Perspective: Rematch

Somehow this seems all too familiar. Exactly four years ago, Philadelphians arrived at the polls to cast their vote for the man who they hoped would lead the city into the 21st century.

Their choices: the Democrat, then-City Council President John Street, or the Republican, Philadelphia businessman and political outsider Sam Katz.

When all was said and done, Street was declared the winner by one of the closest margins in history -- less than 1 percent.

And now they're back.

Voters will once again head to the polls today to cast their vote for the city's future, and once again they will choose between Street, now the incumbent, and Katz, still a political outsider.

Two men, one hoping to repeat history, another hoping to overcome it.

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In a city that registers 4-to-1 for the Democrats, seldom has a Republican ever been elected mayor. But Katz has never felt as though he fits well into a party mold.

"I think that he felt he could refashion the Republican party," said long-time friend Steven Sigal about Katz and the 1999 race.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Katz was educated in the public school system and is a practicing Jew who can read Torah without any preparation. As an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, his interest in politics blossomed.

Officially a Democrat until 1990, Katz holds liberal views on a number of issues, including gay and abortion rights, but has been described as fiscally conservative.

According to Sigal, Katz has always felt that his views are popular with the public at large, but that his fiscal policy was too conservative to ever win a Democratic primary.

Political analyst Jeff Jubelirer ascribed Katz's change in political affiliation to his business practices.

"The general Republican party philosophy on supporting business was probably in line with what he was doing professionally" as a businessman, he said.

Even while working in the private sector, Sigal said, Katz has always been very dedicated to his dream of being a public servant.

He got his start in politics running William Gray's unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 1979. Though Gray lost the election, "Sam brought him to within 339 votes of winning," and it sparked his interest in running for office himself, according to Sigal.

In addition to his 1999 bid, Katz ran for mayor in 1991 and governor in 1994.

He has never won an election, though he was appointed to the Philadelphia School Board in the early 1980s.

"I've spent 25 years in public finance working in and with governments all over the country," Katz said. "So while I have not done elected service, I've been involved in the core of government's business."

And no matter what he is doing, friends said he gives it 100 percent of his attention.

"He invests all of himself in everything he does," Sigal said. "He doesn't put his toe in the water, he goes in completely."

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Street is described by those who know him as having an almost steely resolve, a man who knows just what he believes in and stands strongly by his convictions.

The mayor, who grew up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania without electricity or running water, is by all accounts an introvert, often more comfortable alone with his thoughts than with a crowd of constituents or even supporters.

"He will state his opinion, and he won't say what somebody wants to hear just to get an endorsement," long-time friend and supporter David Hyman said. "He's not afraid to have people upset with him when he tells them what they don't want to hear."

It is these characteristics, Hyman said, that account for Street's personality being popularly misinterpreted as "prickly."

"I think he's basically a more private and shy person than many politicians I know," Hyman said. "I think in a politician... that gets misinterpreted."

Friends said Street has been fighting against the odds throughout his life. He worked his way through Temple Law School and then came out of relative obscurity to win a seat on the City Council in 1979, eventually becoming the body's president in 1992.

When he ran for mayor in 1999, few expected him to emerge victorious.

"He's been through a lot of elections and he's never lost," Hyman said. But he noted, "Very few of [the victories] have been by a big margin."

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Given the outcome of the race in 1999, the fact that Katz and Street would have a rematch was almost a foregone conclusion.

"You knew Street was going to be the Democratic nominee," political analyst Larry Ceisler said. "And the Republican bench was pretty empty."

"Also, for a Republican to lose as Sam did, he deserved another chance," he added.

But despite all the hype about the rematch and the apparent similarities between the two races, it could be that the only thing that truly stayed the same in 2003 is the characters.

Last election, the candidates focused intensely on their respective visions for the future of the city and largely ignored their opponents' flaws. Last time, residents did not have such a bitter dislike for the national Republican party. And last time, perhaps most significantly, there was no Federal Bureau of Investigation probe into the activities of Street and his supporters.

In 1999, Street portrayed himself as the natural successor to then-mayor Ed Rendell, arguably the most popular mayor in Philadelphia's history. Neither Street nor Katz had a particularly extensive public record, so each candidate focused mostly on his plans for the future.

Jubelirer described the election as "a well-fought, well-run campaign that was above the nastiness."

But this time, the rhetoric has been much more personal.

"I don't think they went into this race with any bitterness at all," Sigal said. "I think there is not a great feeling at this point" because of all the negative campaigning that has been done.

Both camps have pointed a finger at the other for starting what has turned into a major mudslinging contest.

"What's drastically different [this election cycle] is that Katz came out swinging," Hyman said. "That changed the whole tenor of the race. He really attacked the mayor's record from day one."

"I think [the Street campaign was] trying to pull out all the stops and do whatever they possibly could" to win, Sigal said. "I think that it speaks to the fact that Street really was very worried that he could lose."

The two have traded barbs at nearly every debate and joint appearance, as well as in media statements and paid advertisements.

Additionally, the issue of race -- Street is black, and Katz is white -- has become significant.

"Race was not discussed four years ago but did become a part of the election this year," Ceisler said. "Neither [candidate] wanted to get into it... but their supporters did."

"There is a real distrust among the city's Democrats and African-American residents of the federal government," Jubelirer said.

Analysts have noted that Street's campaign has done a good job of painting Katz in strongly with the Republican party, aligning him with the likes of President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Street has even used the FBI probe to his advantage, if not explicitly, by citing it as another in a long line of federal government conspiracies against black leaders that goes all the way back to Martin Luther King Jr.

"Sam has really tried to distance himself from the national party," Ceisler said. "And this probe just brought him closer. [The FBI and Justice Department] are killing him with that stuff. There are people who actually believe this is a conspiracy."

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The candidates have fluctuated in popularity over the last months, and while Street had seemingly opened up a large lead in the polls over the last two weeks, the latest numbers show Katz once again closing the gap.

But the polls cannot predict what could be the most important factor in this election: voter turnout.

Katz has said that failure to turn out the vote was his campaign's biggest disadvantage last time, citing a virtually invisible Election Day field operation.

Street's campaign was much more successful at turning out voters and emerged victorious despite Katz having had a lead in the polls by as much as six points in the week prior to the election.

"People in this city had their minds made up," Ceisler said of the 1999 race. "The only question was whether they would vote or not."

Katz is hoping to atone for his mistakes in round two and wants to make sure that he leaves nothing to chance.

"There's nothing that can make you feel worse than knowing that it was the failure of your own effort that left you disappointed," Katz said.

This time around, both campaigns will have thousands of volunteers throughout the city helping with voter turnout efforts.

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For these two men, failure is not an option. At the end of the day, both expect that Philadelphians will send them to City Hall to implement their vision for the city.

And while Street and Katz may not go down in the record books with Kennedy and Nixon or Lincoln and Douglas as one of history's greatest political rivalries, by all accounts Katz has always been step-for-step with Street.

"I don't think they're going to be paired together in political lore," Ceisler said.

But at least until the polls close at 8 tonight, the differences between them will be the only thing on Philadelphia's mind.

Graphics by Matt Jones

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