With the economy dominating discourse, it's been hard to get citizens interested in an office that prosecutes 70,000 cases a year. Debates and campaign events tend to resemble school plays, where only family and friends appear.

Lynne M. Abraham has held the position forever - 18 years. She's a brash, arrogant, headstrong personality who rubs many people the wrong way but is largely admired by her staff of 300 lawyers. The office runs surprisingly well, free of politics, based on merit, with barely a whiff of scandal and strong relations with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

These successes have perhaps dulled the debate among candidates. Like her predecessors, Abraham has managed to attract and retain superb prosecutors who put in brutal hours for far less pay than they could command in private practice.

Prosecutors like Michael Barry, 37, a decade in the office, almost half in homicide. On Thursday, Barry was calmly, surgically, building a case against Saeed Clark, a career criminal with a rap sheet as varied and thick as a cookbook, one of 35 cases on his docket. Rarely looking at notes, Barry took extra care to address the concerns of the victim's family during breaks.

"The office is filled with the greatest group of people I've ever met," Barry says. "Lynne's a great boss. She doesn't interfere with cases. People are concerned about what changes will come with new supervisors."

An understatement, to be sure.

Many prosecutors have never reported to a different boss. They've also worked with all the candidates, Seth Williams the longest and most recently. In interviews with a dozen prosecutors and attorneys intimate with the office's operation, a chorus of similar sentiments and concerns emerges about the candidates and the office.

Many attorneys say they've still not decided whom they will vote for Tuesday.

The district attorney is a politician who needs to successfully navigate the shoals of government bureaucracy on the city, state, and federal levels. Note Abraham's sharp-elbowed pushback at Mayor Nutter and City Council this week, restoring $4 million to her budget.

The very qualities that make a good trial lawyer - independence, and service to the case and to the victim above everything else - may be antithetical to politics, rooted in delivering change while beholden to donors, unions, and elected officials. The D.A.'s Office attracts big egos, often on their way to bigger things - such as Arlen Specter and Ed Rendell - which makes Abraham's tenure an anomaly.

In the Philadelphia office, among prosecutors interviewed, there are serious concerns about the two perceived front-runners, Williams and Dan McCaffery, who have amassed a pile of endorsements - the former from the Fraternal Order of Police and six City Council members, the latter from most of the other unions. Both men were slapped by the city's Ethics Board this week for finance irregularities.

Williams has most vigorously attacked the office, as he did in his run against Abraham four years ago. (She then famously dismissed her former protege as "a souffle.") His campaign mantra is, "Philadelphia's criminal justice system is fundamentally broken." His Web site states, "The shortcomings of the District Attorney's Office have a devastating impact on our community."

Unsurprisingly, this has not pleased the staff. "To do this job well takes street smarts. It takes integrity. And it takes character," says Deputy District Attorney Charles Gallagher, the rare prosecutor to go on the record. Then again, he's retiring Friday after 35 years.

"Seth's a personable guy, but his main concern was promoting Seth," Gallagher says. "I'm worried that a lot of people who have committed their lives and careers to this office may lose their jobs because the wrong person is elected and thinks he has to clean house." It's a sentiment widely shared in the office, which prosecutors describe as nervous and prepared for potential upheaval.

Brian Grady's temper is frequently cited as an issue. Uniformly, Dan McElhatton and Michael Turner are admired by prosecutors for their integrity and independence - "the only two adults on the scene," one prosecutor put it - though former colleagues are disappointed they've developed little traction. McElhatton received an eleventh-hour endorsement yesterday from Nutter, his former colleague in City Council.

The next D.A. inherits an office that will most certainly be asked to do more with less. Crime traditionally rises in a poor economy, prosecutors already have punishing workloads, and the prisons are hideously overcrowded.

The new D.A. will inherit strained relations with the Police Department, according to one top career official, partly due to cutbacks in police overtime. Relations are also strained with the mayor's office over the budget and especially with Everett Gillison, deputy mayor for public safety, who spent 22 years as a public defender and whom Abraham has publicly upbraided. Selfishly, it would be nice to see the next district attorney improve relations with the press, too.

Four years ago, voter turnout was dismal, less than 15 percent. Only one out of six registered voters bothered to cast a ballot. The D.A.'s race matters. It really matters, as do the races for judges and city controller. It's time to reverse our tidal wave of apathy.