Clout: In Charlotte, Milton unbuttoned

YOU CAN SAY a lot of things about former state Sen. Milton Street Sr. - he went to federal prison for not filing taxes; he owes more than $1 million in back taxes to the feds, New Jersey and Philadelphia - but you can't say the man doesn't hustle for a living.

City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. tweeted a picture Wednesday of Street selling campaign buttons emblazoned with President Obama's image outside the Democratic National Convention, in Charlotte, N.C.

Jones called Street a "friend and brother, taking advantage of an entrepreneurial opportunity."

Street, you may recall, ran against Mayor Nutter in the 2011 Democratic primary election, winning 24 percent of the vote.

Street also made an abortive run in the Democratic primary election for the 197th state House seat in North Philadelphia earlier this year. He dropped out of that race to run in a special election, winning 20 percent of the vote.

Street was sentenced in 2008 to 26 months in federal prison for convictions on misdemeanor charges of not filing taxes on $3 million in income from 2002-04. He was still on federal probation when he entered the mayor's race in February 2011.

Nutter was due to speak Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention but was bumped to Thursday.

For a guy looking to burnish his national reputation, it must feel great to land on the agenda the same night Obama accepts his party's nomination for re-election.

Nutter spoke Wednesday morning to the Pennsylvania delegation, confidently predicting that the Keystone State would deliver for Obama in the general election.

"I have no doubt in my mind that Pennsylvania will come out strong for President Obama," Nutter said at a delegation breakfast. "The only way to shut this down is to go out and kick their butts on Election Day."

Nutter had some tough words for the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who he said was so far to the right politically that "he'll be back around to the left before you know it."

Nutter touted Obama's record on jobs and education, drawing applause when he said of Obama: "You want to know how tough he is? Ask Osama bin Laden how tough President Obama is."

We've heard a few gripes from Philly delegation members about their hotel, a little more than six miles away from the Time Warner Arena, where the Democratic National Convention is being held. That's not unusual for political conventions.

But the delegation faces a little more scrutiny than usual because Vice President Joe Biden is also staying at the hotel.

District Attorney Seth Williams said that the delegation is "working hard and playing hard." His daughters, ages 8 and 12, had to be scanned with hand-held metal detectors before going for a swim in the hotel pool, due to increased security for Biden.

"Damn you, bin Laden," Williams joked, paraphrasing a scene from the movie "The Hangover."

"I was both stunned and I thought, if we had done the same thing - have a Hollywood star get up there and have him insult the president the way Eastwood insulted President Obama - they would have been calling us treasonists. Fox News would have been going berserk." - Former Gov. Ed Rendell in a story posted on The New Republic's web site Wednesday about Clint Eastwood appearing at the Republican National Convention last week.

- Staff Writer Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.