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As polls narrow, Sestak, Toomey in heated debate

The two men aiming to replace U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter clashed repeatedly in a debate last night, each accusing the other of lying about his "extreme" positions as polls show the race narrowing to a dead heat with less than two weeks until Election Day.

The two men aiming to replace U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter clashed repeatedly in a debate last night, each accusing the other of lying about his "extreme" positions as polls show the race narrowing to a dead heat with less than two weeks until Election Day.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a Delaware County Democrat, painted former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, a Lehigh County Republican, as a former Wall Street trader interested only in protecting large corporations.

Toomey pegged Sestak as a member of the "most liberal wing" of his political party, willing to spend the country into debt that it cannot handle.

It became clear early on how nationalized the contentious race has become when moderator George Stephanopoulos, of ABC News, noted that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Toomey Tuesday and asked if she was qualified to be president.

Toomey didn't answer and did little to embrace Palin's support.

"I'm very grateful for the support I have from people all across the political spectrum," Toomey said.

Sestak drew out the issue, saying he was sure that Palin's endorsement was a "very coveted award" for Toomey, linking the pair as part of the Republican "extreme fringe."

Along that theme, Sestak alleged that Toomey's support for allowing workers to invest Social Security taxes into private retirement accounts amounts to a risky favor for Wall Street cronies.

"My opponent wants to take it and invest it where he made his fortune," Sestak said.

Toomey said he would never put the income of retirees at risk, adding that changes must be made to save Social Security.

"I want to make this program last for future generations," Toomey said.

The two men clashed on how to try terrorists, in civil courts as Sestak suggests or in military tribunals as Toomey supports.

Sestak, a retired Navy admiral, said he lost colleagues in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon.

"I want them brought to justice in Washington, D.C., where they killed my friends," Sestak said. "I want them put to death for what they did."

Toomey said that trials in civilian courts would open the country up for more terrorist attacks.

"This would be a circus," Toomey warned. "It would be very dangerous."

The two men agreed that the biggest threat to America is a weakened economy, but then blamed each other for the state of things now. That led to a clash on the health-care-reform legislation signed into law earlier this year.

Toomey said he hears from doctors who fear that it will lead to the government intervening in the care of their patients. Sestak countered that his daughter, who battled brain cancer, can't be denied health insurance under the new law due to a pre-existing medical condition.

Polls have shown the Senate race growing closer as millions of dollars have been poured into campaign ads by Sestak and Toomey, and millions more spent by nonprofit advocacy groups and labor unions.

Toomey, who narrowly missed defeating Specter in the 2004 Republican primary election, benefits from great timing as an anti-incumbent wave has been generated by tea-party conservatives embracing a small government with limited spending.

Sestak has played up a politically independent streak after defying a White House effort to get him to drop his May 18 Democratic primary election challenge of Specter, who switched parties last year in a failed bid to avoid a right-wing backlash to his five terms in the Senate.