The Republican Party In Philly: The New Choice Of The “We’ll Probably Lose” Generation?
The idea is fairly simple, really: Let’s say you’re one of the seven or eight Democats crowding the pool of possible candidates for Mayor in Election ‘07. And already, you can tell, man, this thing is going to be the clusterfuck to end all clusterfucks. It already kind of is. And it makes you ask the hard questions: How the hell am I gonna raise enough dough to comfortably sweep the primary and still do some pummelling in the general election? The answer is what it has always been: Take your chances and run as a Republican. Never mind that a Republican has not held the Mayor’s office in over 50 years. Never mind that Sam Katz had reason on his side. Never mind the fact that, given the national GOP’s standing, there’s never been a worse time to be a Republican, especially in Philadelphia where, if local sentiment were anything to go by, is this far away from seceding the Union anyway. Ah, but the fools rush in. First up to the plate: Franny Rizzo (top left), the son of you-know-who and wow, the cajones on this guy. John Street hisself leaked that Rizzo The Younger might switch teams the other day, and if the Smerconishes and Big Talkers of the world are to be believed ‚Äî and in this climate and region, believe ‘em more than you think you should ‚Äî union boss Johnny Doc (top right) might flip, too. But the differences are huge: Rizzo could well flip and become a laughing stock. If J-Doc benedict-arnolds the party that’s paved his golden road to hell, he’s got enough clout that he may be able to take a lot of his union constituency right along with him. But the switch could have a diluding power: While it’s true enough that he who owns the unions owns the election here in Philly, by the same token, is there a snowball’s chance in hell that in 2007, the good and righteous people of Philadelphia will elect the party of Bush into the mayor’s office? As Whitney and Bobby used to say, hells to the no.
Inky: Lil’ Franny To Flip?
TheNextMayor: Jizzoc Dizzoc
TheNextMayor: The Absent Republicans [archive]
