Lost in the Arnold win and amid all the talk of a Republican winning in California, is the wildfire spreading through Philly. Remember California may be a bastion of liberalism, but they did, in fact, have a Reublican governor prior to Gray Davis being elected.

Philadelphia has not had a Republican mayor in 50 years. In that time, the unions have run roughshod, contracts have been awarded only to democrat cronies, a mayor was reelected after earning the dubious distinction of dropping a bomb on his own city and destroying 60 homes (then giving the rebuilding contract to another crony who built shoody replacements).

The city replaced 60 homes destroyed in the conflagration but now wants to demolish them because of shoddy construction that has led to leaky roofs, bad plumbing and, recently, heating systems said to pose a threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.

City officials are offering Osage-Pine residents $150,000 per home, described as twice the average market value, in hopes of escaping a relentless cycle of repairs that has raised the cost of rebuilding there to an estimated $35 million

Of course John Street is playing the race card, hell it just may get him reelected. Street is blaming this whole inconvenient mess on Ashcroft and Bush, good campaign strategy that. Street seemed to have no problems being allies with Bush when it suited him. The main issue is that this whole thing would not have came to light if not for the mayor using a firm to sweep for bugs and discovering one right over his desk.

The election is close, and Katz is running a good campaign. If he should win, that would be an even bigger Republican win than Arnold. It should be an interesting two weeks.