Free market conservatives often voice frustration that in most elections voters see little ideological difference between the candidates–especially in primary races. As Kellyanne Conway of the polling company has put it, too often conservative voters are forced to choose between “vanilla and French vanilla.”
Not so in Pennsylvania’s primary election for Senate on Tuesday. Here voters have a choice between vanilla and chocolate-fudge brownie. The contrasts in the voting records of incumbent Arlen Specter and challenger Pat Toomey could hardly be more stark. To highlight those distinctions, I constructed a list below of the clarifying differences between what these two candidates stand for.
| Toomey | Specter | |
| National Taxpayers
Union Rating |
Grade A | Grade C+ |
| Supports School choice
for parents |
Yes | No |
| Position on Bush tax
cut |
Make it much bigger | Make it much smaller |
| Medical Malpractice
reform |
Yes | No |
| Trial Lawyer Campaign
Support |
close to 0 | $1.3 million |
| # of Votes for Higher
Taxes |
0 | 6 |
| Citizens Against Govt
Waste |
A Rating | Porker of the Year |
| Amer. Conservative
Union Rating |
96 | 43 |
| Support for Free Trade | Yes | Sometimes |
| Taxpayer funds for
abortions |
No | Yes |
| Support National Endowment
for Arts |
No | Yes |
| Voted on $530 Medicare
Drug Bill |
No | Yes |
| Private Accounts For
Social Security |
Yes | Depends on when he’s
asked |
| Farm Subsidies | No | Yes |
In sum, fiscal conservatives finally have a race where there is no just a dime’s worth of difference, but hundreds of billions of dollars worth.
Polls show that more than 1/3rd of self-professed conservatives in Pennsylvania are leaning toward voting for Arlen Specter. This is like an oak tree voting for a chainsaw. If conservatives do vote for Specter, they may be suffering from buyer’s remorse for the next six long years.