Despite the polls, third-party candidate thinks he can win

Unknown John McDermott says religion can save the city. He's got fire in his belly. Referring to the words of legendary Mayor Frank Rizzo, John McDermott -- the third-party candidate in the Philadelphia mayoral race -- explained that you need internal fire to succeed politically. And he hopes that fire can carry him to City Hall. Sure, experts say the mayoral race is a two-party affair and that McDermott, the right-wing Constitutional Party candidate, has no chance. But the 48-year-old Northeast Philadelphia native says he will still run against Republican Sam Katz and Democrat John Street -- and that he just may surprise people. "Let's see come Election Day, but I think a lot of people are sick of Republicans and Democrats," McDermott said yesterday from his Center City campaign office, which was composed of two tables and a Constitutional Party sign almost falling off the wall. McDermott is running on an ultra-conservative platform in a fairly liberal city. His campaign stresses his own pro-life values, which moderate voters may shy away from. By his own estimates, he has raised less than $10,000. His rivals, meanwhile, are expected to spend $10 million each on the general election. So the other candidates aren't panicking just yet. Katz spokesperson Bob Barnett said McDermott's push for mayor was not a concern for their campaign. "We don't think about it at all," he said, adding that "everyone knows there are two candidates." And Ray Jones, spokesperson for Democratic candidate John Street, echoed the sentiment. "We don't forsee that as an issue as we proceed to Election Day," he explained. But when confronted with the citywide view of his candidacy, McDermott -- who is single and lives with his elderly parents -- leaned back in his chair, took off his checkered suit jacket, smoothed his patterned tie and said the race wasn't over until Election Day on November 2. McDermott -- the third of 11 children in an Irish-Catholic family -- said he was named after John the Baptist. Like the biblical figure, McDermott said he sees himself as a "voice crying in the wilderness," fighting against the centrist views of most politicians. Katz and the GOP have moved too far to the left, McDermott said. Beyond his political platform, McDermott said he is also counting on his name and background, as well as the backgrounds of his two opponents, to pull in voters. "Philadelphia is 36 percent Catholic. If you look at Sam Katz and consider yourself Catholic, you couldn't vote for him," said McDermott, explaining that Katz is "pro-abortion" and "pro-homosexual," two stances which he thinks a Catholic could not condone in an elected official. McDermott was a registered Republican until 1998, when he switched parties because the GOP refused to stop funding candidates who supported legal abortion. McDermott, who counts the "rights of the unborn child" as his key issue, said that he has to support "the things I know are true." As a Republican he worked on several state and local campaigns throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He then ran on the Republican ticket for office three different times, winning once. In 1994, McDermott gained a spot on the Republican State Committee. But he also launched an unsuccessful campaign for state representative in 1980, and in 1995 lost in the three-way Republican primary for Philadelphia City Commissioner. If elected, McDermott said his first order of business will be to cut the size of City Council so that it correlates with the city's population loss during the 1990s. He also wants to decentralize the school system and regulate public housing by imposing background checks and drug testing.

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