And that's what some of his allies say.
Egan has yet to call a news conference to announce a substantive position or detailed solution for some of the city's thorniest problems, such as crime, fiscal disarray and homelessness.
He has sought to make his lack of proposals a plus. Last week he blasted Rendell for serving up too many ideas that are unrealistic and misleading.
"Boy, he's got a position paper on everything. And boy, that's got to scare everybody," Egan told a group of college and high school journalists scribbling down his words.
Yesterday, after taking two days off to rest and recuperate from a sinus condition, Egan charged back into the campaign, promising a blueprint for his new government in the next two weeks.
"I've taken some criticism for this. . . . and it's valid criticism," Egan said yesterday. "They say, 'Where's his position papers? Where's his position papers?' And the reason I have no position papers - it could have been easy for me because I could have taken Rendell's, Sam Katz's, turned it around, looked at what I could live with, and put out Joe Egan position papers. But I didn't for a very good reason. I wanted to find out what was going on in the city."
The campaign has gone well, he said in a Friday night telephone interview, and voters are receptive. He would like more money, more attention from the press. "Let me tell you, it's been a race. And it's a race now."
Egan is not always so upbeat. In a business that, for better or worse, demands glib talk, he sometimes seems too candid.
At a social workers forum hosted by the Children, Youth and Family Council, Egan was asked what people expected the next mayor to accomplish.
