Mayor's race goes prime time

Do not adjust your television set. With less than three weeks remaining until the Democratic mayoral primary, Philadelphia's airwaves are being flooded with a wide variety of advertising from each of this year's five candidates. Recognizing the importance of reaching television viewers in the nation's fourth-largest media market, the candidates have engaged in an "anything you can do, I can do better" advertising competition that shows no signs of slowing down until May 18. Some have resorted to negative messages while others have stayed focused on the city's issues. But all have maintained that television advertising has and will continue to play a significant role in this year's election. "Television is extremely important," said John Street's spokesperson Ken Snyder, who explained that Street's campaign has shelled out close to $750,000 on television advertising. "When you're in an election where more than a million people vote, it's probably the most effective way to reach voters." Street's latest commercial features outgoing Mayor Ed Rendell lauding the former City Council president as a fiscal conservative who deserves "equal credit" for pulling Philadelphia from troubled economic waters during the 1990s. But Street is also the subject of a commercial for challenger Marty Weinberg, whose unprecedented media blitz propelled him into a neck-and-neck race with Street, the longtime frontrunner. The ad contains fuzzy video footage from 1981 showing Street, a City Council member at the time, yelling at and eventually pushing a TV news reporter to the ground in City Hall. Text at the end of the commercial reads: "John Street for mayor? You decide." Despite the potential damage of Weinberg's commercial, Snyder said that the well-known "shove ad" has not hurt the Street campaign in any way. Snyder pointed to recent internal polls that show Street more than 15 percentage points ahead of Weinberg. "People understand a cheap shot when they see one," Snyder noted. "People know John Street, they know the good and the bad. They know he's the total of his experiences. I don't think we're dueling [with Weinberg's campaign]. The mud's only going one way." Weinberg's camp did not respond to requests for comment yesterday. With Street and Weinberg hoping to distance themselves from the rest of the field, John White -- who has been running a consistent third in the polls -- wants to provide voters with an appealing alternative. Television is a key method for delivering that message, spokesperson Dean Levitan said. "I think in any campaign [television advertising] is a big factor," Levitan explained adding that the White campaign has spent an estimated $500,000 on TV commercials. "People watch television and you want to communicate with them." But Levitan warned that relying solely on television to win an election can backfire. "When campaigns think [television] is the only way, that's when they get lost," Levitan noted. "Yes, television does get talked about the most. But what candidates do in person and at debates? also does play a factor." A new White radio commercial captures lone Republican candidate Sam Katz explaining to a radio talk show host that he does not think he can beat White in the November general election. The ad intends to show potential voters that, if he emerges successfully from the Democratic primary, White can win in November. "I think this ad asks why Sam Katz is afraid of John White," Levitan added. Bob Barnett, Katz's campaign manager, dismissed the radio message as harmless. "I don't think it does anything," Barnett said. "[White] can run what he wants to run. I don't think anybody is going to vote for him in the primary based on who can win in November. He's got to talk about the issues."