Specter kicks off campaign at College Hall

Republican Senator and University alumnus Arlen Specter announced his bid for an unprecedented fourth term. College Hall played host to one of the University's most famous alumni Friday morning, as U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) officially announced his campaign for reelection in front of the historic building. Specter, a pro-choice, moderate Republican who already has $3.9 million in the bank for the campaign, is expected to coast through the May 19 primary election, setting the stage for a showdown with one of at least three potential Democratic opponents. In his last election in 1992, Specter edged Democrat Lynn Yeakel by a 2 percent margin. As he stood in front of the Ben Franklin statue Friday with his wife Joan, their children and their grandchildren, Specter -- a 1951 Penn alumnus who studied international relations and often returns to his alma mater -- stressed the importance of educational opportunity. "I seek a millennium consensus that the only thing more expensive than providing excellence in education for Pennsylvanians is permitting ignorance in too many school systems," said Specter, drawing applause from the crowd of about 30. "I want classrooms all across this Commonwealth where values are learned and violence is banned." If reelected in November, Specter, who turns 68 Thursday, would be the first senator from Pennsylvania to serve a fourth six-year term in the U.S. Senate. Specter is chairperson of the Senate's Veterans' Affairs Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services. He is also a member of the Judiciary and Governmental Affairs committees. Recently, Specter has been in the spotlight for his actions on the Judiciary Committee, which approves the President's nominees for federal court positions. Specter's support of the nomination to the federal bench of Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Frederica Massiah-Jackson -- who critics accuse of being far too lenient on criminals -- has stirred debate. This is not Specter's first encounter with controversy, however. A former Philadelphia district attorney, he was appointed to the 1964 Warren Commission, which was charged with investigating the assassination of President John Kennedy. Also, he drew fire from supporters of Anita Hill in 1992 for his questioning of the former colleague of Clarence Thomas at confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Specter thus far faces minor opposition in the Republican primary from Larry Murphy, a 34-year-old research scientist from Chester County who opposes abortion. Three Democrats have declared their intentions to run for the party's nomination. Among them is State Rep. William Lloyd Jr. of Somerset County in southwestern Pennsylvania. Lloyd ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for state auditor general in 1996. The other two Democrats -- attorney Richard Orloski and physician Richard Cusick -- are both from Allentown. Specter has often championed health care issues, supporting the search for cures for cancer, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, diabetes and others. Specter opposed Clinton's national health care plan. "I seek a 21st century health care system that for all of its technological wizardry remembers that the first priority of medicine is not a return on investment, but a return of the patient to good health," Specter said Friday. The senator also spoke Friday about current U.S. relations with the Middle East, warning that "nuclear weapons now come in suitcases" and "it may be necessary to use force" in the current crisis with Iraq. A few members of Penn's College Republicans enthusiastically held up signs supporting Specter. "We don't get very many political speakers at Penn," said College sophomore Patrick Ruffini, secretary of the College Republicans. "It's a great thing for [political] awareness." Specter ran for the 1996 GOP presidential nomination but dropped out of the race before the primaries, citing fund-raising problems.