A Mr. Nice Guy trying to be Mr. Mayor

For a person with just over 8 percent of support in the polls, Republican mayoral candidate Al Taubenberger is remarkably optimistic.

"I'd say I have about a 50-50 shot," he says. "For one thing, I'm going to do a lot better than the last poll indicated."

Optimism seems to define the plucky, enthusiastic candidate, who will square off today against Democratic nominee Michael Nutter.

The fact that Philadelphia Democrats outnumber their Republican counterparts five to one doesn't seem to bother Taubenberger, who sees it as his duty to uphold Philadelphia's two-party system - even in an election that political analysts have called in Nutter's favor since early May.

Instead, the 53-year-old president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce has pressed on, talking to voters about the issue he knows best: jobs.

"A good job with a decent wage is better than any government program Washington or City Hall can think of," he said to applause at last month's debate in West Philadelphia. "The mayor needs to be the city's chief cheerleader."

A passionate soccer fan and unofficial expert in German culture, Taubenberger's interests are almost as varied as his ideas to improve the city's economy.

"Al jumps in with both feet," said Edward McBride, a chairman of the GNPCC who has known Taubenberger for over 20 years. "One of the biggest things about him is his energy. He is a guy who can put in 16-hour days back-to-back and never complain."

But rivaling Taubenberger's energy is his passion for politics. The son of German immigrants, he said his interest in civic engagement comes from his parents.

"My father on his deathbed told me that best decision he ever made was coming here," he said. "They loved that the U.S. was an open democracy. That's the great thing about this country."

While Taubenberger has received high marks for his civility and candor, some have criticized him for not releasing more specific proposals to differentiate himself from Nutter.

Political analyst Larry Ceisler said Taubenberger was "handcuffed from the start" because Nutter has long emphasized ethics reform, an issue that is traditionally a selling point for Republicans.

"It's been disappointing that he hasn't been more aggressive, but the fact of the matter is that Taubenberger's a truthful person," he said. "And many of his other beliefs are very similar to Nutter's."

But Taubenberger, who ran uncontested in the Republican primaries, may also benefit from the face time he has gotten during the election.

The Republicans "couldn't find anybody else to run, and Taubenberger's a good soldier with a clean background," Ceisler said. "That'll help, because I'm sure he's going to run [for another position] in the future."

And while the optimism Taubenberger exudes may not make a difference in today's election, it certainly has served him in the past.

In 1978, for instance, Taubenberger and current Councilman at-large Jack Kelly worked for opposing candidates in a heavily contested legislative race.

And when Kelly became district councilman years later, the first thing he did was to place a call to a surprised Taubenberger.

"I asked him to be my chief of staff, even though he wasn't on my side," Kelly recalled. "You knew that this was a guy you could trust."

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