POITICAL BRIEFING

SENATE WATCH: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), once viewed as vulnerable to attack from the right, now is the heavy favorite to defeat a conservative challenger in his state’s April 28 primary. . . . Specter apparently was aided by his tough questioning of Anita Faye Hill during last year’s Senate hearing on her charges of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Analysts say Specter’s assault on Hill helped blunt the bid to unseat him by state Rep. Stephen Freind. . . . But what works in the spring might haunt Specter in the fall. A potential Democratic foe, Lynn Yeakel, is already airing ads that ask viewers if Specter’s questioning of Hill made them “as angry as it did me.”