The best article I've read about the Philly mayoral election is from a paper that isn't even in the city. John Fund breaks it down:

Mr. Katz didn't win a single union endorsement in his photo-finish loss to Mr. Street in 1999. This year, the city's largest municipal workers' union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has broken with the mayor over his management style and endorsed Mr. Katz. Last month, a meeting between the mayor and AFSCME members turned into a shouting match, during which Mr. Street yelled that he would "win this election without you if I have to!"

Other unions that are backing Mr. Katz include the Firefighters, the Housing Authority Police, the Gas Workers, the Communications Workers, the Food and Commercial Workers and the Painters union. While their support has led him to soft pedal calls he made in previous campaigns for the use of competitive bidding in some city services, Mr. Katz doesn't appear to have made major concessions in exchange for their support.


The voters Mr. Katz has the most trouble with are blacks, who make up 43% of the city. Mayor Street has tried to energize them by claiming the federal investigation of his office is part of a White House effort to discredit a black mayor. No polls have been taken on what effect that message is having with minority voters. Certainly Mr. Katz is making more of an effort in black neighborhoods than he did in the past, partly by calling for better policing that takes into account the suspicions many minorities have of the local men in blue.

Street has done what alot of Democrats have done since Clinton was in office, they cozy up to the unions to get elected, then side with the corporation's who feed them money. Alot of the time they take the big-donor corporation's side in labor disputes against the unions, hence the the endorsemnts Katz has received from the CWA and AFSCME.

Clinton sold the unions out when he pushed NAFTA, although the union leadership stayed with him, the rank and file drifted. In 2000 the union leadership again backed Gore, yet the members, in the privacy of the voting booth voted for Bush.

The black vote will be hard for Katz to overcome, especially the way that Street has played the race card in the FBI-bugging episode, but I think Katz may edge Street out this time. That's if the registered dead vote doesn't come in to play as has happened in many Philly elections.