Word: specter
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...regularly, in bitter contests for public office between politicians from Philadelphia and those from the Pittsburgh area. This year the prize is the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Republican Richard Schweiker. The contestants are Democratic former Mayor Peter Flaherty, 55, of Pittsburgh and Republican former District Attorney Arlen Specter, 50, of Philadelphia...
...faced down Pittsburgh's municipal unions and cut the city payroll by about 25% while he was mayor in 1970-77, lost the Senate race against Schweiker in 1974 and the Governor's race against Republican Richard Thornburgh in 1978, partly because of insufficient support in Philadelphia. Specter, a household name in Philadelphia as a crusading district attorney in 1966-74, lost the 1976 Republican Senate primary to John Heinz and the 1978 gubernatorial primary to Thornburgh, partly because he could not attract enough votes in western Pennsylvania...
...candidates differ little on the issues. Both promise to back measures that would revive Pennsylvania's coal and steel industries. Both have endorsed a mixture of tax cuts and "supply side" incentives to improve the national economy. Both back the MX mobile missile system; Specter charges that Flaherty is "soft on national defense" because he opposes the defunct B-l bomber and neutron bomber programs, but Flaherty counters that he supports the cruise missile and Trident submarine programs...
...race thus boils down mostly to a choice between personalities. Specter has hired Campaign Consultant David Garth, who has put together a series of TV ads that portray the ex-D.A. as a man who would serve all Pennsylvanians, from the poor in Philadelphia to the steelworkers in Pittsburgh. Specter has also amassed a war chest of $1 million, including $525,000 from state and national Republican committees. Flaherty, whose previous campaigns were managed by his wife, has taken elocution lessons from a college debate coach and hired Washington Pollster Peter Hart, who advised him to stress his record...
Though Wheaton draws from all Christian denominations-and gets no church subsidy-it does well enough in giving ($7.3 million last year) to pay higher salaries than the average church-related college. Long-range money problems loom, of course. And beyond them is the specter of the Supreme Court and the U.S. Government...