Weinberg endorsement unites Dems. for Street

From former rivals to newfound friends, Democratic mayoral nominee John Street and former contender Marty Weinberg have captured the spotlight of the Philadelphia mayoral race since day one. Continuing that tradition, the two politicians held a news conference last week to announce that Weinberg will support Street in his campaign to become the next mayor of Philadelphia. The endorsement came more than a month after Street cinched the Democratic nomination in the May 18 primary, beating Weinberg by a mere four percentage points of the vote. "I was gratified to receive the enthusiastic endorsement of Marty Weinberg last week," Street said in a statement released yesterday. "Since the primary, it has been my goal to unify the Democratic party and his support is meaningful and significant." In a bitter campaign frequently marred by record levels of negative advertising, Street saw himself as the target of several Weinberg attack commercials. But their former rivalry seems to have been quelled by their drive to defeat Republican opponent Sam Katz in the November 5 election. "I wanted to make sure that John's goal, as mine, was to bring together all the people of the city," Weinberg said at Friday's conference. After winning the May 18 primary, Street offered a would-be olive branch to his opponents, asking them to join him for a "unity lunch" at The Palm restaurant the following day. Only Dwight Evans, who garnered just 4.7 percent of the vote, attended the lunch. But neither Evans nor any of Street's former Democratic rivals have yet followed in Weinberg's footsteps and endorsed Street. According to an article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, White met privately with a group of 50 supporters last week to discuss the race, but decided to withhold any potential endorsements for the time being. Street said that he and Weinberg were able to "unite together under a common vision for the future of Philadelphia," thanks to the help of U.S. Rep. Robert Brady. With Weinberg's help, Street is now squaring up against Katz, who ran unopposed in May. Katz is looking to become Philadelphia's first Republican mayor since the early 1950s. Katz said earlier this month that he did not feel a united Democratic party will in any way injure his campaign. Reducing crime and improving public education "are the things that people care about, not who's having lunch with whom," Katz said. Katz Campaign Director Director Bob Barnett had echoed Katz' sentiment, saying that "voters are going to have to chose between Sam Katz and John Street -- not the other candidates."