By Phil Power -- Hometown Communications Network

Although overshadowed by the prison abuse scandal in Iraq, last week's narrow primary victory by Pennsylvania moderate Republican Sen. Arlen Specter over staunch conservative challenger Pat Toomey, a congressman from Allentown, should not go unnoticed.

The Club for Growth, a political action committee whose agenda is to push moderate Republicans to the right - or out of office - poured $2 million into Toomey's campaign. That Specter barely hung on to win 51 percent, even with strong support from President George W. Bush, suggests that the moderate wing of the Republican Party, already a minority in an increasingly conservative party, is at risk of outright extinction.

Whether this is a good thing for the GOP remains in doubt, at least if you listen to Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. Historically a Republican bastion, Oakland County has in recent years been voting more and more Democratic. Voters there favored Bill Clinton in 1996, Al Gore in 2000 and Jennifer Granholm in 2002.

How come? Patterson, who nobody has ever mistaken for a liberal, thinks the GOP is perceived by moderate suburban voters as too much in thrall of pro-life, right-wing Republicans who are intolerant of less hard-edge views. "In order to win elections," he says, "it's simple. You've got to attract the moderate majority."

Patterson, who calls his hard right opponents the "Taliban wing of the Republican Party," has been squabbling with Christian Coalition leader Tom McMillan, a county commissioner.

Patterson says he asked McMillan recently how it helped the cause if squashing the moderates wound up electing a pro-choice candidate for president. "He responded he'd rather go down on principle than win an election," Patterson says in disbelief.

All of which brings us to Michigan's most interesting race: the 7th Congressional District, which includes suburbs around Lansing as well as Jackson and Calhoun counties. The 7th is a firmly Republican district; whoever wins the GOP primary in August is a near shoo-in in November. There are six candidates now vying for the nomination.

Last week's big news was that to the amazement of everyone, Michigan Right to Life, a right-wing powerhouse in GOP primaries, endorsed state Rep. Clark Bisbee (R-Jackson). Up to the time of the RTL announcement, Bisbee was largely written off as an ordinarily conservative state representative who hadn't raised nearly as much money as Rep. Gene DeRossett (R-Manchester) or gained as much districtwide support as former state Sen. John (Joe) Schwarz, a physician and former mayor of Battle Creek, the only moderate Republican in the race.

Right to Life's announcement set off a first-class rumpus. Candidates Paul DeWeese (R-Eaton Rapids) and DeRossett both charged RTL with conspiring with the Michigan State Chamber of Commerce (another GOP powerhouse) to back the same candidate in order to narrow the field by the May 11 filing date. Denying the charge, Bob LaBrant, the chamber's political operative, told me "the cabal theory is exaggerated," adding that the chamber could yet endorse Bisbee or any other candidate (including Schwarz, who had a solid pro-business record in the state Senate) or no candidate.

With five candidates working diligently to curry favor with conservative interest groups, moderate Schwarz looks like he may have a real shot in the primary. "My sense is that a lot of nice, perfectly sensible voters in this district are tired of being constantly offered up candidates from the right wing of the Republican Party," Schwarz told me. "Republicans will be smart if they nominate people who can actually get votes from Democrats and independents in the November election."

I've known Schwarz during the nearly 20 years in which he was one of the most influential, tough-minded and articulate state senators in Lansing. Nobody in the Legislature knew more about higher education than did Schwarz. Lest anybody doubt his patriotic credentials, he served a hitch in Vietnam with the Navy - and then went back for more as a member of the CIA. At a youthful 66, he's running hard, hitting the chicken dinner circuit and raising money. So far, he has a slight lead in the polls.

But Schwarz hasn't forgotten that his day job is still being a practicing physician. Last month, while dashing from one fund-raising appointment to another in Battle Creek, he heard that one of his patients needed help getting a referral for special surgery at the University of Michigan hospital. Schwarz broke off his solicitations, went to the hospital, sat with his patient, made the calls to get the referral arranged, and even offered the man a ride home if he needed one.

Stories like this about Joe Schwarz abound. If character, compassion, brains and experience count, he should be firmly in the minds of 7th District voters when they go to the polls in the August primary.