After six grueling weeks of heavyweight duking between Barack and Bob (with Chaka as the corner man) and Hillary and Ed and Bill and Chelsea (with the mayor recording the high and low blows), voters get to have their say about who has won the whiskey-swigging, gutter-balling, duck-hunting, beer-drinking, prosciutto-sampling, parade-marching battle for the highest office in the land.

Lest we be too cynical, we forget that in the middle of it all was a historic speech on race and substantive debate across the state that raised the conversation about what could be.

Make no mistake: They'll be slugging it out until the polls close at 8 tonight. And even after.

Lost in all of this is that today in Philly, the hardest-working people won't be the speculating media types, or the big-shot politicos who've endorsed the candidates, or even the candidates themselves.

It'll be the ground-level folks - the committeepeople and their surrogates, ordinary people working to make sure Philadelphia's turnout will be high.

The very people who have been getting a bad rap lately in all the talk about "street money" and big-city political machines.

It's too bad we don't call it something more dignified, like a "Yes We Can Reimbursement" or a "Solutions for America Stipend."

Truth is, what most of them do is the most important, thankless job in town. Well, other than motherhood.

Unlike what most people believe, ward leaders and their committeepeople aren't sitting in a smoke-filled room counting wads of cash, playing banker in a high-stakes game of political Monopoly.

They'll be the ones going door to door, passing out literature, using their precious gas to shuttle folks to and from the polls.

They'll be the ones staffing the polls from 7 in the morning to 8 at night.

They'll be the ones helping the elderly get to the polls.

They'll be the ones who'll let the poll workers know if someone needs help with the voting machines - even if the voters won't say so themselves.

They'll be the ones knocking on doors in even the most dangerous neighborhoods just to get one more voter.

They'll be the ones picking up lunches for volunteers.

They might even clean up, too, and not because it's Earth Day.

Truth is, said Steve Williams, 49, a North Philadelphia committeeman who is taking the day off to work the polls, "if we don't get a penny, we'd still be out there."

"There are decent people who want to do it for the right reasons. We have a stake in this race as well."

It is work they do all year long and it's not the pittance on Election Day that keeps them involved.

Even though the reform-minded Obama and cash-strapped Clinton won't pony up anything, an annual party fund-raiser will allow Williams to pay for five volunteers in addition to a little pocket change for himself - $60 to $75 for 12 hours of work.

We're not talking lotto jackpot money here.

Sometimes he ends up paying people out of his own pocket just so that they can be involved.

"It's more important to have relationships with state reps and senators," said Williams. "When you have a problem you're not going to call Hillary or Barack; you're going to call your committeeman."

Williams says "street money" is important but the system needs oversight. He adds that he has been inspired by the Obama campaign and has recommended to his ward leader, State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, that they incorporate technological outreach as a way to get more young people to participate, like the Temple students who make up part of his ward.

The question to ask about any political system is whether it works for the people who are most affected by it, says 40-something lawyer Twanna Bivins, who was shopping at Progress Plaza yesterday.

"My dad was a committeeman," she said. "I saw the work that goes into it. Most people do it because they love their community and they want to encourage their community to have a voice."

The committeepeople, she says, are "our liaison to make sure we have access. They're like our town criers."