Posted on 04/29/2004 6:27:24 AM PDT by 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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by the way thats a nice picture of your wife. (j/k)
I have no idea what you are talking about.
I don’t speak idiot.
Won what? PA doesn't have both Senate elections in the same year, does it?
Very true, again it just shows that politics as usual is more important than really standing for an issue.
Very true, again it just shows that politics as usual is more important than really standing for an issue.
You really want to send a message? Continue to support Toomey. He'll back Specter this time but the only way to get conservatives like him into office is to continue to support him. Who knows, maybe he can run against Santorum in 2006. But, deciding to pull the lever for Dems is a fairly irrational response.
BTW, you didn't see Reagan threaten to leave the party, go independent or support Carter because he lost to Ford in '76. You saw him fall into the background, gain a huge base of support, and then rule the world from 1980 until 1988. Why wouldn't that be a good tactic in this case as well?
Of course, no doubt if/when Specter "Borks" another conservative judicial nominee, his supporters will tell us how this is all "strategery". Occam's Razor doesn't apply to the GOP -the organization is managing at least a dozen of the most secretive and complicated plots to advance conservatism ever devised. CFR, Prescription Drugs, Farm Bills, Education Bills, Specter support...it's all part of the Grand Plan.
Assigning me research does not prove your claims. You don't have any proof, do you?
And he WON in 2000, even while Bush lost PA. Your point was?
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