In the last week of the three-way Democratic primary race for State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo's seat, grassroots campaigner Anne Dicker is working to get as many volunteers on the street as she can.
And that includes her family.
"Every single family member I have in Ohio is taking time off from work, and we are going to work this thing - blood, sweat and tears - to win it," said Dicker, who, like many voters in the First District, is a transplant to Philadelphia.
Yesterday, her spirits and campaign boosted by the endorsement of the Philadelphia Daily News, Dicker worked the phones enlisting volunteers.
Her goal, she said, is to mobilize 500 of them Tuesday throughout the district, which extends from Philadelphia International Airport to Port Richmond and Brewerytown and includes South Philadelphia and Center City.
The push followed a weekend of intrigue - not unusual for the district - during which Dicker fired her campaign manager for, she said, urging her to drop out in favor of opponent Larry Farnese after The Inquirer endorsed him.
In an added twist, she also acknowledged conferring with an adviser to front-runner John J. Dougherty to see where she stood in the polls.
The former campaign manager, Karim Olaechea, said that he did not urge her to quit and countered that she fired him when he refused to drop a long-standing strategy focusing on voters in two predominantly African American wards in the district.
Whatever the scenario - and there are many whispered suggestions - Dicker said she knew she would fight on after Dougherty adviser Larry Ceisler shared a poll showing her in second place in the race, with nearly a third of the voters still undecided.
"I got into this race to defeat the Fumo machine, and I am now in this race to defeat the Fumo machine and the Dougherty machine," she said. "No way in hell am I going to drop out."
The "Fumo machine" is a clear reference to Farnese, who has picked up the support of the incumbent's camp since the senator dropped out of the race last month.
Dicker is familiar with South Philadelphia politics, having once run well, but unsuccessfully, for state representative and being a leader of the anti-casino movement.
Fumo's role in authoring the casino legislation prompted Dicker to be the first to challenge the senator in this race, and it was opposition to slots parlors that allied her with Dougherty in the fight against Foxwoods, which is to be built in Dougherty's Pennsport neighborhood.
