Even Some Democrats Say Castille Is Poised To Win

With a war chest approaching $1 million and slick TV commercials reinforcing his image as a war hero-turned-lawman, Republican District Attorney Ronald D. Castille appears even to many Democrats to be well positioned for victory.

With 48 hours left in the campaign, key street-level Democratic operatives

from around the city already were talking about their candidate, Walter M. Phillips Jr., in the past tense.

The Democratic sources, speaking on the condition that they not be named, were hoping for a close finish - pointing out that their party still outnumbers Republicans by 3-1, and that Phillips, a well-credentialed white candidate, should fare better than Castille's opponent of four years ago, Robert W. Williams, a black judge who did not campaign in white areas.

But even those sources - Democratic ward leaders and committee people - said they expected that Castille would win by three to five percentage points, with turnout probably no higher than four years ago. Then, only 31 percent of the city's one million registered voters went to the polls.

And a few Democratic observers predict a blowout - a Castille victory that might surpass the margin in 1985, when he stunned the city by defeating Williams with 58 percent of the vote.

"I'm not very optimistic," said former City Controller Joseph Vignola, a one-time ward leader in South Philadelphia. "The campaign is in critical condition. I don't see any possibility of Phillips winning it."

And Sol Schorr, a Democratic political consultant who is on the sidelines in this race, said, "It would shock me if Castille loses." He saw Castille winning 55 percent of the vote, "and for a Republican, that kind of win is a landslide in this city."

The reasons, as articulated in more than two dozen interviews:

* The Castille people have shaped the campaign to their liking. Castille is the "career prosecutor," someone on "the front line" of the drug problem, a public servant with no links to the Democratic politicians in City Hall; Phillips is the unknown who got fired as a special prosecutor 13 years ago and

hasn't prosecuted a case since. As one longtime Democratic strategist put it, ''They've defined Castille the way they wanted, and they've defined Phillips the way they wanted."