PENNSYLVANIA Vying for U.S. Senate, Specter, Toomey battle in radio ads

The ads air on stations with primarily conservative or religious listeners.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. Senate opponents Arlen Specter and Pat Toomey began a monthlong duel over Pennsylvania's airwaves this week, each buying statewide radio ad time for a Republican primary election still eight months away.
The ads -- which could cost as much as $300,000 between the two campaigns -- are airing on radio stations with predominantly conservative or religious listeners.
Toomey, a conservative congressman from the Lehigh Valley, taunted the politically moderate senator for hitting the airwaves "earlier than he ever has -- on the same stations my ads are running on -- in an attempt to hide his liberal record."
"But he won't fool anyone," Toomey said Tuesday.
Specter campaign manager Christopher Nicholas did not immediately know whether Specter has ever bought airtime this early in an election cycle. But Nicholas said Specter bought twice as much time as Toomey this month "to get the senator's strong record on important issues" in front of the public.
Estimate of costs
Nicholas estimated Toomey's ad expenses at $25,000 for the first week and between $80,000 and $100,000 for the monthlong buy. Toomey spokesman Joe Sterns declined to comment on the cost estimates.
Specter's 60-second spot describes the senator as "fighting and winning for Pennsylvania and America" as a tough-on-terrorism lawmaker who has the backing of the White House and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
By comparison, Toomey's 30-second ad casts Specter as one of the Senate's most liberal Republicans. His spot, which is identical to ads he aired last month in Harrisburg, describes Toomey as "a new conservative leader for Pennsylvania."
Both ads began airing Monday.
Toomey theorized that Specter's ads were the result of recent internal polling, by the congressman's camp, that shows the candidates running even among 400 likely Republican primary voters in central Pennsylvania. Specter, Sterns said, is "clearly nervous."
Responded Nicholas: "We're not concerned at all about Mr. Toomey's supposed inroads" among voters.