The deceased, Jerry Nicola, a venerated local fixture who had worked his way up from beat cop to chief and then mayor, also has a solid chance of being reelected Tuesday.

The blend of small-town intimacy and competitive politics sometimes proves volatile, as the Montgomery County community has witnessed. What began in the spring as a Republican primary between lifelong residents turned personal and led Nicola's widow to request that town officials relay the message that his election opponent and other rivals were unwelcome at the funeral.

"A lot of people have told me they wouldn't have sent that e-mail," Borough Manager Anthony J. DiSanto Jr. said, "but I'm the council's liaison, and she asked."

Bridgeport measures less than a square mile, a postage stamp of old brick factories and rowhouses on a hill overlooking the Schuylkill and Norristown. This has created an uncomfortable closeness between supporters of Nicola and living challenger Thaddeus "Ted" Pruskowski - and, of late, a palpably intense campaign.

"That's mayor for 4,000 people, and you'd think he was running for governor of New York," said Frank Desimone, who stuck a Pruskowski sign on the lawn of his family's 71-year-old neighborhood corner bar and watched the emotions escalate.

Yard signs and social snubs multiplied over months of campaigning between Pruskowski, 43, and Nicola, who was battling cancer.

"All of a sudden, I wasn't invited to the Alabama golf outing," Desimone said, referring to a club Nicola cofounded.

Nicola, 71, died Oct. 18 - too late, county officials said, to remove him from the ballot for election to a third four-year term.

His widow, Eileen, kept the campaign going, which if successful would require the Borough Council to pick a two-year interim mayor.

She wanted to keep Pruskowski and other council members away from the funeral, an otherwise highly public event, because "I knew how they felt about him," she said. "It was just quite obvious, the way they acted toward him over the last couple years. Way down deep inside, they know why."

The rift began when Pruskowski, backed by several council members, challenged the ailing Nicola in the primary.

"I just didn't feel that he was as energetic as I was," said Pruskowski, a computer-network specialist for the county government in Norristown.

The bid produced mixed results. Pruskowski lost, 176-146. But he also ran in the Democratic primary and won.

As occasionally happens, the death of one candidate has not ensured victory for the other.

"As long as Nicola is on the ballot, I would go for him," said Warren Eisenberger, 84, a retired carpenter with a Nicola sign on his yard fence. "He was a good man."

The borough's 2,653 registered voters appear deeply torn between honoring the dead candidate, who had tirelessly touted revitalization efforts, and electing the living one. The prospect of a younger leader for the aging borough, however, appeared attractive to some.

Bridgeporters hope to follow nearby Conshohocken's lead in flourishing with new growth, and elements are creeping into place. A mixed-used development on the main drag, Fourth Street, is under construction. Groundbreaking is expected in coming months for a riverfront project of hundreds of apartments and condominiums. And a central intersection reopened after being shut down nearly two years for a bridge replacement.

"We need young people for all this," said Anna Amato, a retired school cafeteria worker in her 80s who posted a Pruskowski sign in her yard. "We don't need old geezers. We have those."

Both campaigns espouse similar themes, including starting a recycling program, increasing participation in municipal business, and bolstering relationships with the Police Department. Several lawns sport signs for both candidates, and even casual political observers have become quickly versed in the arcana of how the council would pick the next mayor.

"It's a small town, but the diehards, the older people, really care who's in there," said Marie Valerio, 59, who is retired and stated no preference.

The council is expected to pick someone Nov. 10 to serve the last two months of Nicola's term. Two candidates have formally applied: Pruskowski and Eileen Nicola.

If Jerry Nicola wins the election, the council will pick his two-year replacement in January. Eileen Nicola said she had no interest in that job, despite much speculation, and did not know whom she would back.

She also is running for a council seat, which would cast her into the same arena with her husband's successor - and the political rivals she kept away from the funeral because of what she said were personal affronts.

"It was not a political thing," she said. "Believe me. My husband is down there. They're up here. I was not even thinking about politics."

Also barred from the funeral were Council President Jack Kowal, who is the acting mayor and the chair of Pruskowski's campaign, and two council members who donated to Pruskowski's campaign before Nicola died, records show.

"I wanted to go," Pruskowski said. "If I had died, I would wish that my wife would allow anyone who wanted to pay respects to do so."

County-level Republicans, whose party has long controlled the town, are weighing whether to step in to mediate the feud.

"It's a shame to see it all splintering like that," County Commissioner Bruce L. Castor Jr. said.

Some locals are hedging their bets. David Chiccarine, owner of a Bridgeport institution, Chick's Tavern, hosted a Nicola fund-raiser but displays no sign for either candidate and stressed his neutrality.

His home, he said, is in West Norriton, so he doesn't have to pick a side.

"I support whoever gets in," said Chiccarine, 55. "This is a small town, and I run a business. I've got to be like that."