Mara Gordon | Gone but not forgotten

The next mayor of Philadelphia wants to help you.

Yes, you, Penn student. The next mayor of Philadelphia says your needs top a long list of priorities for the city. The next mayor of Philadelphia says he's going to campaign on campus to win your support. The next mayor of Philadelphia says you're important.

But you're only important if one campus organization - the Penn Democrats - gets its act together.

Next November's mayoral election is the talk of the city. John Street's term is up, and who will run the city next is anybody's guess. Five Democrats have already declared their candidacies for a battle that will largely be fought this spring, since the Democratic primary is in May. No Republicans have been brave enough to declare a candidacy yet, as the job will almost certainly go to the Democratic nominee.

In a city plagued by crime and a broken public school system, each candidate is already raising thousands to convince voters that he is the solution. Campaign managers promise Penn students will be seeing candidates on campus and seeing ads on Facebook - your vote is so valuable, they say, that they're trying to reach you in your natural environment.

Maybe these aren't empty campaign promises. Penn offers almost 20,000 potential votes - and that's just from students. Penn is also the largest private employer in the city, and a candidate attuned to the University's needs could easily woo faculty and staff votes. We're Philadelphians, too, if only for a few years, and citywide issues affect us as much as anyone else.

The overwhelming majority of students vote Democratic and will therefore be eligible to participate in the primary. With a current mayor who won his last election by about 9,000 votes, Penn's voting power is a force to be reckoned with.

Except for one little problem. The primary election takes place after we've all left for the summer.

May 15 will likely be the day Philadelphians choose their next mayor. That's one day after commencement. Even seniors won't be around to vote.

And unless Penn students make it clear that we're going to vote absentee, and in large numbers, everyone who wants to be the next mayor of Philadelphia is going to ignore Penn.

That's where the Penn Democrats come in. (Full disclosure: I am a member of the club, albeit a lazy one.)

"We set out the goal of making the Penn Dems a real political force," former club president and College junior Nathan Hake said. "That was to set us up for the mayoral election . It was quite apparent that that was where we could make a huge difference on a policy level."

But for a primary where students will actually have to plan ahead to vote, the Penn Democrats are going to need to come up with some creative advertising strategies, and fast.

The organization has invited all five mayoral candidates to speak to its members and seek an endorsement, and all five have accepted.

"Our endorsement is being hailed by these people," Penn Democrats Political Director and College freshman Lauren Burdette said at the group's kickoff meeting on Tuesday. "They're catering to us because they want our support."

When I heard candidates Tom Knox and Michael Nutter address the group in December, however, the turnout was embarrassingly low. Granted, the meeting was during reading days, but only 20 or so people showed up. How can the candidates think our votes matter if we don't care what they have to say to us?

Let's hope the Penn Democrats can muster a little more support for Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah and Dwight Evans, all of whom are scheduled to meet with club members in the next two weeks.

The club's leaders are optimistic about mobilizing absentee voters. Wharton sophomore and Penn Democrats President Clayton Robinson said they are planning door-to-door get-out-the-vote campaigns, Locust Walk stations where students can turn in absentee registration and publicity blitzes.

Great strategy, for a general election. The Penn Democrats are going to have to kick it up a notch this time around. If we want the next mayor of Philadelphia to pay attention to what we want, we're going to have to show him that we're paying attention too.

Mara Gordon is a College junior from Washington, D.C. Her e-mail address is gordon@dailypennsylvanian.com. Flash Gordon appears on Thursdays.

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