The most exciting race of the spring season is being decided today in a Pennsylvania primary as Rep. Pat Toomey takes on four-term senator Arlen Specter.

The press keeps referring to Specter as a “moderate Republican”. I call him a typical Yankee liberal RINO, and I’m not the only one:

Known on the Hill as ?Snarlin? Arlen? and ?the meanest Senator in Washington,? Specter is notorious for snubbing conservatives and their policies until he needs their support for re-election. His pitch is generally that for them to do otherwise might upset the delicate balance of power in the Senate.

Human Events lists his role as a union stooge and Ann Coulter lists his accomplishments thusly:

Thanks to Arlen Specter:

• States can’t prohibit partial-birth abortion;
• Voluntary prayer is banned at high-school football games;
• Flag-burning is a constitutional right;
• The government is allowed to engage in race discrimination in college admissions;
• The nation has been forced into a public debate about gay marriage;
• We have to worry about whether the Supreme Court will allow “under God” to be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance.

Some have described this race as a defining moment for the Republican party as it battles for its soul:

Specter’s defeat would be a defining moment for the modern conservative movement. Some GOP conservatives say they wouldn’t even mind if Toomey lost to the Democratic challenger in the fall. To them, removing an annoying, unreliable Republican from the Congress is their paramount goal.

Amen! Specter is about as dependable as was Jeffords — I’ve disliked him intensely for quite some time.

Most pundits say that a Specter loss will mean that the November race will hand the senate seat to the Democrat challenger. NRO disagrees and lays it out in Some Senate Math.

Voter turnout seems to be light, which should favor the underdog Toomey who has closed the gap in the polls among likely voters in recent day, in spite of being outspent 3-to-1 by Specter (Toomey’s $3 million to Specters $10 million). Some of this, of course, is an infusion of $2 million worth of ads attacking Specter by anti-tax/anti-big government organization Club for Growth (of which I am a proud member).

Updates:

• The Secretary of State site crashed, but you can check results here. Specter started off ahead with liberal Philadelphia reporting, but Toomey is hanging tough and the race appears neck and neck. This could be a long night.
• CNN reports with 70% of precincts in, Specter holds a 52 to 48% lead, but still too close to call.
• With 81% of precincts reporting, MSNBC tells us that it’s a 50/50 race, with Specter leading by “barely 4,000 votes” out of over 721,000 votes cast.
• Oh my, with 89% reporting, Specter’s lead has increased to 8,311.
• With 11% of precincts not yet reporting, Toomey Campaign Manager Mark Dion said it was too early to start talking about a recount. “I’m hoping it won’t be this margin.”
• The gap is widening again — with 96% reporting Specter leads 51-to-49% with 16,105 votes.
• PoliticsPA declares Specter the winner by 2% or about 15,000 votes (12:30 Eastern).
• The local ABC affiliate declares for Specter, as does Fox News (12:35 Eastern).
• MSNBC follows suit at 12:40.
• 12:50 and Specter’s lead has increased to over 16,000 votes with 98% reporting.

Personally I think Karl Rove miscalculated on this one. If both Bush and Sen. Santorum had not campaigned for Specter, I firmly believe that Toomey would have won. The mealy-mouthed excuses that a Toomey win would lose the state for Bush in November is silly — any state that will elect Santorum will also send Toomey to the senate.

But in the end it was a grand race and Toomey did very well against a 4-term incumbent. Hopefully it scared the pants off of Specter but somehow I doubt it — and now the old liberal becomes chairman of the Judiciary committee which scares the pants off of me!