Clout: A tame day for smashmouth democracy

ANOTHER ELECTION DAY, another day of misleading ballots, dirty tricks and smashmouth democracy.

And that was the race for president!

When you have sign-carrying yuppies at 18th and Walnut jostling each other over Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, as happened yesterday, you know you're in the rarest of elections: A meaningful Pennsylvania presidential primary.

But, for smashmouth democracy, it was pretty tame.

The best we could come up with was North Philly's 19th ward, where pollworkers supporting Jonathan Ramos got into a shouting match with opponent state Rep. Angel Cruz.

Cruz drove an SUV outfitted with loudspeakers to tout his candidacy (and Hillary's) right into the heart (4th and York) of the ward once run by old enemy Carlos Matos.

Taunting, heated words, cursing and pushing ensued. Police were called. But the Cruz SUV sped away before police arrived. No blows were struck.

Cruz "thought he was going to intimidate [Norys Colon Gonzalez who had been chanting Ramos' name]," said Carla Murphy, a Ramos poll worker. "He thought she was going to stop talking when he came out. She didn't, so he called her a 'retarded b---h.'"

"They said he called her a name — we didn't hear it," said Antonio Medina, a Cruz poll worker.

Since his move to the legendary 70th ward (federal prison) Matos, alas, has not been around to defend his turf.

Trouble on the Doc front

The most intense local race was the three-way fight to succeed the iconic state Sen. Vince Fumo. Labor chief John Dougherty flooded the district with electricians in what turned out to be a failed bid to thwart Fumo-picked successor Larry Farnese and Good Government Goddess Anne Dicker (who ran third).

Yet there were no reports of a single punch being thrown, even by Dicker, according to the watchdog Committee of Seventy, which fielded an army of 800 volunteers to monitor polls.

The most exicting moment may have come when the Doc team went to court last night, complaining that City Councilman Frank DiCicco was politicking inside the polling place at the Murphy Rec Center, 4th and Shunk, on behalf of his son, state representative candidate Christian DiCicco.

DiCicco called the charges "ridiculous," saying that he was a poll watcher who was allowed to be inside the polls.

He said that he told his allies to keep their cool, saying, "Remember, they're the thugs, we're the good guys."

The judge issued an injunction.

The Farnese team got a similar injunction after an election judge who favors Dougherty was seen going into voting booths with senior citizens.

This reminds us of an ancedote that Dolores Tayoun, wife of ex-City Councilman Jimmy Tayoun, once told us. When her husband first ran for office, Dolores proudly strode into the voting booth at 9th and Ellsworth to cast her ballot.

She closed the curtain and — whoosh! — a hand suddenly reached in and flicked several levers. Call it the "Hand of Democracy."

Shocked, an indignant Delores turned to see a man behind her and said, "I wanted to vote for my husband!"

The man, exasperated at this novice's ignorance of South Philly politics, replied, "How [else] do you expect him to win?"

Vince: Not Famous

The Famous 4th Street Deli on Bainbridge is an Election Day tradition, and we can't remember the last time that Fumo and his team wasn't part of the scene.

But Vince was absent yesterday, his crew dining instead at Paradiso Restaurant on East Passyunk Avenue.

The reason? Disloyalty.

Former deli owner Dave Auspitz, who still acts as maitre'd on Election Day, had endorsed Johnny Doc, Fumo noted.

Tricky ballots

A number of voters called or e-mailed to express outrage over "official Democratic ballot" fliers distributed at polls.

"Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot!," cried one.

The ballots were paid for by the city's Democratic party, which did not endorse either Obama or Clinton.

The ballots are perfectly legal and easily explained, especially if you view ward leaders as entrepreneurs.

Because the party did not endorse for president or for state treasurer, it allowed individual ward leaders to decide whom to put in those spots.

That decision is often made easier by cash contributions from the candidates.

"We accommodated anybody they wanted in those spots," said U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, city Democratic chairman. "They were all official ballots," even though they featured different candidates in different wards.

30 vs. 30

We're still trying to figure out these full page ads about "Person Number 30" (so named in the Fumo corruption indictment).

Mr. Thirty was running against state Rep. Bill Keller (who prevailed).

But what if, when Keller arrived at his polling place to vote, he was the 30th to vote? Wouldn't that also make Keller Person Number 30?

Obama Girl votes!

Amber Lee Ettinger, aka "Obama Girl," whose 15 minutes of fame are about up, cast her ballot today in her native Hazleton, Pa. — even though she actually lives in New Jersey.

You can see her walking up the steps to the polling place while answering nonsensical questions from a TMZ.com reporter at www.tmz.com/2008/04/22/obama-girl-stuffs-box-for-barack/

Staff writers Gar Joseph, Regina Medina, Bill Bender, Dave Gambacorta and John M. Baer contributed to this report.