Campus set to cast votes in city races

College students are often considered the constituency with the most at stake in American elections. This is especially true for students attending classes on urban campuses -- like the University's -- in the current era of increasing crime and decreasing federal spending. But recent trends show that these same students are apathetic and disinterested in the political process. Still, some native Philadelphians now in school at Penn would beg to differ with that attitude. "I just usually vote so I'm voting," said Matt Molloy, a College freshman from Northeast Philadelphia. "The candidates are okay. I'm just picking the lesser of two evils, I guess." And Engineering freshman Lou Camaratta, who said he is not yet able to vote because he has not turned 18, said he would "definitely" be casting a ballot if he could. But Molloy and Camaratta diverge when it comes to the lever they would pull in the voting booth. Molloy, impressed with Mayor Ed Rendell's efforts to pull the city out of near-bankruptcy in 1991, said he plans to throw his support behind the incumbent. Camaratta, a resident of the city's Southwest section whose father is a police officer, said he would support Republican challenger Joe Rocks because of Rendell's poor relationship with the Fraternal Order of Police and other municipal unions. "Do I think has a shot?" Camaratta asked rhetorically, referring to polls that have shown Rocks as an underdog throughout the campaign. "I think if a lot of Rendell supporters -- a hell of a lot of Rendell supporters -- don't show up because they think he's going to win, Joe has a chance." The Rendell campaign is not taking any chances. Campaign coordinator Patricia Pisauro said two people are assigned to knock on college students' doors and remind them that today is Election Day as part of the "Get Out The Vote" program. But to some students, personal appearances on campus by either candidate would not make a difference. "I could vote, but I really don't have much of a background," said Wharton freshman Matthew Barrett, a Southwest Philadelphia native. "Whether I vote or not, Philadelphia's basically going to stay the same. It's been the way it is for all these years -- it's not really going to change much." Barrett said he and his friends are planning to leave the city for the suburbs as soon as they graduate from college. "When I was growing up, it seemed alright, but now I'm really glad I'm out of it," he said. "My neighborhood turned so bad so fast." And Mario Ferrante, a College freshman from South Philadelphia, said Rendell "worries too much about his own image than the city." College freshman Stephen Shaheen, on the other hand, credits Rendell with turning things around in his neighborhood -- the Fox Chase section of the city, where Eddie Polec was beaten to death by a gang of youths last year. Polec died of his injuries because problems with the city's 911 dispatch center delayed the arrival of emergency medical services. Both mayoral candidates were scheduled to vote in their home districts at about 7 a.m., when the polls opened. Neither released a detailed schedule of events for today. In addition to the mayoral race, all 17 City Council seats and positions on various city and state courts are up for grabs.

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