Joe Who? Joe Hoeffel, That's Who. If That Name Doesn't Ring a Bell by Nov. 2, Then the U.S. Senate Will Likely Stay in Republican Hands.

Summary

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[Joe Hoeffel]'s campaign rhetoric is aimed less at [Arlen Specter] than at [George W. Bush]. His recent ads cite Specter's boast that he voted in support of Bush's policies 89 percent of the time. "I think that's the main issue in this campaign," Hoeffel says in one ad. "I don't think George Bush's policies have helped Pennsylvania, and I've opposed them." There's a certain logic to that tactic: Bush's record is better known and more controversial than Specter's, so tying the senator to the president saves precious airtime.

"It seems that we haven't done nothing under Bush, so it's time for a change," says an elderly man waiting for a bus on Centre. "This country, they're talking about being safer. It doesn't look too safe here." Ask about the Senate race, though, and his conviction fades. "Specter hasn't been bad. Hoeffel? I haven't heard anything about him until this year."

In the vast middle of the spectrum, meanwhile, there is ambivalence. The Democrats' 2000 poster boy for centrism, [Ron Klink], is now a lobbyist and has endorsed Specter. The middle-of-the-road's 2002 champion, [Ed Rendell], has endorsed Hoeffel, but there's little evidence that the governor has brought his legendary fund-raising prowess to bear. Through September, Hoeffel had raised just $2.8 million in campaign cash, versus $16.2 million for Specter, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Responsive Politics. Rendell "thinks Joe Hoeffel would be an outstanding representative of Pennsylvania," says Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo, but also has "a great deal of respect for Sen. Specter." Ardo adds that "it would behoove this state" to have a Democrat-controlled Senate, since its priorities "would be more in line with Pennsylvania's needs."

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Joe Who? Joe Hoeffel, That's Who. If That Name Doesn't Ring a Bell by Nov. 2, Then the U.S. Senate Will Likely Stay in Republican Hands.

Just Joe Hoeffel's luck. Gale-force winds kick up as he arrives late for an Oct. 2 Democratic rally in Cheswick. Tablecloths rip free from their masking tape moorings and whip about. Democratic stalwarts trudge toward their cars, fearful of a deluge that never materializes. Nonetheless, Hoeffel bounds on stage, full of leftover adrenaline from his debate with Sen. Arlen Specter, completed 90 minutes earlier. "I kicked his ass!" he tells the dwindling faithful. "It's been a long time coming, but change is going to come!"

Hoeffel has some cause to be pumped. In their Pittsburgh debate, he assailed Specter's record from the left -- both literally and figuratively, thanks...

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