Specter's narrow victory gives Dem candidate hope

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- After barely beating back a conservative challenge, Sen. Arlen Specter now faces a Democratic opponent who accuses him of betraying his moderate base during the bitter Republican primary.
Rep. Joe Hoeffel, another junior congressman hoping to knock off Specter, embarks today on a six-day, 19-stop tour to boost his Democratic campaign only hours after Pennsylvania's four-term senator declared victory against conservative Rep. Pat Toomey.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Specter had 526,120 votes, or 51 percent, to Rep. Pat Toomey's 509,507 votes, or 49 percent.
Specter, 74, eked out a win against Toomey, 42, despite a low turnout among Pennsylvania's 3.1 million registered Republicans that had been expected to aid the challenger.
"I had a lot of goodwill stored up in the state to emerge with the narrow victory I did," Specter told cheering supporters in Philadelphia shortly before 1 a.m. today.
"Now is the time, now that we've settled our family disagreement in the Republican Party, to unite for victory in November for the president," he said.
Toomey conceded the race to applause in suburban Allentown by endorsing Specter, and recounting his dramatic rise, from a relatively unknown lawmaker with little money to the conservative stalwart who almost defeated one of the Senate's leading moderates.
"We saw the top of that tall mountain, but we came just a little bit short," he said. "Although we didn't win the campaign, we did advance the cause. ... I have no doubt that some day we will reach the top of that tall mountain."
Looking ahead
Now the focus shifts to the fall election and Hoeffel's attempt to unseat Specter in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by nearly 389,000.
The three-term congressman from suburban Philadelphia said early Wednesday that Specter moved too far to the right in the primary to be successful in the Nov. 2 general election.
"This primary has demonstrated that Arlen Specter is not the senator that he used to be," Hoeffel said early Wednesday. "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."
"I'm raring to go. I can't wait," Hoeffel said.
Facing a challenge by the conservative representative, Specter, one of the last moderate Republicans in a politically polarized Senate, supported the full scope of President Bush's 2003 tax cuts after voting to scale them back in 2001. He also backed controversial White House judicial recess appointments despite criticizing the process in the past, and leaned on the endorsement of Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., one of the Senate's leading conservatives.
Though he may be bruised from the primary, Specter should remain tough to beat in the general election, 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."
A test
The primary, one of the GOP's most closely watched contests this year, tested the strength of the party's conservative wing. Specter's win was a victory for President Bush, who endorsed the senator and is counting on his supporters to help him win carry a state he narrowly lost to Democrat Al Gore in 2000.
Specter easily won his home base of Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs, while Toomey scored a surprise upset in Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. He also dominated in his home area of Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Toomey's surprisingly stiff challenge centered on branding Specter a RINO -- Republican In Name Only. As recently as last month, few believed Toomey would threaten the state's senior senator. But a poll released on the primary's eve showed the congressman just 6 points behind.
Toomey, who limited himself to three terms when he won his House seat in 1998, is a fiscal conservative, opposes abortion rights and has voted against an increase in the minimum wage.
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