Underdog Bailey should have barked

THE QUADRENNIAL ass-kicking the Republican Party suffers in the Philadelphia mayor's race was a little worse than usual, although it shouldn't have been.

A small part of the problem was that Melissa Murray Bailey didn't have what's sometimes called "fire in the belly" or the killer instinct to go after Democrat Jim Kenney.

In reality, with a 7-1 registration edge, Kenney could have swung naked from Billy Penn's hat and still been elected.

Each candidate actually outpolled the registration. The Dems have 78 percent of registered voters, and Kenney got 85 percent of the vote. Republicans have 11 percent of the registered voters and Bailey got 13 percent of the vote.

In each case, the "added" votes came from independents, and Kenney did better there. I suspect the reason is that Philadelphia independents are mostly disaffected Democrats.

In any event, Republican City Committee Chairman John Taylor, a state rep and a decent guy, told me that Bailey was an excellent candidate, and she was.

To no avail.

It's almost impossible to keep Philly voters from drinking that Demon Dem rum.

What can the GOP do?

"Our No. 1 problem in the city of Philadelphia," Taylor told me on election night, "is that we don't have a national spokesman for our party. It's pretty hard to identify with a wealthy Mormon or even Donald Trump," although at polling places on Tuesday he "met more than a few with a fondness for Trump." He didn't look pleased as he said that.

"Until we can catch that and have someone on TV, we will continue to struggle."

He described the Philadelphia GOP as "a sales force that's given a product our customers aren't buying."

He said the national GOP has to become "less socially conservative" and should find "someone scrappy who came up the hard way."

While he likes John Kasich and Chris Christie, he thinks "Marco Rubio might be the future."

As for Bailey, she told me that while campaigning she "spent a lot of time in the worst communities in the city and in communities where people are coming together because their children have been murdered and they don't know who did it.

"Half the houses are boarded up or are falling apart," she said. "A city should not be a chasm between haves and have-nots, with the middle class leaving."

She said, "We have to make sure people in power are thinking about that every single day," but there are ways to do that other than holding public office.

This election was a rude awakening for Bailey.

I doubt that she will seek office again, but I don't doubt she will find a way to channel her smarts and convictions into Philadelphia's life.

At least, I hope so.

- Stu Bykofsky