October 21-27, 2004

city beat

Undercard Throwdown

The final push: Polls may have Rep. Joe Hoeffel (pictured) trailing incumbent Arlen Specter, but the U.S. Senate race is expected to tighten. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

The Specter/Hoeffel Senate race has some important implications.

by Mary F. Patel

While the presidential race is the sexy topic du jour, Pennsylvanians are facing another important decision in the battle for one of the commonwealth’s two U.S. Senate seats.

Four-term Republican incumbent Arlen Specter is fighting to keep the seat he has held since 1980. He’s being challenged by Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel, who didn’t seek a fourth term in the House.

Though there are also two third-party candidates running -- the Constitution Party’s Jim Clymer and Libertarian Elizabeth Summers -- they’re not expected to give either big-party candidate a problem. Here’s a look at the differences -- and similarities -- between Specter and Hoeffel.

Issues

Although he is a Republican, Specter has successfully carved a niche as a GOP centrist. The 74-year-old former Philadelphia district attorney is a moderate at best, but he has received support from both parties over the years.

That said, he maintains the power his party confers on him by supporting the Republican stance on many major issues and by backing them in close votes. Specter voted for the war in Iraq and for the transfer of power to Iraq while also supporting President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act. Going against the party grain, however, he's pushed for increases in federal funding to help states carry out the act.

On jobs, Specter says the solution is to reduce the deficit and supports the controversial flat tax. His 20 percent flat-tax plan would eliminate taxes on estates, interest and capital gains without eliminating deductions on mortgage and nonprofit contributions.

Many consider flat taxes regressive as the unemployed do not pay income taxes -- their entire tax burden comes from Medicare and Social Security contributions. Also, poor people don't often have mortgages to deduct. Therefore, they would wind up paying a much larger proportion of their income in taxes and while the wealthy would pay a much smaller proportion.

Specter is pushing to provide health care for lower-income residents and children and to offer tax credits for small-business owners and the self-employed to buy insurance. Except in cases involving catastrophic injuries, he wants to cap the amount of punitive and "pain and suffering" damages collected from malpractice lawsuits.

Hoeffel, 53, served four terms as a state House member from Montgomery County before he was elected to the county Board of Commissioners. He served in that capacity for eight years before his election to Congress in 1998. (He beat incumbent Republican Jon Fox.)

Hoeffel, a traditional liberal, supports the Democratic agenda. He maintains that the war in Iraq was a big mistake. Although he voted to authorize the invasion, he says that Bush lied when he said that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Hoeffel wants to reform health care, balance the budget and reduce taxes for the middle class. A public-education advocate, he voted for the "No Child Left Behind Act" and for more after-school programs.

In terms of effectiveness, Specter has seniority going for him.

Currently, the Republicans have 51 seats, the Democrats have 48 and there is one Independent who usually votes as a Democrat. If the Democrats either pick up two seats or pick up one seat and the presidency -- in which case the Senate will be evenly split and the vice-president acts as a tie-breaker -- they will have a working majority. If that happens and Specter wins anyway, he loses some clout. By the same token, if Hoeffel were elected, he would likely gain some footing as a member of the new majority. Realistically, no matter who controls the next Senate, Hoeffel would have a hard time getting the choice committee appointments as a freshman.

If Republicans keep their majority, Specter is next in line to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee, a position from which he can direct federal money back to Pennsylvania.

That leaves Hoeffel in a predicament: Many unnamed Democratic ward leaders in the city are helping Specter in hopes of having some of that pork directed into their wards, much to the dismay of U.S. Rep. and city Democratic Committee Chairman Bob Brady.

Specter and the Democrats

Specter has long enjoyed close relations with Philadelphia Democrats. The late Democratic power broker Buddy Cianfrani often worked enthusiastically on the senator’s campaigns, even though it was Specter who, as district attorney, helped send the former state senator on a forced vacation to Allenwood.

Specter is the first Republican that Maurice Floyd, a Democratic government relations and communication consultant since 1995 who has worked on numerous high-profile campaigns, has worked for. He says Specter is bipartisan.

The endorsement of Specter by the Philadelphia Black Clergy, a staunchly Democratic organization, can be credited to Floyd, who was retained by the Specter campaign last July. For blacks in this city to endorse a Republican for a statewide office is almost unheard of. (Hoeffel has the support of the Black Clergy of Pennsylvania and members of the Congressional Black Caucus.) Floyd also maintains that Specter has done a lot for labor and already has a long history with his constituents.

Similarities

Both Hoeffel and Specter say they are pro-Israel.

Hoeffel says that Israel has a right to defend itself and supports its security fence. Specter also supports the fence and has worked to reduce anti-Semitism by, among other things, introducing a bill to prohibit assistance to the Palestinian Authority until they remove anti-Semitic content from their textbooks and broadcasts.

While Specter may be more fiscally conservative than his opponent, he is more socially liberal than many Republican peers.

Both Specter and Hoeffel support choice, but the former voted for the ban on "partial birth abortion."

Hoeffel fully supports gay rights -- including the right for same-sex couples to marry -- but says it's up to states to decide. Specter has voted for nondiscrimination in employment but backs a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage if the Supreme Court finds that all states must allow it. He is for civil unions, says marriage is for a man and a woman, and that the issue should be left up to the states.

The Clymer Factor

Specter barely survived a bruising primary against Patrick Toomey, an ultraconservative anti-abortion congressman who attempted to woo conservative Republicans by criticizing Specter as too liberal. Clymer, a lawyer from Lancaster, is picking up where Toomey left off. He is anti-abortion, strongly opposes same-sex marriage and calls himself a moralist. He wants to see conservative judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Describing himself as the "conservative choice," Clymer called Specter a big-spending liberal in a recent debate. In the same debate, Specter accused Hoeffel of helping Clymer get on the ballot -- to which Hoeffel replied, "the more the merrier, Senator."

If Clymer takes votes away from anyone, it will be Specter.

Some wonder why Hoeffel didn't wait until 2006 to run against U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who does not share the same popularity Specter enjoys. But despite that question, Hoeffel can take Philadelphia on Nov. 2 with the city's predominately Democratic voters pulling the "big D lever" for a straight Dem ticket.

Recent polls had Specter ahead statewide, but as campaigning reaches a frenzy approaching Election Day, pollster Terry Madonna says the race will tighten.