Larry Ceisler

A static of innuendo and speculation engulfed the race for Philadelphia mayor yesterday with the discovery of a listening device in Mayor Street's City Hall office. Political analysts said the stunning development ? and the FBI's refusal to clarify the situation - casts a shadow over the mayoral campaign with just under four weeks to go before Election Day. In an awkward scene for an office-holder seeking reelection, Street stepped into a hallway press scrum to confront the suggestion that he might be the target of a federal investigation.

A large percentage of voters in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District - much of Montgomery County and parts of Philadelphia's Northeast - are still undecided four weeks from the primary, according to the latest Keystone Poll. Fifty percent of the Republicans and 37 percent of the Democrats told pollers they had not yet made a choice. Among "likely" voters, a more select group, Democratic candidates Joseph Torsella and State Sen. Allyson Schwartz were essentially tied.

It was billed as the start of his reelection campaign in next year's controller's race. But if Jonathan Saidel didn't come right out and say: "I'm running for mayor in '99," his announcement yesterday had all the trimmings of future aspirations: A $1,000-a-plate lunch with roast beef. Big names. (District Attorney Lynne Abraham and Mayor Rendell were there.) And big money. (Len Barrack and Alan Kessler, top fund-raisers for the mayor and President Clinton, along with lawyer Martin Weinberg, considered the kingmaker of mayoral hopefuls.

Three members of Mayor Goode's primary election campaign staff will spend three months on the city payroll as summer interns with the Goode administration, the mayor confirmed yesterday. Larry Ceisler and Kenneth Smukler, attorneys who researched issues and coordinated the mayor's schedule during the campaign, began their new jobs on Monday. Smukler said they are assigned to the mayor's office, working on "whatever projects the mayor wants us to work on . . . . They really haven't been defined.

Three members of Mayor Goode's primary election campaign staff will spend three months on the city payroll as summer interns with the Goode administration, the mayor confirmed yesterday. Larry Ceisler and Kenneth Smukler, attorneys who researched issues and coordinated the mayor's schedule during the campaign, began their new jobs on Monday. Smukler said they are assigned to the mayor's office, working on "whatever projects the mayor wants us to work on . . . . They really haven't been defined.

Can this marriage work, or is it splits already? The Montgomery County Republican Party late Thursday night joined together Bruce Castor and James Matthews as endorsed candidates in this year's much-anticipated race for county commissioner. The problem was that Castor, who will give up his job as district attorney at year's end, had vowed never to pair with Matthews, a current commissioner. Neither Castor nor Mathews was available yesterday to predict what would happen next.

It used to be called simply "PR" and it didn't matter much to the average voter. Today, it's called "spin" - celebrated even in a hit TV show called "Spin City" - and it's considered critical to winning elections. That's why a late-inning personnel shakeup in John Street's mayoral campaign - bringing back Ken Snyder, the media spokesman from Street's primary campaign, who'd left for greener pastures in Washington, D.C., is causing a buzz in political circles. Many see the maneuvering to bring back Snyder - on an unpaid leave of absence from his post as deputy mayor in Washington - as an acknowledgment that the Democratic nominee's campaign was getting off track with the voting just six weeks away.

Why is this man laughing? Because the victor may get the spoils, but that doesn't mean the losers lack clout. Marty Weinberg got 89,000 votes in last week's Democratic mayoral primary. And Team Weinberg aims to use them as leverage. At a meeting in state Sen. Vince Fumo's office late last week, the Weinberg brain trust agreed to keep their campaign vehicle - Unity '99 - rolling until a decision can be made about what direction it should take. The options: Back the Democrat, John Street.

Marty Weinberg's leap into a first-place tie with John Street among likely Democratic voters is based not so much on what he says in his commercials, but on the fact that they seem to be on the air all the time, election experts say. The massiveness of Weinberg's TV blitz, coupled with what one analyst called a well-financed "stealth campaign" of door-to-door politics, enabled him to increase his share of likely voters from 3 percent to 23...

For months, there has been a stealth candidate for mayor of Philadelphia who some pundits have called "Mr. X. " "Mr. X" was an established businessman, bureaucrat or community leader with no ties to the seedy world of ward politics. His most important political advantage was that he would pledge to carry on the budget balancing and city-image boosting of Mayor Rendell. His biggest drawback was a pretty big one, though. He didn't exist. Then, last week, the world of political gossip sprung to life: Make it "Ms. X. " When Rosemarie Greco resigned last week from the No. 2 post at CoreStates Financial Corp.

