Powerful Pa. Democrats on opposite sides

PHILADELPHIA -- Two Democratic rising stars find themselves on opposite sides in this state's pivotal presidential primary.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter swept into office last fall as the first African-American mayoral candidate to win both the black and white vote.

In suburban Bucks County, freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy knocked out a Republican incumbent and became the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress.

Now, both men are putting their new political leverage to work in the April 22 presidential primary. Each faces a heavy lift.

In the state's largest city, where the question is less whether Sen. Barack Obama will win than by how much, Nutter supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Murphy, the freshman who won his district by 0.6%, is leading the Obama charge in the Philadelphia suburbs — and going up against most of the state's political establishment. That includes the popular governor, Ed Rendell; the state Democratic chairman; and Rep. John Murtha, also a well-known opponent of the Iraq war, who endorsed Clinton last Tuesday.

"I'm a one-man shop," says Murphy, Obama's state chairman.

Party's rising stars not aligned

It would be easy to see each man supporting the other candidate, says Chris Borick, polling director at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.

"If you were drawing this up strategically, you'd probably place it just the other way around," he says. "The African-American mayor of a city where the largest share of the state's African-American population lives — by all means you would see the lineup between Nutter and Barack Obama. And Murphy's district … is overwhelmingly white middle-class."

But Nutter's entry into politics was as a Bill Clinton delegate in 1992. He was on the city council when the Clinton administration increased police on city streets and started urban empowerment zones.

"I need to know that the next president of the United States understands cities," he says. "Both Clintons have demonstrated a real understanding of what urban America is about."

Nutter, who worked on Rendell's first, unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1986, is "very much part of the party structure and has operated within it," Borick says. Murphy, on the other hand, "was hailed as this new breed of Democrat, winning in a Republican district, having crossover appeal" just like Obama — which seems to echo Barack Obama's experience.

Murphy served as a military lawyer and paratrooper in Iraq and won the Bronze Star. He was propelled into politics by his opposition to the war, the same issue that brought Obama national prominence.

Obama campaigned twice for him, "when nobody knew who I was," Murphy says.

By the time Murphy arrived in Congress, having defeated a Republican incumbent, he was a quasi-celebrity like Obama. Since then, he has been showcased beyond his freshman status: In his second month in Congress, he and Obama introduced legislation to set a timetable for withdrawal in Iraq. At 34, he has written his political autobiography, being published this month, Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress.

He endorsed Obama in August. "I just think he is a once-in-a-generation type of leader," Murphy says.

He thinks Obama has the best strategy for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and admires Obama's linking of the country's economic problems to the amount of money spent on waging war and buying overseas oil. "His ability to tie it all together is what sets him apart." He attended Obama's speech on race in Philadelphia last week. "I thought we were in the presence of greatness, to be honest with you," he said.

Marching to their own drummer

Despite their résumés and star power, it's not clear how much clout these officials bring to the presidential primary. Neither have the political organization of, for instance, Rendell (a Clinton supporter and former Philadelphia mayor).

"Murphy's a freshman member of Congress. He doesn't have any machine," says Terry Madonna, polling director at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.. "And Nutter doesn't have a machine; he's a very engaging bright guy who won an election."

No one, including Rendell, expects Clinton to win Philadelphia, where 45% of voters are African-American. No one except Nutter.

"I think she'll do tremendously well here," he says.

Nutter's endorsement will help Clinton "at the margin," Rendell says. "Does it make it psychologically acceptable for African-American voters not to vote for Sen. Obama? It does."

But, like Obama, Nutter is an African-American candidate who demands voters look beyond race.

"Somehow automatically because there's a majority African-American registration in the Democratic Party … somehow that automatically means Sen. Obama will win," Nutter says. "With every respect to him, that's why they call them elections. This notion that the African-American vote is monolithic, that all African-Americans vote the same and they only vote for African-American candidates is primarily a myth."

Voting solely on race "demeans or belittles the record" of the candidate in question, Nutter says. "He's black, she's white, OK. Now that we've gotten past that, what are the records, what are the judgment, what is the experience?"

Despite his long history with the Clintons and Rendell, Nutter says he was free to endorse whomever he chose. "I just made a decision," he says. "I didn't have to ask permission to do what I do. I think that's one of the things people like about me."

And he says he's gotten no criticism from Philadelphia residents of any color for backing Obama.

"I got elected to fix potholes and pick up trash," he says. "What my constituents want to know is what are we doing about the wars on our streets, where people are shooting at each other on a daily basis."

'Bucking the party' in Bucks County

Murphy is running for re-election at the same time he's stumping for Obama — he opened the candidate's Wilkes-Barre office last week. Since he endorsed Obama in August, his fundraising has plunged, even though "I've worked just as hard as I have been, if not harder." It's a consequence of bucking the party, he says.

Murphy says his support of Obama has cost him. During the first six months of 2007, he raised more than $1 million, campaign reports show. In the second half, however, he raised only $447,852.

"There are consequences," he says. "But this is too important a position to not be able to look people in the eye and tell them who I think is best to lead" the nation.