FUDGE.

[pettifogger]

FYI. BTW, I went with Toomey in the end. Part of the 49 percent, I suppose.

[richmwill]

I worry about this result, what it could mean in November. Are Specter supporters solidly on our side? Look at his RINO record. I would bet that alot of his support comes from middle-of-the-road voters and Fiscal Conservatives. Those people are more prone to select Specter and a Dem. candidate for President for "balance", while I would also bet that Toomey supporters would have been almost ALL Bush votes.