"Manure is highly concentrated with nitrogen, which is very important for plant growth," he says. "Most fertilizers are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus."

Taubenberger's degree in agronomy makes him an expert in manure, as well as grass roots. Both are serving him well in his attempt to become Philadelphia's first Republican mayor since Harry Truman occupied the White House.

That's 60 years, for those of you keeping score at home.

Taubenberger, his cell phone ringing every few minutes, cheerfully works the room. A big, beefy guy with deep pipes and a quick laugh, he'd be just as comfortable at a diner in Port Richmond.

Compare the pedigrees. Democrat Michael Nutter, the overwhelming favorite, is Wharton, finance, fine threads. Taubenberger is Penn State, soil management, Ben Franklin neckties.

With Democrats outnumbering Republicans in this town five to one, Graham Lee, chairman of the political science department at St. Joseph's University, puts Taubenberger's odds at 1,000 to 1.

Sisyphus had a better shot.

No matter. Alfred Wilhem Taubenberger - part Don Quixote, part Willy Loman - has come to play. Attention must be paid.

"My candidacy is serious," says Taubenberger, president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce since 1991 and a longtime GOP soldier. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I was going to win. I'm in it to win it.

"My odds are getting better. People are getting to know me. I'm the underdog. Maybe I'm the super underdog. Underdogs have won before."

There are underdogs and there are underdogs.

Nutter, 50, widely respected across racial and party lines, has the backing of the city's Democratic machine. Taubenberger, 54, was drafted because "he was breathing, he was Republican, and he was willing to do it," says a local wag.

"I don't see how he has any chance at all," says Republican Sam Katz, runner-up to John Street in 2003 and 1999. "That doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to have a chance."

Chances take money in politics, and Taubenberger's war chest resembles an empty ice bucket.

Katz doesn't see that changing. "I think the community at large made a judgment after the last election that Republicans couldn't win," he says. "I couldn't beat a Democrat with $20 million in two elections."

Taubenberger says his war chest "is close to six figures." He won't say how close. In the candidates' most recent financial filing (May 28), his campaign reported $16,000 and change in the bank.

"It's much better than it was, but not nearly what it should be," he says. "You just keep working. There will be a lot more when all is said and done."

Maybe. Even Taubenberger's media adviser, veteran Philadelphia adman Elliott Curson, labels his candidate's budget "very small," quickly adding that "Al doesn't need that much."

Taubenberger wasn't expected to have TV spots, but Curson says he's producing one "that will be fascinating, if it turns out. It will get some attention."