Putting it in terms that my television-educated self can understand.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch the news and read the paper, you get hit on all side with news about Philadelphia’s ever popular odd-year, non-mayoral municipal elections!

Ok.  Maybe the Philly District Attorney’s race isn’t going to be leading off every hour of CNN or show up as “the big story” on Action News but that doesn’t mean that the race for this open seat isn’t important.  Similarly, City Controller Alan Butkovitz is also up for re-election.  You know him as the guy who doesn’t think Mayor Nutter is doing such a great job.

However, coming as they do just a few months after the presidential race and being a full two and half years away from the next mayoral contest, these two races generally get as much interest as Major League Lacrosse.  Sure, there are always a few diehards who vote in every election but I can pretty much guarantee that when the third Tuesday in May comes around you aren’t going to have to wait in any lines.

So let’s open it up to you the readers (and listeners) of WHYY.  What role would you like this blog to play in chronicling the ins and outs of these important, if VERY low profile, elections?  At this point I’m not even sure what we have to offer but your input could help us give data to our news staff about how much interest there is in these races.  We can also start aggregating all of the available news coverage out there and asking you, the readers, to help us by pointing out DA or Controller stories that we may have missed.

To that end, let’s start with this piece from today’ Inquirer which answers the most important question everyone should have when making the choice for District Attorney.</sarcasm>  That is: how much money have the candidates raised?!  For the record that would be Dan McCaffery, a former assistant district attorney and brother of state Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey.  To their credit, Maykuth and Gelbart do point out the very relevant fact that McCaffery has gotten a lot of his money from labor union political action committees.

YPP favorite Seth Williams, himself a former ADA and the Inspector General at the very end of the Street administration, comes in second with less than half of McCaffrey’s total.  I actually just received a fund raising email from Williams who reminds everyone that “while having ‘the most’ is not important, ‘having enough’ is crucial.”  That’s called managing expectations.

So let us know what you want to know.  What issues do you think should be addressed at length during this primary election?  If we get our shot at interviewing the candidates for this blog, what would you want to know?

Oh, and we promise (or at least I promise) that from this day forward, while I might link to stories about fundraising totals or poll numbers, I won’t do any additional commentary about those useless measures of the candidates unless the “who donated” is an important part of the story.