Phila. voters set to elect district attorney today

The 2001 election year hasn't been going as well as incumbent District Attorney Lynne Abraham could have hoped.

In May's Democratic primary, Abraham survived a bitter campaign against Alexander Talmadge Jr., who repeatedly called her a racist. While Abraham won the tight election with 59 percent of the vote, it was the closest margin of her career.

Abraham, who is up for re-election today, has been in office for 10 years. In Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold, she has never faced much of a challenge from the GOP.

But the incumbent was dealt a sharp blow last week when both The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News chose to endorse Abraham's most serious challenger, Republican attorney Joseph Bongiovanni.

Today, voters go to the polls to choose between Abraham, Bongiovanni, Independent candidate Leon Williams and Green Party candidate Richard Ash.

Penn Political Science Professor Henry Teune predicted a bit of an upset today, although he would not go so far as to say that Abraham might be defeated.

"I don't expect any surprises, except that there might be a little bit of an undertow against Lynne Abraham," Teune said. "The liberal constituency of the Democratic party is not happy with Lynne Abraham."

Abraham has created enemies among some Democrats -- especially minorities -- with her ardent support of the death penalty. Bongiovanni has said that he would seek the death penalty in far fewer cases, although he says he would be bound by law to ask for it in certain cases.

Yesterday, Bongiovanni remained hopeful about his expectations, calling the election "too close to call."

The GOP challenger said that his campaign has been gaining momentum in recent weeks, particularly following his endorsements from both of Philadelphia's major dailies.

"The most interesting thing about the two endorsements is that it drove Lynne crazy and she started campaigning for the first time," Bongiovanni said.

Furthermore, Bongiovanni said that media coverage of his campaign has increased recently after a weak start.

Abraham has been able to generate some positive press in the past few months. Last summer, she won her long battle to extradite convicted murder Ira Einhorn from France.

Eleanor Dezzi, Abraham's campaign manager, said the sitting district attorney is optimistic about today's election.

"We feel very confident that citizens recognize her last decade as district attorney," Dezzi said. "Citizens were just very gracious and grateful, so many victims of crime were grateful."

Today, voters will also select the city controller, Philadelphia's financial watchdog. Incumbent Democrat Jonathan Saidel is expected to easily overcome his Republican rival, local attorney Joseph Gembala.

Saidel has received a great deal of media attention recently for his attempts to solve the problems regarding the artificial turf at Veterans Stadium. He is seeking to require the manufacturers of NeXturf, a surface installed at the Vet which developed wrinkles, causing the cancellation of the Eagles' preseason opener, to pay for fixing the problem.

However, Saidel said that he does not care that the issue has generated positive press for him, saying that he is only doing his job.

"It doesn't matter to me one way or the other, to tell you the truth," Saidel said. "That's my job. A lot of the things I do are not reported."

Saidel said that he has been campaigning vigorously.

"I've been at every train stop in the City of Philadelphia, I've been around the city hundreds of times, and people know where I stand," Saidel said.

Daily Pennsylvanian staff writer Alexis Gilbert contributed to this report.

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