Weinberg, Street lead poll

Things are looking up for Marty Weinberg. According to a new poll released this week, Weinberg has gone from last place to tied for first in support and is now running neck-and-neck with longtime frontrunner John Street in the race for the Democratic nomination for Philadelphia's mayorship. The results are all the more surprising given that Weinberg began the year in last place among the five Democratic candidates and had by far the lowest name recognition. The deep-pocketed Weinberg's success in the Philadelphia Daily News/Fox-TV Keystone poll is largely the result of his unprecedented television advertising blitz that has torn up Philadelphia's airwaves for the past several weeks. He has raised an estimated $2.4 million, far eclipsing the totals of his four Democratic competitors. Of 349 Democrats likely to vote in the May 18 primary, 23 percent said they would vote for Weinberg -- an attorney and lifelong politico who was a top aide to former Mayor Frank Rizzo -- while another 23 percent threw their support to Street, the former City Council president who has led this year's race from the onset. In a similar poll taken in January, only 2 percent of respondents said they would vote for Weinberg, while 27 percent were for Street. Former Philadelphia Housing Authority head John White and former City Council member Happy Fernandez each received 12 percent of the vote, with State Rep. Dwight Evans finishing last at just 4 percent. Weinberg is not surprised by his sudden surge to the top, according to campaign manager Bill Miller. "Our reaction to it is pretty consistent of where we thought we would be," Miller said. "We're moving right along schedule." And while voters, political analysts and some of this year's candidates have claimed that Weinberg essentially "bought his way into the race," Miller quickly dismisses such a charge. "I don't counter the criticism," Miller said. "I think those things are put out there by people who have not put out solid campaign plans and do not have the resources to put out a credible campaign." The recent polling numbers present an interesting turn of events for Street, who up until this point held sole possession of first place. Explaining that the latest Daily News data is inconsistent with other recent polls he has come across, Street campaign spokesperson Ken Snyder said he was "not sweating" the situation. "[The Daily News] poll numbers don't reflect any other poll numbers, internal or external, that we've seen," Snyder said. "The sample is very small and it just doesn't seem to track what's out there." Snyder noted that the poll carried a 5.2 percent margin of error -- a figure he said makes the poll "statistically invalid." He added that the Street campaign always regarded Weinberg as a "formidable" opponent, but one that can be defeated. "We never anticipated that we would not have a legitimate challenge," Snyder said. "Once Marty Weinberg committed to breaking all spending records, we knew we'd have a challenge. But we're prepared." Snyder went on to say that the publicity surrounding the latest poll may actually help Street in the long run. "I'm glad, in a way, that the media will finally start focusing on who Marty Weinberg is, where he's been and hasn't been," said Snyder, who pointed out that Weinberg has generally been "AWOL" from public service and that his only notable city position was as an aide for Rizzo -- recently ranked the fifth-worst American mayor since 1820 by a book that just hit store shelves. The poll's results also pose an unenviable scenario for the three other Democrats in this year's race. With Evans only capturing four percentage points, local NAACP leader Jerome Mondesire has urged the state legislator to drop out of the race so that the city's African-American vote will not split between the three black candidates -- Street, White and Evans -- and allow a white candidate to emerge victorious. But Evans spokesperson Kim Turner said that Evans will absolutely stay in the race, adding that his campaign is "not discouraged" by the poll numbers. "I've yet to see a poll that votes," Turner said. "The most important poll is on May 18. Dwight is continuing to run an aggressive city-wide campaign and he's still in the race." White and Fernandez -- both 11 points behind Weinberg and Street -- believe they can catch the co-leaders in the 35 days remaining until the party primary. "I think there's an intuitive willingness to give [candidates] a chance," said Fernandez campaign manager David Dougherty, who said he was very optimistic about the large number of undecided voters. "[Voters] may only give you one or two chances but if you're out there every night? and saying things that make sense, this is still a race that is wide open." And White spokesperson Dean Levitan said he felt "good" about the results. "Weinberg is showing that one cannot live on TV alone and Street is showing that just sitting there and talking about your success with Ed Rendell just doesn't buy it," Levitan said. "We have always said that the reason we're going to win this race is because we have the strongest candidate."

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