After Win, Specter Looks To Fall Election (already distancing himself from Bush)

Associated Press | April 29, 2004 | Lara Jakes Jordon

[Russ]

Apr 28, 4:50 PM EDT

After Win, Specter Looks to Fall Election

By LARA JAKES JORDAN Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- After surviving a close scrape in the Republican primary, Sen. Arlen Specter turned his attention to the fall contest and began a campaign Wednesday that could put him at odds with the White House that helped him pull through.

The four-term moderate narrowly defeated conservative Rep. Pat Toomey, 51 percent to 49 percent, in Tuesday's primary after Toomey branded Specter as too liberal. The race was perhaps the most serious challenge yet to any Senate incumbent this season.

Specter will face Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel in November.

Less than a day after his primary victory, Specter touted his efforts to trim tax cuts, retain overtime pay for workers, resist school vouchers and continue embryonic stem-cell research - all in opposition to President Bush. The four-term Republican also called the situation in Iraq a "tinderbox" that could be a problem for the president in the fall elections.

"I intend to retain my independent voice, a voice I have always had," Specter said. "The 12 million people of Pennsylvania have not elected me to be a rubber stamp, and I will speak out where I think the necessity calls for it."

Despite his policy differences with the president, Specter said Bush's public support was key to his victory over Toomey. The race was so tight, he said, that the usually stoic Specter could not "stop my nervous system from gyrating a little" while watching vote tallies roll in.

Hoeffel, meanwhile, embarked on a 19-stop tour to raise his low statewide profile. The three-term suburban Philadelphia lawmaker predicted that Specter moved too far to the right in the Republican race to be successful in November.

"This primary has demonstrated that Arlen Specter is not the senator that he used to be," Hoeffel said. "He used to be a moderate maverick, but he is neither of those things. He's voting for a Republican program in Washington that's not working in Pennsylvania. He's their senator now - not ours."

The Democrats blasted Specter as a "political opportunist."

"He has taken every side of every issue for no other reason than to protect his political hide," said Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "He owes his political survival to George Bush, and he's now stuck with him and his right-wing policies."

Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Pennsylvania by nearly 389,000.

Specter has long enjoyed support within liberal-leaning unions and abortion-rights groups, and predicted he would attract Democrats and independents. He said he could help Bush in the fall by pulling moderates to the GOP ticket.

"My agreements with the president are more extensive than my disagreements," Specter said.

Specter spent $10 million to win the primary. As of April 7, he had $4.5 million in his campaign bank account to Hoeffel's $800,000.

That makes Specter tough to beat in November, said Wilkes University political scientist Thomas J. Baldino.

Specter's near-loss "will give Hoeffel some hope," Baldino said. "But as bad a beating as Specter took in term of his reputation, he will continue to raise and spend enough money to demonstrate he can win."

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[swheats]

We can only hope the democrat running against Specter will be another Zell Miller.

[stainlessbanner]

wizard, you must have got tired of getting mopped up on the WBTS threads so you came here......and got fragged again.

[The kings dead]

Most Southern Democrats have converted. Most Northern Reagan Democrats have moved to Florida or are now worried about getting their medicare and social security checks.

I'd be fascinated to see your proof for these claims.

Demographics and registration numbers

That's the form that proof would take, yes. Do you have any?

[gdc61]

...I’ve been a member of FR since you were still in grade school...
I'm 43 so that means I was right, you are an idiot.

you know what you can do with your "j" key.

I never said I knew the future, but I do remember the past, Specters past, and he's a piece of sh*t apparently just like you.

[The kings dead]

If there is ample support in the Republican Party for replacing Specter with Kyl, then it will happen.

There is ample support in the Republican Party for tightening our borders. Is that happening?

I knew somehow you could bring Mexicans into the debate.

Playing the race card, I see. Now I understand what sort of "conservative" you are.

[Solson]

Or...if you're losing the game, you could take your ball and go home. That ALWAYS works.

[Formoore04]

"1984. What part of 20 years ago don't you understand?"

The part where that somehow means conservatives can't win.

So it was 20 years ago? And? 1994 was 10 years ago. And?

You have no point, so why are you wasting bandwidth? Just cause?

[IGOTMINE]

The moral course of action here is to ensure that Spectre does not become the chair of the Judiciary Committee.

[Formoore04]

"And, if you vote for Hoeffel, you will guarantee Santorum's probable defeat as well since it would energize Democrats in this state as never before if they can pick up a Senate seat."

Good. He deserves the same fate he gave to Pat Toomey.

[ex-snook]

" We can't trust the White House to support someone with Toomey's track record for family-first politics when the choice is between the "established incumbent" and the "upstart" opponent."

I would add to that. Kerry is criticized for letting politics trump his religion. Bush also trumped his pro-life beliefs with politics.

Conservative friends don't let friends vote for RINOs under any circumstances. It only encourages further breeding.

[PA BOOKEND]

the thought of BORKING Specter is very pleasurable

I like that turn of phrase --- very much! :)

[Formoore04]

"Voting Democrat is surrender. Surrendering to the enemy is not the way to win a war."

I thought the enemy was liberalism? Silly me, I must be stuck in the 1980's--when the Republican party stood for conservative values.

[gdc61]

by the way thats a nice picture of your wife. (j/k)

[Owen]

Seriously, that article I referenced above didn't seem slanted to me. Winning is about tactics more than strategy. The most brilliant and profound strategies and policies in the world will lose if one's tactics are inferior.

It's the second phrase (little quoted) that is attached to the more famous one:

All politics is local, and tactics trump policy every single time.

Meaning, someone on the correct, voter preferred side of every issue will lose every single time if he is underfunded, airs poorly designed ads, has campaign events at towns with no press coverage, talks about Yucca Mountain when in Ohio . . . that sort of thing. Tactics overwhelm message. A good tactician can sell ice cream to Eskimos.

Specter got Santorum elected. Specter's staff provided the tactical expertise. Specter was a loyal Republican for Santorum and Santorum, being a decent sort and also a loyal Republican, could do nothing less than the same for Specter. The article is excellent. Here it is again:

http://muweb.millersville.edu/~politics/sananl.htm

[Solson]

I agree. Why not vote a straight Democratic ticket? That'll send em all the message! That message will be: "Unless you do exactly as I say on all issues, I will throw a hissy fit and then take my ball and go home."

Welcome to Free Republic Mr. Jeffords.

[dead]

j.

(Made more sense than you again, silly dope. Vote for the Democrat. You were born for it.)

[IGOTMINE]

If Spectre chairs the committee, he can spike or slow up W's judicial nominations. If there's never a tie vote, nothing ever gets to the floor.

[Samwise]

On the Garrison show, they said that Dubya had no choice but to support Specter. Specter is slotted for the head of the judiciary committee. Now, Specter owes Dubya.

[gdc61]

off to work. dead, I'll slap you back later.

[IGOTMINE]

I don't live in PA.