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Campaign Crawlers

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Back inside, Toomey was giving a speech fiery enough to make the spirit of John Winthrop crack a smile. He took Britney Spears to task for "making a mockery of marriage," accused the "media and the elite" of having "contempt for traditional values."

Toomey stated plainly that the decline in our culture was "made possible by liberalism," and described the Partial Birth Abortion Ban as a "small, modest step in the right direction" that we should "not get too excited about." The goal, after all, was the complete abolition of Roe v. Wade.

All this before he addressed his opponent. "Arlen Specter is on the wrong side of the culture war," Toomey said, bringing the crowd to their feet. "He always has been and he always will be."

SUNDAY AT THE gun show, I ask Specter, traveling with only a few aides, how he feels about the small but persistent groups of college students following him around at every event with Toomey signs and slogans.

"My voters might not be as intense as his," Specter says, "but there's a lot more of them if I can get them out on Tuesday."

Most observers agree with that assessment, but it's not the sort of clarion call one expects to hear from a candidate in the last days of an election. If Specter wins this, he'll clearly owe his victory to George W. Bush and fellow Pennsylvanian Senator Rick Santorum, both of whom have brought an exuberance to the Specter campaign that has given the candidate a fighting chance.

topics:
Abortion, Supreme Court, NATO