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Former senator Arlen Specter dies Specter, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1981 to 2011, died Sunday at his home in Philadelphia from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 82.
May 18, 2010
Sen. Arlen Specter arrives at the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center to await the results of the Democratic primary on May 18, 2010. Specter lost to challenger Rep. Joe Sestak, who then lost to Pat Toomey in the general election.
Melina Mara
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THE WASHINGTON POST
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December 1946
The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Arlen Specter, seen here at age 16, was born in Wichita on Feb. 12, 1930, and raised in Russell, Kan.
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AP
Specter, front row, third from right, poses with his American Legion baseball team in Russell, Kan.
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AP
April 8, 1967
Specter, then Philadelphia’s district attorney, takes a bite of a hot dog held by his wife, Joan, as he opened his campaign for mayor of the city, which he lost in a tight race against the Democratic incumbent, James Tate. Specter married Joan Levy, who later served on the Philadelphia City Council, in 1953. The couple had two sons, Stephen and Shanin.
Bill Ingraham
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AP
1972
Specter held the position of Philadelphia district attorney for eight years. Specter was appointed assistant district attorney in 1959, when he was a registered Democrat. In 1965, he sought the Democratic nomination to be the city’s district attorney, but the party machine rebuffed him. A registered Democrat, he joined the Republican Party and, campaigning as the reform candidate, defeated his former boss, Democratic district attorney James C. Crumlish Jr.
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AP
April 28, 1976
Specter, after losing his reelection campaign for district attorney in 1973, first ran for the Senate in 1976, losing to John Heinz of Pittsburgh. Four years later, he successfully ran for the Senate, holding onto the seat for 30 years.
Kanis
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AP
Nov. 14, 1977
Arlen Specter, with his wife, Joan, at his side, holds a news conference in the state Capitol rotunda in Harrisburg, Pa., to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor. He lost to Richard Thornburgh, but would be elected to the Senate two years later.
Paul Vathis
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AP
Sept. 15, 1993
Specter, right, speaks with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington to discuss a Republican health-care reform package. In the Senate, he found a home among moderate Republicans, often voting with Democrats. In 2009, shortly after announcing that he was switching membership to the Democratic Party, Specter voiced his support for President Obama’s health-care plan.
Barry Thumma
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AP
March 30, 1995
On the grounds of the Washington Monument, Specter announced that he would seek the 1996 Republican presidential nomination to challenge President Bill Clinton, arguing that the nation could not afford “a Republican candidate so captive to the demands of the intolerant right that we end up reelecting a president of the incompetent left.” But he could not woo enough Republicans, and he suspended his campaign just before the primaries began, endorsing Sen. Robert J. Dole (Kan.).
Wilfredo Lee
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AP
Oct. 24, 1995
From left, 1996 Republican presidential candidates Maurice Taylor, Pat Buchanan, Specter, Rep. Bob Dornan (Calif.), Alan Keyes and Sen. Phil Gramm (Tex.) appear backstage before the American Conservative Union’s Republican Presidential Forum Dinner. Sen. Robert J. Dole (Kan.) won the nomination, later losing to Bill Clinton.
James M. Thresher
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The Washington Post
Nov. 22, 1995
Specter announces that he is dropping out of the 1996 presidential race, acknowledging that he failed to raise enough money to attract moderate Republican supporters. His wife, Joan, stands beside him. He would instead endorse Sen. Robert J. Dole (Kan.).
Nanine Hartzenbusch
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AP
Oct. 23, 1996
Specter, second from right, talks to, from left, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) during a hearing on allegations that the CIA conspired with Nicaraguan contra rebels to sell cocaine in Los Angeles and other cities. The senator was the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee from 1995 to 1997.
Robert A. Reeder
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The Washington Post
July 29, 1997
Specter welcomes Yue F. Chu before she testifies in a campaign finance hearing in Washington.
Chris Stanford
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The Washington Post
Jan. 15, 1999
Specter, right, and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) exit the Senate chamber where the impeachment trial of President Clinton was taking place.
Robert A. Reeder
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The Washington Post
April 27, 2004
Specter, with his wife, Joan, talks to supporters after the polls closed in primary elections in Philadelphia. Specter, who was seeking a fifth term, was being challenged by then-Rep Pat Toomey, who would succeed Specter in 2010, after the 30-year senator switched parties.
H. Rumph Jr.
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AP
July 12, 2005
Specter uses an hourglass to illustrate the urgency in finding a cure for cancer and other diseases during a Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. The panel was studying funding for stem-cell research, of which Specter was a vocal supporter. He was one of Congress’s leading champions of medical research. Together with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), he helped double the National Institutes of Health budget from 1999 to 2004.
Dennis Cook
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AP
Aug. 25, 2005
Specter, then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, works in his office on Capitol Hill. After assuming office, the senator quickly became a dominant force during the Judiciary Committee’s rancorous U.S. Supreme Court nomination battles. More than anyone else, he helped defeat conservative nominee Robert Bork in 1987, and his aggressive questioning of law professor Anita Hill four years later — he accused her of “flat-out perjury” — helped secure Clarence Thomas’s confirmation.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Aug. 25, 2004
Specter, left, then the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, works while being driven to a hearing.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Sept. 12, 2005
Specter, second from left, prepares to start a hearing in the Senate on John Roberts, then the nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court. Surrounding him are, from left, Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt).
Bill O'Leary
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The Washington Post
Sept. 22, 2008
Specter appear at a rally in Media, Pa., with Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
Gerald Herbert
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AP
April 2, 2009
Specter listens to President Obama’s comments on Specter’s switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party. The switch came as a result of his acknowledgment that he could not win his 2010 reelection battle against Republican primary challenger Pat Toomey, the former head of the conservative Club for Growth. He became the 60th Democratic senator, giving the party a filibuster-proof majority. But he immediately drew a primary challenge from Rep. Joe Sestak, who ultimately won the Democratic primary. Toomey won in the general election, ending Specter’s 30-year Senate career.
Gerald Martineau
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The Washington Post
May 5, 2009
Specter speaks to the media at the Capitol following his switch to the Democratic Party.
Brendan Smialowski
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Bloomberg News
Aug. 13, 2009
Specter sits in his car before a town hall meeting on health care in Kittanning, Pa. After switching to the Democratic Party in his 2010 reelection campaign, he traveled around the state to meet with constituents, talking about health care reform, the recession and a host of other issues.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
Aug. 11. 2009
Specter listens to a man voice his complaints during a town hall meeting in Lebanon, Pa.
Bradley C. Bower
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AP
May 18, 2010
Specter appears at a polling station in Philadelphia on a rainy primary day.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
May 18, 2010
Surrounded by family members, Specter conceded defeat to Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic Pennsylvania primary from the Sheraton Philadelphia City Center ballroom in Philadelphia.
Melina Mara
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The Washington Post
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