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Candidates seek voters at Mount Airy, Rittenhouse fests

Helen Brown and Miss T could not wait to get their hands on the candidate Saturday. "Come on over here," called out Brown, a 74-year-old Democratic committee woman in North Philadelphia's 32d Ward. "This here is the mayor. We are going to win this thing."

Jim Kenney (back) tours North Philadelphia neighborhoods with Council President Darrell Clarke on May 2, 2015. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )
Jim Kenney (back) tours North Philadelphia neighborhoods with Council President Darrell Clarke on May 2, 2015. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )Read more
    by Claudia Vargas and Chris Hepp, <em> Inquirer Staff Writers </em>
    Published 

Helen Brown and Miss T could not wait to get their hands on the candidate Saturday.

"Come on over here," called out Brown, a 74-year-old Democratic committee woman in North Philadelphia's 32d Ward. "This here is the mayor. We are going to win this thing."

James F. Kenney smiled a little sheepishly as he was sandwiched between Brown and Pricilla Bennett (aka Miss T) for a snapshot under the McCoy Auto Shop sign at 29th Street and Ridge Avenue.

"I like your confidence," Kenney allowed. Looking on was Kenney's tour guide, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke, whose presence served as a de facto endorsement of the Democratic mayoral candidate, even if he would not utter the words.

"Jim and I have known each other for 20 years. We are friends," Clarke said by way of explanation. "He said he was interested in meeting some people in the neighborhood and I said OK. That's all this is. No more, no less.

Kenney was equally circumspect.

"It is nice to have an ambassador to the neighborhood," Kenney said later while meeting people at a small flea market at Strawberry Mansion High School.

Though Clarke's blessing of Kenney was the day's highlight, Saturday had other mayoral candidates out and about, shaking potential voters' hands and attempting to secure votes for the May 19 primary. Nelson Diaz, Lynne Abraham, and State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams all stopped at the Mount Airy Day festival. Doug Oliver's schedule included the Rittenhouse Row Festival at Rittenhouse Square.

Williams and Abraham overlapped at the Mount Airy festival but were too busy chatting with people to notice each other.

During the Mount Airy festival, Williams was flanked by his wife, Sherrie, City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, and a horde of campaign workers taking pictures and passing out fliers. Williams and his political friends and supporters stopped to take pictures with people and have short small talk.

As Jones later put it, "in politics, it's all about connections."