Toomey/Specter: 10 POINT RACE!!! Toomey Gains Big Time!!!

Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal's Political Diary ^ | March 15,2004 | Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal's Political Diary

[GeneralHavoc]

The following is from OpinionJournal's Political Diary March 15,2004:

Conservative Challenger Gains On Liberal Specter

There is a reason that Pennsylvania GOP Senator Arlen Specter has been spending so much of his $9 million campaign kitty on ads attacking his conservative primary challenger, Rep. Pat Toomey: The April 27 race is surprisingly competitive. A new survey by the Polling Company finds Mr. Specter has only a 47% to 37% lead over Mr. Toomey, a surprisingly low figure for a four-term incumbent. The survey roughly mirrors a Quinnipiac poll last month that found that only 49% of Republicans believe Mr. Specter deserves re-election.

Aware of his reputation as a liberal leaning senator, Mr. Specter has gone on the attack and begun questioning Mr. Toomey's conservative credentials. One ad accused Mr. Toomey of being pro-gambling and against abstinence education. Mr. Toomey says he voted in favor of a bill doubling money for abstinence education, but against a later amendment that would have provided even more funding for the cause. As for the pro-gambling charge, Mr. Toomey says the ad completely distorts a warning he made about state officials "getting addicted to this new source of revenue" if they legalized slot machines at racetracks.

The race has become a classic confrontation between liberal and conservative Republicans. While Mr. Specter is favored, conservative grass-roots activists are effectively targeting Mr. Specter as an obstacle to lower federal spending and tort reform. The race will only heat up between now and next month's primary and should start gathering national media attention.

[Tribune7]

Freep the poll and get your friends to freep it.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

Hoeffel has mastered the trick of being an ACLU Democrat but appearing to be a centrist. He will not beat Specter with that ploy but he will beat Toomey.

Hoeffel won't relate to anybody in the state except in Philly & Montco, and maybe Bucks. Toomey can take him.

[Tribune7]

Specter is an incumbent with less than 50 percent. Toomey is surging. Specter has already taken his best shots. Toomey has a good chance at winning.

[battleax]

If Toomey is nominated,he will lose to Joe Hoeffel in November and the GOP will lose the seat.....
The only reason we will vote Specter

[Bushbacker]

Hoeffel has mastered the trick of being an ACLU Democrat but appearing to be a centrist. He will not beat Specter with that ploy but he will beat Toomey.


Hoeffel won't relate to anybody in the state except in Philly & Montco, and maybe Bucks. Toomey can take him.

_____Phila, Montco, Bucks...enough
to swing the entire state...Gore
won all three areas in 2000 big-time and he won the state.

[Bushbacker]

The rino hunt is on and the powers that be had better wake up to that reality.


___This is not practical politics.
Remember the RINO Jeffords? Bet you were happy he left the party,
huh?

'Course that gave Daschle control of the Senate for 2 years.

[KantianBurke]

You're using the example of JEFFORDS as a rationale as to why we should blindly support RINOs??! If anything, he's a warning to the GOP that "moderates" no matter how much you pander to them, are unreliable and should be supported only in extreme cases.

[NittanyLion]

Remember the RINO Jeffords? Bet you were happy he left the party, huh? 'Course that gave Daschle control of the Senate for 2 years.

Heck, why don't we simply convince Hoeffel to run as a Republican and all our problems will be solved. In your view, labels are the only matter of concern: principles are secondary (or not considered at all). This is a golden opportunity to unseat a "Republican" who is no friend to conservatives, yet you're too scared to seize the chance.

[rrrod]

good point...RINOS need to be removed....republicans have heard for yrs from elected officials "give us the majority and we can make changes" we listened and kept voting but still the grass roots doesnt have a voice. its maddening to see no back bone in the senate

[zook]

I'm here in State College PA planning to vote for Toomey. Then this morning on WPHT, through the static I hear a reference made to Toomey taking a shot a Bush on "being weak on job creation" or something like that.

If I find out that Toomey is taking this kind of unjustified shot at the president, I'll withhold my vote for him. I won't vote for Specter, but I won't be voting Toomey either (if I find this to be true).

[rrrod]

i do not live in PA but sincerely hope Toomey unseats the RINO..perhaps we in other states can persuade our senators not to campaign for the RINO?

[Bikers4Bush]

Practical politics is for people who want to be controlled.

I'll pass but you're free to follow the rinos.

[Bushbacker]

Ni
This is a golden opportunity to unseat a "Republican" who is no friend to conservatives, yet you're too scared to seize the chance.


----Specter is not a conservative,
true enough, but it will hurt the
conservative cause to lose control
of the Senate.

Specter also stood firm for Clarence Thomas and is a very effective Senator for Pennsylvania's interests.

Hoeffel is running to establish
himself statewide for a run at Santorum. He knows he can't beat
Specter, but Santorum is too conservative for PA---he ran against a dullard (Harris Wofford) to get elected and last time the D's couldnt find anyone with a name to run against him (Rendell wanted to be governor)

Hoeffel tried this before. He ran for Congress against a powerful incumbent and lost---but established himself and came back and beat the successor, Jon Fox.

Why does everyone here want to help him by nominating Toomey??

(I follow PA politics very closely
and Joe Hoeffel is a neighbor of mine and has represented this area
for decades. He is not to be
under-estimated. Very effective
at winning normally GOP votes.)

[Puddleglum]

Nice rino hunt post!

[Tribune7]

Hoeffel has mastered the trick of being an ACLU Democrat but appearing to be a centrist.

I disagree. Rendell managed it but he actually looks and talks like a regular guy, and he had planned it for years (appearing as a post-game Eagles commentator & such.) Hoeffel looks and talks like a dweed college professor (no offense intended to any FR college profs). He won't sell upstate or in Pittsburgh.

_____Phila, Montco, Bucks...enough to swing the entire state...Gore won all three areas in 2000 big-time and he won the state.

OTOH, Santorum won even with Gore heading the Dem ticket.

[Tribune7]

I don't think I pinged the list on this one.

[Physicist]

Got my change-of-party form mailed in so that I can vote for Toomey.

Should Specter win, I will swallow hard and vote for him in November, if I can bring myself to do it, but only because he voted against the Assault Weapon Ban this time around. Had he voted for it again, I may actually have voted for Hoeffel.

[Bushbacker]

Hoeffel has mastered the trick of being an ACLU Democrat but appearing to be a centrist.

I disagree. Rendell managed it but he actually looks and talks like a regular guy, and he had planned it for years (appearing as a post-game Eagles commentator & such.) Hoeffel looks and talks like a dweed college professor (no offense intended to any FR college profs). He won't sell upstate or in Pittsburgh


_____You're overlooking the fact
that Hoeffel has consistently
won elections in a 2-1 GOP district. He used to be re-elected without any opposition when he was State Representative
and he represented a major GOP
stronghold in Montgomery County.

Hoeeffel is well-liked by Republicans and frankly I even voted for him twice as State Rep.
Why? Because he was doing a
good job.

Phila, Montco, Bucks...enough to swing the entire state...Gore won all three areas in 2000 big-time and he won the state.

OTOH, Santorum won even with Gore heading the Dem ticket

___Because the Democrats had a completely inept and dull candidate. Rendell would have won
easily, but he wanted to be governor.

[brownie]

ONLY Specter can hold the seat. Ideological purity is not worth risking the control of the Senate over.

Then explain the other much more conservative senator from PA? And explain how Toomey won in a democrat district? No facts actually support your conclusion.