Stu Bykofsky | It's Mike & Al: A love story

IN PHILLY, Central Command of down and dirty, eye-poke, smashmouth politics - in which elegant Democratic Congressman Chaka Fattah actually questioned erudite ex-Councilman Michael Nutter's

bona fides

as a black man - now comes the disconcerting specter of Nutter becoming so chummy with

Republican

opponent Al Taubenberger that it looks as if they may vacation together.

Seven years into the millennium (there's a word you haven't seen in a while) we have Mike and Al harmonizing on "Joy to the World."

It's spooky.

In case you missed it (distracted by the Phillies' run-up to their ignominious 10,000 loss) the mayoral candidates are so friendly they're making political pros shake their heads with the wonderment usually reserved for hitting the lottery (or getting lucky in a Center City glam bar).

Like it or not, the masses find political name-calling, mudslinging and back-stabbing much more entertaining than position papers. I think Nutter put out more papers than Brian Tierney and nobody read them. (Candidates need position papers to make them appear thoughtful, and to provide ammunition to reporters who three years later will show they haven't been implemented.)

He had position papers out the wazoo, but Nutter didn't grab the lead until he won his daughter Olivia's TV support.

Democracy at work!

When did the love affair begin?

It was prior to June 29, when Mike and Al "came out" as a couple at a joint news conference where they pledged to continue cutting Philadelphia's business taxes. On July 6, Al was an invited guest at a 50th birthday party for Mike at Patou, a Old City restaurant.

The candidates judged a sandwich-making competition yesterday at the Bellevue Gourmet Food Court and they will appear at my Candidates Comedy Night on Aug. 14. Might they do the unthinkable and appear as a team? Mike and Al as Abbott and Costello? Or maybe the "Odd Couple's" Felix and Oscar?

The love-in actually began the Friday after the primary when Al invited Mike to lunch at Port Richmond's Mercer Cafe. The two killjoys vowed no attack ads, no negative campaigning. They exchanged cell-phone numbers. (In a manly way.)

I called a couple of elder political bulls (who were laughing about the dunces gored at Pamplona) to ask if they could recall two Philly mayoral opponents ever carrying on like Mike and Al.

"Not at all," Public Record publisher and Democratic ex-Councilman Jim Tayoun told me. "It's crazy. It doesn't make sense," mostly for Taubenberger.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said "they're chummier than anyone's been," adding (almost wistfully) "more fire helps the campaign."

Nutter said the "make love, not war" strategy is a continuation of his squeaky-clean primary campaign. A smiling Taubenberger, friendly as his pet catfish, said, "This can be a model for conflict resolution."

As the front-runner, Nutter can afford to surrender a weapon he didn't plan to use anyway. As the underdog, Taubenberger gives up more, but it doesn't seem to bother him. Fielding a question Tuesday before the Temple Association for Retired Persons, he was applauded when he said, "There will be no negative ads from me." (With his tiny campaign war chest, he might have no ads, period.)

If you want to be a cockeyed optimist, you can believe Mike and Al's camaraderie will usher in a new era of Philadelphia politics.

If you want to be sane, enjoy this anomaly while it lasts. *

E-mail stubyko@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5977. For recent columns:

http://go.philly.com/byko.