Specter to explore bid for presidency

If U.S. Senator Arlen Specter has his wish, 1997 will see a University graduate in the White House for the first time since 1841. Specter, a 1951 graduate and Pi Lambda Phi brother, will announce his plans to explore a bid for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination at press conferences in Philadelphia, Concord, N.H., and Des Moines, Iowa today. If Specter declares his candidacy today, he will be the first Republican to officially announce his campaign for the Oval Office. The 14-year Senate veteran is forming a presidential "exploratory committee" and spent the weekend on "exploratory travels" through New Hampshire and Iowa, the site of the first presidential primaries and caucuses. Specter has made several trips to New Hampshire and Iowa in the past, but refused to comment on the possibility of a presidential run until after the stunning Republican successes in last week's mid-term elections. Specter's chances of capturing the GOP nomination are considered slim at best, but should he succeed in garnering the nomination and then unseating President Clinton, Specter would become the second University alumnus to hold the nation's highest post. The first was William Henry Harrison who was elected in 1840. Harrison, a 1791 University graduate, died of pneumonia after only a few months in office. Specter, 64, is a moderate who has often said that the Republican party cannot survive by appealing only to its right-wing core. He advocates the GOP drop the anti-abortion plank from its platform and that the Republicans try to reach out to alienated moderates. His centrist stance distances Specter from other potential Republican contenders, most of whom are politically to Specter's right. Thus far, only former Education Secretary Lamar Alexander has announced the formation of an exploratory committee similar to the one Specter has created. But it is expected that Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole of Kansas, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp, former Secretary of State James Baker and former Vice President Dan Quayle may declare within the next year. While Specter believes that appealing to the center with his "big-tent philosophy" is the key to political success -- he blames Bush's 1992 defeat on a GOP convention dominated by the religious right -- he may be out of sync with current political realities, as conservative Republicans did extremely well in last Tuesday's election. Specter may also be burdened with some harmful political baggage. A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter was criticized for his questioning of University of Oklahoma Law Professor Anita Hill on sexual harassment allegations during the 1991 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. But Specter won in 1992, beating political neophyte Lynn Yeakel, despite a campaign that centered on Specter's role in the Thomas-Hill hearings. Specter has also been attacked for developing the "single bullet theory" while serving as assistant counsel to the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John Kennedy in 1964. Many assassination experts have portrayed the theory, which speculates that the same bullet hit both Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, as implausible. Specter, who now lives in Philadelphia, is originally from Kansas. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University he served in the Air Force's Office of Special Investigations. He then attended Yale Law School, receiving his law degree in 1956. Specter entered the political arena in 1965, when he was elected Philadelphia district attorney.

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