Pat Toomey

In 2004, even many Republicans thought Pat Toomey was too extreme for the U.S. Senate. Toomey was a little-known, fiscally conservative congressman from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley taking on moderate Arlen Specter, who was seeking a fifth term. Yet the challenger almost won that Republican primary. Only strong backing from President George W. Bush and Senate colleague Rick Santorum saved Specter. Six years later, Toomey's call for a rematch scared Specter right out of the GOP. And still there were Republicans hoping for someone more "electable," such as moderate Tom Ridge, the former governor and Homeland Security director.

ON TUESDAY, state Republicans have a very important choice between Rep. Pat Toomey and liberal incumbent Arlen Specter for the U.S. Senate. This will be the most closely watched Senate race in America. The fact that it will be very close is affirmed by Sen. Specter's wave of negative commercials in an effort to cloud the facts. We strongly encourage Republican voters not to be beguiled by the smoke and mirrors in Sen. Specter's ads, but to look at the records he and Rep. Toomey have compiled during their tenures in Washington.

Those numbers from Philadelphia did not look good at all, and a ripple of alarm went through the war room late Tuesday. More Democrats than forecast had turned out to vote in the city, so aides to Republican U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey reworked their spreadsheets, looking for the path to victory. At 10 p.m., Democrat Joe Sestak was holding a sizable lead in the closely watched contest - until, bit by bit, Republican areas reported in with better margins than the Toomey team could have hoped.

In the late 1970s, when inflation was rampant and memories of Watergate and the Vietnam War were still raw, Pat Toomey spent part of each school day in a high school history classroom quietly seething. It was the teacher who got under his skin. Too many lectures were about capitalism's failings, corruption in Washington, or how America was no better than the Soviet Union. None of it squared with Toomey's patriotic take on U.S. history or his budding conservative ideology. "I felt we were a great, great country, a great civilization," said Toomey, 42, who has represented the Lehigh Valley and parts of Montgomery County in the House of Representatives since 1999.

Bipartisanship in Washington? A3. The case for wider background checks. Sen. Pat Toomey, D1. Gun deal passes for progress. Editorial, D4.

WASHINGTON – A Navy ship, named in honor of the passengers and crew who died aboard United Flight 93, will be commissioned in Philadelphia - 200 miles from the abandoned coal field in Somerset County where the plane was forced down on 9/11. The USS Somerset, an amphibius transport ship whose bow was in part fashioned from the steel remains of coal mining equipment found at the crash site, will be commissioned at the Philadelphia Port in January, according Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa)

HARD-RIGHT Republicans are pushing loony conservative Pat Toomey, hoping to make an example of Sen. Arlen Specter. But dislodging a four-term senator because he has not always toed the ultra-conservative line would mean even fewer moderates in the party than the tiny remnant that remains. That would be a disaster for everyone, including Republicans.

HARD-RIGHT Republicans are pushing loony conservative Pat Toomey, hoping to make an example of Sen. Arlen Specter. But dislodging a four-term senator because he has not always toed the ultra-conservative line would mean even fewer moderates in the party than the tiny remnant that remains. That would be a disaster for everyone, including Republicans.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week: House Dodd-Frank financial rules. Voting 235-161, the House on Friday passed a bill (HR 1062) imposing time-consuming requirements on the Securities and Exchange Commission as it puts the 2010 financial-regulation law known as Dodd-Frank into effect. In part, the bill would require the SEC, an independent agency, to conduct cost-benefit analyses of Dodd-Frank's impact on free-market forces such as capital formation and market liquidity.

CRAIG HETHERINGTON, a 44-year-old Bedford County trucker, held a sign reading, "Pat Toomey, You Are Fired. " Kay Hartman, a Mifflin County "tea-party patriot old enough to be wise," carried a large white flag featuring a black AK-47 over the words "Come and Take It. " Another woman held a sign: "Gun Control is False Hope; Jesus Christ is the True Hope. " And a bearded man wearing a "Don't Tread on Me" red vest held a sign: "We Come Unarmed (this time). " Welcome to the Pennsylvania gun club.

WASHINGTON - Here is how Philadelphia-area members of Congress voted on major issues last week: House Dodd-Frank financial rules. Voting 235-161, the House on Friday passed a bill (HR 1062) imposing time-consuming requirements on the Securities and Exchange Commission as it puts the 2010 financial-regulation law known as Dodd-Frank into effect. In part, the bill would require the SEC, an independent agency, to conduct cost-benefit analyses of Dodd-Frank's impact on free-market forces such as capital formation and market liquidity.

Planting seeds of job growth Gov. Corbett's trade missions have benefited the entire state, and demonstrate his dedication to bringing well-paying jobs to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, the result will be a world-leading port. When the governor negotiated the refineries deal here, he saved hundreds of jobs. His latest deal to bring in a containerized-cargo shipper, Horizon Lines Inc., is another example of how Corbett continuously comes up with creative ways to grow jobs. Benjamin Fogel, Bala Cynwyd, bfogel95@gmail.com Bishop never lost touch While a consultant to Cardinal Justin Rigali, I worked with then-Auxiliary Bishop Joseph P. McFadden on a sexual-assault prevention and education program for high school sophomores in the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

WASHINGTON – A Navy ship, named in honor of the passengers and crew who died aboard United Flight 93, will be commissioned in Philadelphia - 200 miles from the abandoned coal field in Somerset County where the plane was forced down on 9/11. The USS Somerset, an amphibius transport ship whose bow was in part fashioned from the steel remains of coal mining equipment found at the crash site, will be commissioned at the Philadelphia Port in January, according Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa)

WASHINGTON - Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) dismissed talk Friday that he might take a second run at passing new gun laws, even as a new poll found voters in the state giving him high marks for backing a bipartisan plan to expand background checks. "My own view is very simple: The Senate has had its vote. We've seen the outcome of that vote. I am not aware of any reason to believe that if we had the vote again that we'd have a different outcome," Toomey said on a conference call. He was responding to a question about a New York Times report that Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.)

CRAIG HETHERINGTON, a 44-year-old Bedford County trucker, held a sign reading, "Pat Toomey, You Are Fired. " Kay Hartman, a Mifflin County "tea-party patriot old enough to be wise," carried a large white flag featuring a black AK-47 over the words "Come and Take It. " Another woman held a sign: "Gun Control is False Hope; Jesus Christ is the True Hope. " And a bearded man wearing a "Don't Tread on Me" red vest held a sign: "We Come Unarmed (this time). " Welcome to the Pennsylvania gun club.

Victories often contain the seeds of future defeats. So it is - or should be - with the Senate's morally reprehensible rejection of expanded background checks for gun buyers. The outcome is a test of both an invigorated gun-safety movement and a gun lobby that decided to go for broke. The National Rifle Association assumed that blocking new gun legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre would firmly establish its dominance. Advocates of sane gun regulations would scatter in despair and be torn apart by recriminations.

How senators voted on the Manchin-Toomey amendment to expand gun background checks. The measure fell short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. Yeas (54) Tammy Baldwin, D., Wis. Michael Bennet, D., Colo. Richard Blumenthal, D., Conn. Barbara Boxer, D., Calif. Sherrod Brown, D., Ohio Maria Cantwell, D., Wash. Ben Cardin, D., Md. Tom Carper, D., Del. Bob Casey, D., Pa. Susan Collins, R., Maine Chris Coons, D., Del. William Cowan, D., Mass.