By Chris Brennan, Philadelphia Daily News

ANOTHER SIX years, another victory for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter.

Pennsylvania's senior senator continued his 24-year tradition of frustrating his party's conservative core, besting U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey in yesterday's bruising Republican primary challenge.

Specter was leading late last night by more than 15,000 votes in a 2 percent lead over Toomey with 98 percent of the ballots tallied.

Specter thanked Toomey for promising his support in the general election, "so that we can move forward from this point, having resolved our family dispute, and on to a victory in November for the president, a Republican ticket and a Republican Congress."

Specter pulled off a political balancing act, running as a moderate Republican with the strong backing of President Bush and U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

Toomey was supported by the party's right - Bush and Santorum usually can be found in those ranks - and faced harsh last-minute attack ads from Specter that said the primary challenge amounted to Toomey vs. the president.

Toomey said his narrow loss sends "the message that the common-sense, conservative ideas at the heart of the Republican Party are very important."

Toomey, a three-term congressman who said he would not seek another two years in the Lehigh Valley's 15th district seat, railed against Specter as a pro-choice liberal who wastes tax dollars and fights his party.

He was aided by donations from pro-life activists nationwide and by the conservative Club For Growth, which spent millions on television ads criticizing Specter's record.

Specter insisted his party needed moderates and that Bush needs a senator with seniority here to help win the battle for Pennsylvania in November.

Specter also received help, from the Republican Main Street Partnership, a moderate group that ran ads that called Toomey a disloyal Republican.

Tom Baldino, a professor of political science at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, said no matter how close the primary, Specter is the odds-on favorite in November, when he'll be opposed by Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel.

"For Specter to even eek out a .005 [percent] win, that's all that matters," Baldino said. "Once he gets into the general election, he will work his magic, which is to attract Democrats and moderate Republicans. What are conservative Republicans going to do? They're going to hold their noses and vote for Specter."

Hoeffel last night said he did not consider Toomey an easier or tougher target than Specter.

"The primary has demonstrated that he's not the senator he used to be," said Hoeffel. "He used to be a moderate maverick, two great things. He's not either of them anymore."

This primary stands in stark comparison to Specter's last election, in May 1998, when he faced Republican challengers from Chester and Bucks counties.

Specter didn't even bother leaving Washington that day - he voted by absentee - and easily won.

Specter has crafted a career independent - at times - from his party. He ran successfully for the Senate in 1980 against state GOP chairman Harold "Bud" Haabestad, the party's endorsed candidate. It was his seventh run for office in 15 years, including losses for district attorney, mayor, governor and the Senate.

State House Speaker John Perzel, who also leads Northeast Philadelphia's 64th Ward, last night said Specter "pulled it off" despite some lackluster results in his hometown.

Vito Canuso, chairman of Philadelphia Republican Committee, lamented the low turnout of party voters yesterday, which he predicted, since President Bush is unchallenged.

"Nobody realizes today's a primary," Canuso said. "And nobody really cares who the attorney general is."