Dwight Evans in Philadelphia Magazine

Alerted by A Smoke-Filled Room, I checked out the profile of Democratic Philadelphia mayoral candidate Dwight Evans in this month's Philadelphia Magazine ("The Dwight Stuff" by Gregory Gilderman). Here are two paragraphs that sort of sum up the article:

To people whose knowledge of Evans comes only from television, it may be a surprise that this purveyor of lists has received the endorsement of three of the city’s most important unions. Or that such influential insiders as Bruce Crawley and Carl Singley are behind him. Or that Philadelphia’s Black Clergy have given him a nod. Even more interesting, perhaps, is what political consultant Larry Ceisler and many others — Democrats and Republicans — say about Evans. “If you ask people who deal with state and city policy,” Ceisler says, “most of them would say Dwight Evans would make the best mayor.”

The problem for Evans is that people in the policy business don’t decide elections. Voters do, and in that area, Evans — ahead of the curve on issues or not — has often struggled to make a connection. In the 1999 Democratic mayoral primary, for instance, he finished an anemic fifth in a five-person field, and in this spring’s primary, things look only slightly more promising. In two recent polls, just 10 percent and 12 percent of respondents said they’d vote for Evans. He remains hopeful that the public at large will come to view him the way the policy wonks do, but in this town, history shows that’s a risky gambit.

It covers a number of his accomplishments, his strengths and weaknesses, and good biographical information. Well worth the time to read for anyone interested in the Philadelphia mayoral race.