without the funding. He's linked them, quite responsibly, as opposed to some of the other candidates who have presented only the vaguest funding ideas to finance their big plans. But fighting poverty clearly should be the central issue in the campaign, and I'm impressed that Fattah has made that so forcefully clear.

I don't know if the airport plan will work or not. There may well be obstacles that can be overcome with leadership. I think Fattah can provide it. But whether he can or not, at least he's identified the main issue that afflicts the city. He ought to get points for that. No candidate can foresee all of the obstacles that may or may not emerge to hinder his ability to achieve his goals. But having the right goals is a pretty big deal.

And if he can't achieve the airport deal, I hereby commend to him for his consideration, and that of all the candidates, a certain grand bargain which can be found at the following nearby address: http://youngphillypolitics.com/grand_bargain

There should be other ways of raising the money. I remember well that when the original idea of building a convention center came up, and the idea of replacing the Vet with not one but two new parks, the cry was heard all around the state that the money was simply not available. Well, enough heavy hitters wanted those things, and the money was found. The heavy hitters need to be enlisted around the necessity to fight poverty. And then, the money will be found.

Where do they come from?

and there's no doubt those assets need to be used smarter. Economies can undoubtedly be found, such as ditching the for profit educational companies that have sucked up tens of millions of dollars and provided 0 benefit in return. But ultimately we're not going to reduce class size, fund sufficient after-school and apprenticeship opportunities, and provide the additional supports needed without additional funding. Fattah recognizes that fact which is step 1. He does need to provide detail on how to allocate the additional resources he intends to find, and that would be step 2. However, I think he's provided half of that step through the idea of bringing all the stakeholders together to fashion a plan during his first year. Mayors and mayoral campaigns don't have all the answers, and even if they did, they need buy-in from those who will be implementing on the ground. He will also need buy-in from whoever will be providing the funding, and/or time to implement his airport funding plan. So it's responsible to call for implementation in a deliberate manner.

He may want to issue more precise guidelines to the stakeholders, though, which I would welcome during the campaign.

That wasn't too long. I am just interested in the fact that the person you like least, Fattah, is the person you spent the most time writing about above. You are new to Philly, but as a native, let me tell you this mayoral election has more wild cards and the best candidates that we have had in years.

I think you are factually inaccurate about Fattah, but since you clearly have your mind made up, I won't go into a lot of detail. I think your info about him is coming from other bloggers and not the policy papers he has released which have quite a lot of info and show that he has ideas and priorities that speak to all Philadelphians at all income levels.

However, for you and mostly the Nutter supporters, write something good about your guy. I've never seen an underdog--which is what Nutter is right now based on his polling--rise up by tearing the other guy down. Remember Chuck Pennachio?

Dwight Evans, Brady and Knox are not the current leaders of the polls, but you have to give their campaigns and their supporters credit for sticking to their message.

I am sure many of you are discounting what I am saying because i work for Fattah, but remember I was a co-editor of this blog long before that, and will continue to be after the election, and I am really wearing that hat right now to say that all the hating by Nutter supporters is really, really B-O-R-I-N-G.

Please, I welcome you, write about what is he for and what he plans to do rather than just talking about how much the city sucks and how bad it is and how you hate the other candidates.

I agree with you there, Ben. We shouldn't attack posts because they support a specific candidate. I'm not criticizing Fattah because he's running against another candidate. I'd honestly like to hear more about the "Plan B" if the airport funding falls through. Let me know if, as Ray says, that is being "negative" and I'll stop asking the question. I've said before, I like a lot of Fattah's ideas. Regardless of who wins, I hope some of them get implemented by the next mayor.