John Baer: There's a GOP senate race . Really.

PENNSYLVANIA'S Republican Senate primary is the stealth campaign on Tuesday's ballot: Nobody knows it's there.

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, endorsed by the party, is challenged by former three-time statewide candidate Peg Luksik.

The race is a balloon with no air. It sits flat while the Democratic fight between Arlen Specter and Joe Sestak sucks up all the oxygen.

Toomey this week floated a generic TV spot against government bailouts, deficits and "government-run health care," asking viewers if they've "had enough." It ends with a tagline: "More jobs, less government, Pat Toomey."

Not exactly bubbling over with substance, but, then, Toomey's just reminding voters he's ready to run to the right of either Democrat.

Luksik, who always runs on shoestrings, plans no broadcast ads.

Both are conservative, though Toomey focuses on fiscal stuff, and Luksik is better known for opposition to abortion rights.

Almost nobody is polling the race so almost nobody is paying attention.

A small sample of 321 registered Republicans released today by the Franklin & Marshall College Poll shows Toomey with 28 percent, Luksik with 1 percent and a whopping 69 percent undecided. The same poll, sampling 861 registered voters, shows Toomey narrowly leading both Specter and Sestak in the general-election matchup.

Luksik never pays attention to polls, and the last time she ran in a statewide GOP primary she created a stir. The year was 1990 and the endorsed candidate for governor was then-Auditor General Barbara Hafer.

Luksik won 46 percent of the vote, beating Hafer in 13 counties, including some of the state's most conservative such as Lancaster, Lebanon and Perry. And Luksik's home county, Cambria, went 2-1 for Luksik.

Luksik also ran for governor as a third-party candidate in '94 and '98. Tom Ridge won those races. Luksik got 13 percent and 10 percent respectively.

But she says that her Senate run is "like looking at the Hafer race all over again . . . it's got a life of its own."

She's been in every county and is ending her campaign with a 16-city tour.

"I've concentrated efforts on really reaching down into the people this time," she says, "And I'm finding a lot more anger, frustration and a sadness that wasn't there before."

The difference between running against Hafer and running against Toomey is that Hafer was pro-choice at a time when the abortion debate under Gov. Casey raged. Luksik got tons of support from pro-life Republicans.

She's pushing those buttons again, claiming that Toomey's not as pro-life as he claims, but Toomey's having none of it, and won't even engage.

"I don't spend a lot of time learning where she is on issues," Toomey tells me. "I stick to my message. And I'm pro-life."

Toomey, reminded of Luksik vs. Hafer, says that he has "no such concerns" of a similar outcome. But, having narrowly lost a Senate GOP primary to Specter six years ago, he adds, "I take nothing for granted, which is why I've been working hard every day and have been for a year."

Luksik, 54, lives near Johnstown, has an education degree from Clarion University and is married with six children, two of whom work on her campaign.

Toomey, 48, lives near Allentown, has a political-science degree from Harvard, is married with three children, the youngest born just last week.

Luksik founded Mom's House, a nonprofit charity to help single parents finish school, and the National Parents Commission to better connect parents to public education.

The heart of her campaign is a hard conservative, tea-party-type manifesto, "The Constitutional Compact." It advocates states' rights, a balanced budget, no new taxes, a closing of the borders and a repeal of the health-care act.

Toomey worked in banking, ran a family restaurant and served in Congress from '99 to '05. He didn't seek re-election in '04 because he pledged to limit himself to three terms. He also headed the Club for Growth, a Washington-based national group backing fiscally conservative candidates.

He plays this campaign a tad softer than Luksik, but supports tax cuts, calls for securing the borders and wants health-care reforms that empower doctors and patients rather than government and insurance companies.

This flat, unseen race is unlikely to hold surprises - unless Luksik fans find a way to fill it with some air.

Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.