Election Day
On this past Election Day I had the opportunity to spend most of the day with Democratic mayoral candidate Michael Nutter.
6:30am: The Nutter dining room
I started out at his home in the morning (along with Lisa Nutter and their 12 year-old daughter Olivia, Communications Director Melanie Johnson, two campaign photographers, a reporter, a family friend, and three off-duty police officers) and tagged along for rest of the day from the time he left to vote as soon as the polls opened at 7am, until he gave his victory speech that night. The photos were converted to black & white because the day started out with rain, and it just put me in that mood (click here for a slide show in color). For someone who loves to shoot politics, elections are like the Super Bowl. Okay, maybe not this one. When it's an off-year election, and four out of five voters are registered Democrats and the city has not elected a Republican mayor in sixty years...maybe a Democratic candidate's race for City Hall only rises to the level of a wild card playoff.
7:15am: John C. Anderson Culture Center
8am: SEPTA's 52nd Street Terminal
I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point years ago, I stopped trying to get all the best sports assignments at the Inquirer and began jockeying for those involving politicians, and other leaders in business, the arts and academia.
9am: The Ace Diner
Maybe it was the realization that as long as I'm going to spend time with people trying to capture "peak action" moments - I may as well do it with people I find interesting. However, "Darn right, I do get to listen to roll call votes inside the actual City Council Chambers!" doesn't make quite the party chatter as: "Yeah, I'm right there on the sidelines, and I do get into the games for free."
10am: Picking up luggage for the hotel
Noon: Get-out-the-Vote rally at Sheet Metal Workers Union Hall
Since the Philadelphia Police don't officially provide a security detail for candidates, Nutter didn't receive police protection until the next day, after he became Mayor-elect. But a few police officers who have known him for years used their vacation time to take a few days off around the election to act as his escorts. So there was no flashing of red lights or running of stop-signs (not that official Mayoral motorcades do that). I got to ride with them in their rental Honda mini-van. I also got to see a GPS device in operation (I'm obviously not a techie. I don't even have cable tv, and my blogs are always late.)
2pm: Sadiki's Restaurant
Nutter skipped the traditional lunch at Famous Fourth Street Deli (Brady, Fumo and GOP challenger Al Taubenberger showed). He opted instead for Sadiki's Restaurant on Ogontz Avenue (at left). Actually, the places he visited all day would give an out-of-town visitor a pretty good taste of our city. Besides Sadiki's in West Oak Lane, he had breakfast at the Ace Diner, on Lancaster Avenue and late afternoon breaks at Mugshots Coffee House & Café, in Fairmount and the Melrose Diner in South Philadelphia. Around 5pm, I left to file my photos for the newspaper, so I don't know where, but he made one last stop at an eatery somewhere in the Northeast before ending up at his Center City campaign headquarters to fine-tune his victory speech.
5pm: The Melrose Diner
7:30pm: Campaign offices
8:15pm: Warwick Hotel suite as returns come in
8:30pm: After meeting with the press
9:15pm: Taking a congratulatory call from Gov. Rendell
That's Nutter campaign photographer Ed Kennedy on the right in photo above, as Nutter came out of his room into his Warwick Hotel suite kitchen to take a call from the Governor on a staffers' cell phone. Kennedy also shot for the campaign during the primary. But he wasn't in the winner's hotel suite when Nutter captured the Democratic nomination with thirty-seven percent of the vote in May. After they celebrated his victory, the staff realized they had no good photos of the historic night. So the two of us were allowed to be there this time as the presumptive mayor did a few interviews, and took some more phone calls, while everyone waited to go out on stage. Later, I was told, family, staff and friends celebrated - long into the morning - at a private party after the speech.
9:55pm: Backstage before victory speech
10:05pm: A moment of silence for slain Police Officer Cassidy before the speech