Untermeyer, who is white, immediately branded the charge "ludicrous" and "a smokescreen" meant to obscure examination of the campaign's substantive issues.

"This election isn't about race ... What's important is that we have the third highest homicide rate of any big city" in the nation, and a bail system that is broken, he said.

Untermeyer showed up uninvited, unannounced and unwelcome at a news conference called by State Sen. Anthony Williams, NAACP President J. Whyatt Mondesire and Rev. Audrey Brunson, president of Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity.

The GOP candidate said he was there only to defend himself, but his presence in the meeting room at the National Constitution Center led to a brief flaring of tempers over whether he had a right to speak at an event planned and paid for by his opponent's supporters.

The allegations leveled today by Anthony Williams, Mondesire and Brunson stemmed from a comment Untermeyer made two weeks ago in a televised debate. The moderator cited what appeared to be a statistically disproportionate number of blacks from Philadelphia on Pennsylvania's death row, and asked if "racial profiling" figures into the D.A.'s decisions to seek the death penalty.

"The question is, is there racial profiling, and the answer is no, there is no racial profiling," Untermeyer had answered.

Williams, the senator, quoted today from a 2003 Pennsylvania Supreme Court study of racial and gender disparities in the criminal justice system. The high court, he said, had found "strong indications that Pennsylvania's capital justice system does not operate in an evenhanded manner."

He contended that Untermeyer's failure to make that finding part of his answer "reflects a limited understanding of how the D.A.'s office works and disqualifies" his candidacy.

After some verbal sparring about how and when he could present his views, Untermeyer challenged the three to raise their concern about racial profiling where he thought it more appropriately belonged.

He noted that former Assistant District Attorney Roger King, who is black, was the office's top homicide prosecutor for 25 years and that candidate Williams, who is biracial, had a leadership position in the office for more than 10 years. He suggested they ask not only those two, but also current D.A. Lynne Abraham, who is white, if the office engaged in racial profiling.

Anthony Williams said he had spoken with Seth Williams after the televised debate, and that the candidate was "offended" by Untermeyer's answer. However, the senator maintained that the tone, manner and timing of today's news conference, attended by a handful of media and about 10 supporters, had not been coordinated with Williams' campaign.

Tasha Jamerson, spokeswoman for the Williams campaign, said, "We had nothing to do with the news conference."

In a prepared statement, candidate Williams said, "If residents in the city are upset about my opponent's comments on race, they have every right to air those concerns."