Squeaker Victory For Specter

Moderate Republican Sen. Arlen Specter beat back a tough primary threat, barely defeating a conservative congressman who lacked support from party leaders but gained momentum by casting the four-term incumbent as too liberal.

Specter, 74, eked out a win Tuesday against Rep. Pat Toomey, 42, despite a low turnout among Pennsylvania's 3.2 million registered Republicans that had been expected to aid the challenger.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Specter had 524,020 votes, or 51 percent, to Toomey's 507,777 votes, or 49 percent.

The race, one of the GOP's most closely watched contests this year, tested the strength of the party's conservative wing. Specter's win also was a victory for President Bush, who endorsed Specter and is counting on his supporters to help him carry a state he narrowly lost to Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

"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," Specter told cheering supporters in a two-minute speech early Wednesday morning.

Toomey conceded the race and endorsed Specter before an applauding crowd at a hotel in Trexlertown.

"We saw the top of that tall mountain, but we came just a little bit short," Toomey said. "Although we didn't win the campaign, we did advance the cause. ... We fought very hard and we came very close, but tonight the people have spoken."

Specter will face Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel in the Nov. 2 general election.

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.

The contest represented perhaps the most serious primary challenge to any Senate incumbent this season.

Toomey got within striking distance through a campaign that criticized Specter as too liberal on issues including abortion, but some leading conservative Republicans rallied to the incumbent's defense. President Bush and other administration officials campaigned with Specter, and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., hopscotched across the state with him Monday.

Many Republicans feared a Specter loss ultimately could have cost them control of the Senate, where they hold a 51-48 majority, with one independent, because Toomey could find it harder to defeat Hoeffel, a three-term congressman from the Philadelphia suburbs who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Hoeffel said Specter had bowed too far to the right in the primary.

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

Toomey bucked GOP leaders in challenging the senator. Few considered him a threat as recently as last month, but a poll released on the primary's eve showed the congressman just six percentage points behind.

Specter relied heavily on President Bush's endorsement as he defended his record.

"I think it's very important to focus on what President Bush wants," Specter said after casting his ballot in Philadelphia. "He's the leader of the party. He thinks I can help him be re-elected."

Toomey, a three-term lawmaker, is a fiscal conservative, opposes abortion rights and has voted against an increase in the minimum wage and background checks for firearm purchasers at gun shows.

Specter, a former Philadelphia district attorney, often enjoys support from unions and abortion rights activists and has clashed with the White House over tax cuts and homeland security.

During the campaign, he touted his prowess in delivering hundreds of millions of federal dollars to Pennsylvania each year because of his 24-year tenure in Washington. He called Toomey too "far out" for the state.

Specter is in line for the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee next year - a prospect that scares conservatives still smarting over his 1987 vote thwarting the Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.

Specter spent more than $10 million on his campaign, about three times as much as Toomey. But he also had to fend off a $2 million assault from the conservative anti-tax group Club for Growth, which put other GOP moderates on notice when it targeted Specter as its No. 1 priority this year.

In other notable races in Pennsylvania: