The candidates for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania have shuffled toward the finish line in a contest overshadowed by the presidential election and dominated by the incumbent.

	Incumbent: U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter

Sen. Arlen Specter appears headed for victory on Election Day, unless Democratic challenger Joe Hoeffel can somehow defy polls that show him trailing by as many as 23 percentage points.

About the only remarkable thing in the race is that Specter has spent more money campaigning this year than any other Senate candidate in the country.

According to the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Finance Institute, Specter's $17.6 million in outlays easily outpaces the second heaviest spender, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., at $16 million.

Specter, poised to win a state-record fifth term in the Senate, spent most of his money in a bruising Republican primary against U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, of Allentown.

But he has had plenty left over to bombard television sets with campaign commercials this month.

"Specter made the heavy television buys in the last two weeks and that made all the difference in the world," said G. Terry Madonna, director of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin and Marshall College. "Hoeffel has been unable to respond in kind."

A three-term congressman from Montgomery County, Hoeffel has lacked the campaign funds necessary to make himself sufficiently recognizable to Pennsylvania voters, raising $4 million.

	Challenger: U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel

"For every Hoeffel commercial out there, there are three Specter commercials," said Marie Gottschalk, a University of Pennsylvania political science professor. "If the money were even, you might have a different race."

Both candidates have stuck to the central themes of the campaigns down the stretch.

Specter has stressed the value of his seniority in obtaining federal dollars for Pennsylvania. On Monday, for instance, he traveled to New Kensington, all but guaranteeing an appreciative audience that he can secure $2.5 million for the next phase of a proposed Allegheny River bridge.

"My 24 years' seniority doesn't belong to Arlen Specter. It belongs to the people of Pennsylvania," Specter has said on the stump.

Hoeffel has tried to tie Specter to President Bush in the minds of voters. Last week, the Democrat began airing a new television commercial that includes a clip of Bush praising the senator.

"What it comes down to is, if you think George Bush's policies are working in Pennsylvania, then Arlen Specter is your choice for the Senate," Hoeffel has said on the stump. "But if you want a change, then I'm your man."

Recent polls, though, have shown that an astounding one-third of Democrats intend to vote for Specter.

"Pennsylvanians are ticket splitters," Gottschalk said. "Specter has been around a long time. He is very powerful. He has brought home pork for the state."

Polls also have shown that Specter has recaptured most of the Republicans who supported Toomey in the primary, though a few will vote for the only conservative in the race, Constitution Party candidate Jim Clymer.

An ardent opponent of abortion rights, Clymer refers to the Republican and Democratic parties as "two wings of the same bird of prey."

Libertarian Betsy Summers also will appear on the ballot.

News last week that U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer has some bearing on the race, because Specter probably will become chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee if he wins re-election Tuesday.

Specter has indicated that he would assert himself in not only the confirmation but also the nomination of Supreme Court justices. He wants to consult bar associations, state Supreme Court justices, legal scholars and federal appellate court justices to create a pool of 25 to 50 potential nominees for the president to choose from.

Hoeffel has stressed that Specter has voted for every one of Bush's federal court nominees, even for the most conservative of them.