And we are back! Even at 10 a.m., the PA society parties rage on. Here's the latest...
One more item from last night, at the Local 98 function -- Johnny Doc was conspicuously absent from his own elaborate party at the Waldorf. Spokesman Frank Keel said he was at the hospital back in Philadelphia with his mom.
However you might feel about this brash, often polarizing labor leader, there is one thing about Doc: While his mother and his wife have been ill, he has been at their side. Frank Keel said: "A lot of people talk about family values, John lives them."
This morning was the University of Pennsylvania's breakfast. In the crowd: declared candidate Chaka Fattah, declared candidate Michael Nutter and will-declare-on-Monday candidate Dwight Evans.
Fattah's presence means that he has missed votes in Congress -- something that we have promised to track as this newly re-elected Congressman runs for mayor. He told the Daily News' Catherine Lucey that he had thought about it, and decided that running for mayor of Philadelphia was important enough that he had to miss some votes. He pointed out that John Kerry did as well, when he was running for President.
"I am here because I intend to be the next mayor," he said.
Chaka was there with his wife, NBC-10 anchor Renee Chenault Fattah.