Philadelphia

It's no secret that many legislators in Pennsylvania live in fear of the National Rifle Association. Phil Goldsmith wants to change that.

The former managing director under Philadelphia Mayor John Street and current head of the gun-control group CeaseFire PA says the organization's new political action committee will be targeting lawmakers who have often acceded to the NRA's powerful lobby, while also propping up those who have worked to keep handguns off the street.

"My goal is that there be another voice out there than just the NRA, and that when legislators decide to make up their minds on these policy issues that they understand it's not just the NRA that they have to listen to," Goldsmith, also a former Philadelphia journalist, told PolitickerPA.com.

"We've got to show that you can buck the NRA and still win, and that if you buck CeaseFire you may have a contest on your hands," he added.

The City of Brotherly Love just keeps getting more blue.

It's been 60 years since a Republican has occupied the mayor's office in City Hall. And for years, Democrats have outnumbered GOP voters by more than 5-1.

Well, with the surge of new registrants from the exictement over April's Democratic primary and Barack Obama's efforts to register more voters for Election Day, add one more factor to that.

Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 6-1, 855,000 to 145,000. That's a loss of almost 4 percent for the GOP.

The new numbers could be critical as Obama seeks to win by huge margins in Philadelphia to offset losses in more conservative counties across the state. 

After weeks of squabbling between grassroots activists in Philadelphia and the city's election office over the availability of election returns information, a private Web site has done what the city wouldn't.

The site, "Campaign Scientific," provides a free database of detailed returns from Philadelphia elections dating back to 2002, The Daily News reports.

U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) during a town hall meeting in PhiladelphiaPHILADELPHIA - U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) brought his presidential campaign to Pennsylvania today, addressing supporters and answering their questions at a town hall meeting at the National Constitution Center.

Philadelphia was a curious choice for McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, to open his general election campaign in Pennsylvania. Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 5-1 in this liberal hotbed, and even urban Republicans often tend to lean Democratic. He will almost certainly lose the city by huge margins, with some pollsters analysts telling PolitickerPA.com that his opponent, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) could rack up as much as a whopping 85 percent of the city's votes.

But from the moment he took the stage to raucous applause from his supporters, McCain made it clear he wouldn't be ceding ground in the city or the state.

"Let me assure you, we will compete and win in the state of Pennsylvania," he said.

More PolitickerPA.com coverage: John Street's vanishing legacy

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) will be in Philadelphia on Friday to attend a fundraiser at the Sheraton in Center City, The Morning Call reports.

It has yet to be announced whether or not Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will hold any public events in town that day. But his campaign had previously identified Pennsylvania as a key-stop in the economic tour that is serving as the launching point for his general election campaign.

The fundraiser is scheduled for 6 p.m., and will come two days after his opponent, U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) appears in town for a town hall meeting.

The Inquirer today asks a question that has been on the mind of many political watchers: What on earth is happening to former Philadelphia Mayor John Street's legacy?

Street left office in January after a second term that saw his popularity dip drastically as the city's murder rate climbed and he was assailed for spending a morning waiting in line to buy an iPhone. His successor, former City Councilman Michael Nutter, won office in large part by campaigning as the anti-Street.

Nutter and Street have always been political foes, and many say their dislike of one another extends outside politics and into the personal. But when Street left City Hall to make room for Nutter, he probably didn't expect that so much of his time in office would be deconstructed so fast.

Buried deep within the pages of this month’s issue of Philadelphia Magazine is arguably the most in-depth and illuminating dissection of the high-profile falling out between state Sen. Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia) and powerful lawyer Dick Sprague.

Headlined “The Feud,” the article by Rober Huber delves deep into the long-standing relationship between the two titans, which apparently began to break down, in part, because of disputes over legal bills Fumo owed Sprague for fighting his infamous corruption indictment.

Less enlightening than old revelations about their relationship are the ways in which the spat between the two is fueling perhaps the largest policy issue in the city: a fight over placing slot parlors on the Delaware River waterfront.

“The current casino debate isn’t about a changing city,” Hubert writes. “No, it’s really about the pissing match between Dick Sprague and Vince Fumo.” 

Republicans who run for office in the staunchly Democratic city of Philadelphia are often called sacrificial lambs, providing their time to campaign even though registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 5-1.

Now, in an election year widely expected to be a difficult one for the GOP, the outlook for Republicans in Philadelphia may be even more bleak. Democrats, incumbents and newcomers alike, are raising significantly more money than their Republican opponents. Some suburban seats may be up for grabs, but from state House races to bids for the U.S. Congress, Republican and Democratic analysts and consultants agree that most seats within the city proper are simply out of reach for Republicans.

"With the exception of a couple of wards in the northeast ... nothing short of a flat-out indictment or scandal is going to win for any Republicans," said Neil Oxman, a longtime Democratic consultant in Philadelphia.

Passage of Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter's first budget came after amicable negotiations that stood in stark contrast to the heated battles between lawmakers and former Mayor John Street.

The former councilman who was swept into office on promises of reform continues to enjoy a honeymoon with voters and lawmakers alike.

Council President Anna Verna told The Inquirer that budget talks were all about "the art of compromise, which had been missing in the past." Nutter praised lawmakers for "improving" his original budget proposal.