The Democratic congressman will ry to knock off Sen. Rick Santorum in November. U.S. Rep. Ron Klink (D) walked away from yesterday's Pennsylvania senatorial primary a clear winner, giving him the chance to take on freshman Sen. Rick Santorum (R) for his seat on Capital Hill this November. Klink's victory, clinched late last night, put an end to the hotly contested six-way race for the Democratic nod to run for Senate. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Klink's 41 percent of the vote easily beat out State Sen. Allyson Schwartz and former state secretary of labor and agriculture Tom Foley, who experts labeled his toughest challengers. Schwartz and Foley garnered 26 and 25 percent of the vote, respectively. And Philadelphia-area attorneys Murray Levin, Phil Berg and Bob Rovner together accounted for 8 percent of the vote. The bid for the Democratic nomination was the most carefully followed race of this year's state primaries. In the race for state attorney general -- the only other statewide competition -- Philadelphia lawyer Jim Eisenhower led Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli by a 51 to 49 percent margin late last night. Although victories in recent primaries have already secured party nominations for both presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush, yesterday's voters still voted for their party's favored presidential candidates. Gore received 74 percent of the Democratic vote, while 73 percent of Republicans cast a ballot in favor of Bush, with 99 percent of precincts reporting. Election officials reported a low turnout at the polls yesterday, as experts predicted prior to the race. Philadelphia's Deputy City Commissioner Ed Schulgen attributed the traditionally light turnout to the fact that "much of the ballyhoos have been taken out of the presidential race." Klink -- a conservative Democrat who hails from a suburb of Pittsburgh -- received strong support from western Pennsylvania, especially in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia area largely came out in support for Schwartz, a Philadelphia resident. Political analysts had largely avoided picking a favorite for yesterday's senatorial race, though Klink, Foley and Schwartz were the agreed-upon frontrunners. Political Science Professor Harry Teune said last week that Klink could be a "sleeper" of a candidate -- meaning he could come out and take an unexpectedly large victory in the primary, as was seen yesterday. Klink has largely been recognized as the most conservative of the six senatorial candidates, touting a pro-life stance. His policy towards gun control has also been labeled by experts as more conservative than that of Schwartz or Foley. Currently in his fourth term as a congressman, Klink has spent much of his campaign focusing on issues surrounding health care. But officials aren't predicting that Klink will be too successful in taking on the incumbent Santorum in November. According to Teune, Klink lacks the financial backing and name recognition needed to win a race of this magnitude. As of March 15, Santorum had already raised $6 million for his campaign. And Pennsylvanians have not elected a Democratic senator to a full term in office since the early 1960s.
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