One more day: Mayoral primary tomorrow

PHILADELPHIA'S mayoral candidates are crisscrossing the city in the final days of a Democratic primary race that seemed to fly under the radar of most voters despite months of heavy media coverage and about 70 candidate forums and debates.

Yesterday, former Councilman Jim Kenney was met by a feisty crowd of about 200 poll workers when he descended into the basement of Reformation Lutheran Church in East Mount Airy.

"I didn't know what to expect walking into the church, but when I got to the basement I was like, 'Wow, this is awesome,' " Kenney said.

Kenney, who was introduced by state Rep. Cherelle Parker, received loud applause when he talked about providing second chances for ex-offenders.

"We want to make sure they get an opportunity, not for us to fix them, for them to fix themselves, for them to turn their lives around," he said.

The race has seen Kenney, a councilman for 23 years who resigned in January to run for mayor, go from the long-shot "flavor of the week," in the words of former Gov. Ed Rendell, to the prohibitive favorite in tomorrow's primary - if you believe last week's poll commissioned by the Daily News, the Inquirer, Philly.com and NBC10.

The poll showed Kenney winning in every section of the city, with a 27-point lead over former District Attorney Lynne Abraham and state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who was almost universally considered the front-runner earlier in the race.

"I don't want people think, 'Well, it's in the bag and I don't have to come out,' " Kenney told reporters after yesterday's church event.

Williams, however, isn't going down without a fight. He attended a "righteous rally" last night at Greater St. Matthew Baptist Church in Nicetown, where pastors insisted that it was "Tony Time" and asked for God to intervene when the polls open at 7 a.m.

The audience of more than 100 rose out of purple-cushioned pews as sermons crescendoed and the church organ joined in.

"We have come to put some prayer power behind a candidate who believes in good educational opportunities for all of God's children, not just based upon the color of your skin or whether you live across City Avenue," said the Rev. William Moore, pastor of Tenth Memorial Baptist Church.

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah urged the crowd not to walk away from Williams because one poll showed him trailing.

"There are some people who are trying to play a trick and act like the game is over," Fattah said.

Williams, who insisted that he is more in touch with the needs of the city's African-American community than the other candidates, took some veiled shots at Kenney, who has politically outmaneuvered him by snagging the endorsements of key black leaders, including Council President Darrell Clarke, state Sen. Vincent Hughes and state Rep. Dwight Evans.

He said Kenney's bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, for instance, doesn't help his constituents if they lose out on jobs when they fail urine tests.

"People want to check my credentials?" asked Williams, who recalled how he has marched against drug houses and created job opportunities for minorities. "I don't just have credentials. I have a Ph.D. in humanity."

The other candidates in tomorrow's primary are: former Common Pleas Judge Nelson Diaz, former Philadelphia Gas Works senior vice president Doug Oliver and former state Sen. Milton Street. They received single-digit support in last week's poll.