The Pennsylvania Senate race between Democratic candidate Joe Hoeffel and Sen. Arlen Specter may not be neck-and-neck, but it could still come down to the wire.
Hoeffel trailed incumbent Specter by double digits in polls a few weeks ago, but since then he has continuously gained momentum.
"The race is going to get tighter," Keystone Poll Director Terry Madonna said. "But [the question is], will it get tight enough to give [Hoeffel] a chance?"
Specter led Hoeffel 46 percent to 32 percent in early October, according to the independent Keystone Poll, with 6 percent going to Constitution Party candidate Jim Clymer.
Although Hoeffel's campaign cites a recent Survey USA poll that has Hoeffel trailing by only seven points, Madonna dismissed the poll numbers as coming from biased sources.
"The polls they're showing are not independent polls," he said, though he acknowledged that it is very possible for Hoeffel to gain ground as new polling numbers are released.
Hoeffel's "biggest problem is just getting name recognition," Madonna said. "If he's going to do this, he's got to do it pretty quickly. ... He needs to get into single digits by this weekend."
The Hoeffel campaign staff say they're going to continue their efforts, which include television advertising and face-to-face contact.
"We're going to keep doing what we've been doing, because obviously it's been working," Hoeffel spokeswoman Kristin Carvell said. This is "what historically happens -- the polls start to tighten."
Hoeffel hopes that Clymer will get some votes from individuals who would have otherwise voted for the incumbent senator.
Specter campaign manager Christopher Nicholas said that members of his campaign staff were not particularly worried about the possible votes taken away from Specter by Clymer, who defines himself as the more conservative alternative Republican candidate.
"I think the Hoeffel people like to hype that more than it will be" a factor, Nicholas said.
Carvell argued that many of the polls have not included Clymer, even though he may effect the election results.
Specter is not worried.
"Obviously, we're still confident of victory," Nicholas said, criticizing what he called Hoeffel's failure to enact serious legislation since he was elected to Congress in 1998.
"He's done nothing. He'd do nothing," Nicholas said. "Why would you trade someone who has the influence and seniority for someone who has neither?"
Hoeffel visited Penn's campus on Oct. 5 to voice his opinion about the Bush administration's mishandling of the war in Iraq, arguing that Specter has been silent on the issue.
The challenger did vote to go to war against Iraq, but is now critical of the evidence used to justify the war.
"Hoeffel has continued to voice his criticism on the way President Bush has ... continued to make one disastrous mistake after another," Carvell said.
As for the issue of education, "There may be a lot of agreement" between the candidates, Nicholas said. The main issue is Specter's seniority.
Specter was chairman of the committee that worked to raise Pell Grant funding, and Hoeffel supported both the Pell Grant legislation and President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, although he now opposes what he calls the underfunding of the act.
Carvell cited recent numbers issued by the College Board that showed a 39.7 percent increase in tuition costs since the start of the Bush administration.
"Specter has voted for every single one of Bush's fiscally irresponsible budgets," Carvell said, forcing funding cuts for universities and colleges and "creating an unfair tuition hike for students."
