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Specter: I will run again

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks after finishing a grueling, three- month regimen of chemotherapy treatments, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said today that his prognosis for recovery from Hodgkin's disease is "excellent."

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks after finishing a grueling, three- month regimen of chemotherapy treatments, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter said today that his prognosis for recovery from Hodgkin's disease is "excellent."

The Philadelphia Republican, who has served longer than any senator from Pennsylvania in Senate history, said he fully intends to seek election to a sixth term in 2010.

Specter, who first was elected in 1980, has had repeated medical troubles since being diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1993. He had radiation treatments in 1996 and a heart bypass operation in 1998. He was first diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a type of blood cancer, in 2005. The disease returned in April.

But Specter said he is in good shape and has resumed occasional games of squash, his athletic passion for the past 38 years. His only complaint was having teary eyes, which he said was a residual effect of his treatment.

He said of his cancer: "Chances of it not coming back are better than it coming back, but you have to be alert."

Asked what could prevent him from running again, he said: "I'm not going to face a question like that until I see what happens."