The candidate who succeeds the late Rep. John P. Murtha (D., Pa.) in a special election this spring might not want to buy a home in Washington. That's because demographers estimate that Pennsylvania will lose at least one seat in the decennial reapportionment of House seats among the states after the 2010 Census - and some political analysts believe the 12th District would be an easy target for state lawmakers reshuffling boundaries before the...

For years, whenever State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo strode before the TV lights for a big announcement, Howard J. Cain was apt to be standing against the back wall - a hefty, bald man in a blue suit and suspenders with his arms folded. Cain, genial and quick-witted, with a voice that sounds as if he's perpetually whining, was a member of a small circle of friends, aides and confidants who depended on Fumo for much of their livelihood and gave him fierce loyalty in return. In 1999, during a brief tiff when Fumo and Cain found themselves on opposites sides of a Philadelphia mayoral primary, Fumo told the Philadelphia Daily News, "Howard is family.

The suburban revolution did not happen quite as advertised. Republicans triumphed Tuesday in races for control of the four county courthouses in the Pennsylvania suburbs, with a real scare only in Bucks County - despite poll indications and predictions that Democrats were poised for a historic victory in at least one contest. Democrats did do better than they did in 2003. The party also made some surprising gains lower on the ballot, including taking five of the nine row offices in Montgomery County for the first time in memory.

Now in the final hours, the campaigns for control of suburban courthouses have arrived with signs sprouting at intersections and highway on-ramps, TV attack ads complete with scary music, and last-minute hit pieces in mailboxes. On Tuesday, voters will determine whether Democrats can finally win significant county-level power by capitalizing on their growing number of registered voters, leftward trends in presidential and congressional elections, and public dissatisfaction with the Bush White House and the Iraq war. "The Democrats are poised, but their real challenge is going to be turnout," said Larry Ceisler, a Democratic media consultant who is not working in any of the races.

Now in the final hours, the campaigns for control of suburban courthouses have arrived with signs sprouting at intersections and highway on-ramps, TV attack ads complete with scary music, and last-minute hit pieces in mailboxes. On Tuesday, voters will determine whether Democrats can finally win significant county-level power by capitalizing on their growing number of registered voters, leftward trends in presidential and congressional elections, and public dissatisfaction with the Bush White House and the Iraq war. "The Democrats are poised, but their real challenge is going to be turnout," said Larry Ceisler, a Democratic media consultant who is not working in any of the races.

Can this marriage work, or is it splits already? The Montgomery County Republican Party late Thursday night joined together Bruce Castor and James Matthews as endorsed candidates in this year's much-anticipated race for county commissioner. The problem was that Castor, who will give up his job as district attorney at year's end, had vowed never to pair with Matthews, a current commissioner. Neither Castor nor Mathews was available yesterday to predict what would happen next.

Russ Diamond, founder of a populist movement formed in protest of last year's legislative pay raises, said yesterday he would run for governor in November, entering an already tight race between Gov. Rendell and former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann. Largely unknown before his campaign to overturn the pay hike lawmakers granted themselves last summer, Diamond said he decided to run as an independent because he is fed up with politics in Harrisburg - and is convinced other residents of Pennsylvania are, as well.

THE NATIONAL Constitution Center is hosting an excellent exhibit about Abraham Lincoln. I have to believe Rick and Karen Santorum took their home-school class on a field trip to learn all about our 16th president. Why? Pennsylvania's favorite non-union teachers should want the kids to learn that Abe lost a closely watched Senate race and then turned around and was elected president. Why else would Santorum pick this time to publish "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good"?

After working six straight days, bleary-eyed Republican legislative leaders barged into Gov. Rendell's Capitol office itching for a fight. The midnight confrontation on Nov. 20 quickly degenerated into a screaming match - albeit mostly one-sided - with GOP leaders excoriating the Democratic governor as a liar and a political manipulator. The end-of-session showdown, near the halfway point in Rendell's first term, marked the nadir, many say, in a stormy two-year relationship between a Democratic governor with ambitious plans and a Republican-led legislature fighting to preserve its agenda.

Jonny Meister may well end up voting for both U.S. Senate candidates this year. He's a Democrat who registered as a Republican to save U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter from becoming a conservative-movement casualty in Tuesday's primary. For the fall, his vote is up for grabs, though Meister is leaning toward Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel 3d. Voters such as Meister - a Bala Cynwyd moderate who is comfortable with Specter or Hoeffel - will figure heavily into the general election contest between two Southeastern Pennsylvania candidates who consider suburban centrists their core constituency.