Free Republic

Today: April 21, 2004 at 13:06:17 PDT Pa. Congressman May Knock Out SpectorBy LARA JAKES JORDANASSOCIATED PRESS WYOMISSING, Pa. (AP) - Fourteen months ago, a conservative congressman set out on a seemingly quixotic quest to retire four-term Sen. Arlen Specter. The challenger had little money, scant name recognition and no support from party leaders. Now, with less than a week to go before the state's April 27 Senate primary, Rep. Pat Toomey has come within striking distance of defeating Specter in what has become one of the nation's most closely watched GOP contests this year. "I really believe we're going...

Greatly restricted by lack of campaign resources, Elgin state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger is fighting uphill in his effort to emerge as standard-bearer in the Republican Party's U.S. Senate primary. Several independent polls have the senator trailing front-running Jack Ryan by double-digit margins and also running behind Aurora dairy magnate Jim Oberweis and Chicago businessman Andy McKenna. Nonetheless, we support Rauschenberger for the GOP nomination, finding him the most thoughtful and articulate in the large field of candidates. He also is the one with the most legislative experience and mainstream GOP idealism. We think if elected in November, he would best...