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Key Victories for Candidates Opposed by Philly Democratic Machine
by
Aaron Couch | 04.23.2008
Victories by a number of candidates not supported by the Democratic Party yesterday signal the changing landscape of the powerful machine politics in Philadelphia.  A number of Democratic candidates in yesterday's primary won despite opposition from the Democratic party including Larry Farnese, Tony Payton, Kenyatta Johnson, and Vanessa Brown. While a majority of candidates supported by the party won, those victories are evidence of an erosion of the traditional part power and offer hope for future challengers who can develop bases from outside the traditional party structure. Support from ward leaders has never been a guarantee of victory but appears to carry less weight than in the past. The power of the ward leaders comes in their ability to get out the vote for their endorsed candidates. But in yesterday's primary the ward leaders strength was not enough to overcome a number of well organized challengers. Another public challange to party machine came last month when Barack Obama refused to give 'street money', a traditional hand out for support on election day. The party's endorsed candidate and chairman, Bob Brady, also lost last year's Mayoral primary. While candidates did beat the party, they were not all outsiders. Larry Farnese won the State Senate nomination in the 1st district with the support of outgoing senator and power-broker Vince Fumo. He was also supported by Councilman Frank DiCicco and though he lost the party endorsement he was supported by significant number of ward leaders in the district. Tony Payton, winner of the State House race in the 179th district, was an incumbent with the support of Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell. Payton ended up fighting the party after not kissing the ring of ward leaders Marge Tartaglione and Danny Savage. See also: Daily News: 10 and Done for James Inquirer: Despite Muscle, Newbie Takes it
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