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Sen. Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., is a pro-choice candidate seeking more federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research -- two areas where he
departs from the Republican Party line.
But the issues where he strays from the party only make him more
of an attractive candidate to the GOP and his state as he seeks
a fifth term, he says.
 Specter,
74, barely emerged as the winner in an intense primary race in
April against conservative Rep. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. The bruising
battle brought President Bush and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., to
his side.
They rallied partly because there is a concern about retaining
Republican control of the Senate, Specter said, but also because
of his record.
"We need
a moderate wing of the Republican Party, and I think that's something
that the president appreciates and so did Senator Santorum in
their efforts to help me win reelection," the four-term senator
said.
"The president and my colleague Senator Santorum campaigned
for me because they like my record even though it is an independent
record," he said.
That independent
record includes his push, along with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa,
to increase funding for the National Institutes of Health, where
"enormous advances" have been made in looking for cures
for Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, heart disease and cancer,
said Specter.
"I took the lead in securing 58 senators to call for more
federal funding there, and I believe that next year you're going
to see a major expansion of embryonic stem cell research, which
is one of my high-priority items," he said.
President Bush in August 2001 announced he would allow federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research, but only on existing
stem cell lines.
Specter added that another of his priorities in a fifth term is
to create a national intelligence director, something he said
he has been working on for a decade.
"The CIA and the FBI and the Department of Defense with their
turf battles have stymied that effort," he said. "But
now with the 9/11 commission, I think we're on the verge of being
able to produce a national director of intelligence."
He also said he plans to continue working on broadening U.S. prosecution
authority in cases where terrorists assault or murder U.S. citizens,
and on education issues including increasing scholarship grants
and guaranteed student loans.
And in another case where Specter butts heads with the administration,
he plans to work to roll back a recent overhaul of overtime benefits.
The Department of Labor in August instituted regulations it said
would reduce overtime eligibility for highly paid workers while
increasing it for low wage earners. But critics contend that the
new rule would punish more workers than it would benefit.
Specter said
the primary battle was a tough one - "which I had expected,"
he said - but Pennsylvania voters in general value his seniority
and will, therefore, support him on Nov. 2.
 "The
people of Pennsylvania like my seniority -- I'm in line to being
chairman of the Judiciary Committee next January and very close
to becoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee," he
said.
Polls show
Specter with a wide lead over his opponents Rep. Joseph Hoeffel,
D-Pa., and James Clymer, national chairman of the Constitution
Party.
But it is
Specter's political longevity that works against him, according
to some Democrats.
Don Morabito, executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic
Party, said Specter has lost touch with Pennsylvanians.
"The economy of the state has dramatically changed over the
20-some years he's been in the Senate," Morabito said.
President Bush's tax cuts, which Specter supported, did not help
average Pennsylvanians, said the Democratic official. The steel
industry and manufacturing base has dramatically declined in the
state "and he's done nothing about it," Morabito said.
Hoeffel, on
the other hand, has a track record as a member of the state House,
a county commissioner and a U.S. congressman as someone who has
long worked with Pennsylvanians on education and health care issues.
"I think
he has an on-the-ground, closer to the people sense of what Pennsylvanians
care about," said Morabito.
But Dan Hayward,
executive director of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said
Specter is a "proven voice for Pennsylvania" on a variety
of issues.
Hayward said
Hoeffel only recently started campaigning around the state, whereas
Specter has been to all 67 counties. "Specter has been in
every county in every year. That's what voters look at,"
the GOP party head said.
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By Larisa Epatko, Online NewsHour
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