POLITICAL BRIEFING

AD FLAP: After a series of setbacks in the late summer and early fall, Democratic candidate Lynn Yeakel regained some of the momentum in her closely watched bid to unseat Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. But a recent Yeakel commercial, which called Specter the “most obnoxious man in the Senate,” may have set her cause back a bit. . . . The spot was judged “very objectionable” by the Pennsylvania Citizens Jury, a panel formed by the League of Women Voters and which, as part of its duties, rated ads in the Senate race. One panel member said of the process: “It was useful; it made me realize I didn’t want to vote for Yeakel.”