PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter told a union rally Saturday that “victory is in the air” and reprised his charges that Democratic primary challenger Joe Sestak is misleading voters in Tuesday’s Democratic primary and skipping too many votes in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sestak, a second-term congressman who spent Saturday stumping for votes in western Pennsylvania, shrugged off Specter’s comments and said they show the fifth-term senator is “desperate” in the home stretch of their campaign.

Specter kicked off a day of appearances in and around his home city of Philadelphia at a rally at a sprawling cargo terminal along the Delaware River, which is being deepened to allow the entry of larger ships in a dredging project for which the former Republican has led the fight over much of his 30-year Senate career. It is expected to create an estimated 125,000 jobs.

“The job’s not finished, and I need another term in office to bring these 125,000 jobs to this region,” he told reporters just before speaking at a windy, riverfront rally that attracted about 100 union members.

Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady were among the elected officials and union leaders who spoke at the rally.

Specter, 80, is endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and is counting on organized labor to help get out the vote Tuesday.

He continued to attack as misleading a Sestak ad that says Specter switched parties “to save one job — his — not yours.”

“I put my job at risk” by switching parties in an attempt to stay in the Senate and “keep your jobs and add more jobs,” he told the crowd.