Today there's an election in Pennsylvania -- a Republican primary for U. S. Senate between incumbent Arlen Specter and Congressman Pat Toomey. Latest polls show the race even, so it's all down to which side will turn out their voters.

Conservatives everywhere have the chance act today to shape the future of the American judicial branch. If Specter is renominated today and reelected in November, he will become the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with the power to derail conservative, pro-life judicial nominations.

(Recalling that local political divisions don't fall along national partisan lines, I recognize that some of my Tulsa readers, who are allies on local issues, might think giving Specter the power to derail conservative judicial nominations is a good thing. It's nice that we can work together on areas of agreement, despite passionate differences on other important issues.)

Those of you who follow national politics will remember Specter's many betrayals of conservative principles. If you need reminders, follow this link for a list of National Review Online articles about the man. Or read this one from yesterday.

If you've got even a few minutes to make some calls, send an e-mail to electtoomey@yahoo.com and they will send you a script and a list of phone numbers. Polls in Pennsylvania close at 8 p.m. Eastern time (7 p.m. Tulsa time), and the Toomey campaign plans to call until the polls close.

Long distance calls are cheap, especially if your cell phone plan includes free long distance. My AT&T calling card from Sam's Club is less than 4 cents a minute -- for less than a meal at McDonald's I can encourage 100 voters to get out and vote for Pat Toomey.