There are many observations to be made, and stories to be told, about the mayoral candidate event we held recently, but none more symbolically telling than this: given the choice, whom did the candidates want to sit next to?
Let us explain. We had structured our forum a little differently than most and that difference found physical reflection in the seating we offered the candidates: Two sofas — with the moderator sitting between — and no assigned seating. The candidates chose where to sit.
Jim Kenney and Lynne Abraham were the first find a place, on opposite ends of the right-hand couch, within seconds of each other. They immediately began conversing amiably.
Milton Street was the next to sit, but on the left-hand couch, and a few minutes later, Nelson Diaz sat on the other end of that sofa. It took them longer to start chatting, but they did.
Anthony Hardy Williams then faced two center seats to pick from — between Abraham and Kenney or Diaz and Street. It didn’t seem to take him long at all to choose, and with it he made the choice for Doug Oliver, who finally sat between Diaz and Street.
To the observer, it was a bit like the set-up from a film about high school — the popular (but competitive) kids at one table of the cafeteria, the new kids and misfits at another.
Without question, the couch on the right held those mayoral candidates regarded by the media as the front-runners in the race. After watching them pick couches, we don’t doubt they think of themselves as the front-runner group as well.
By and large, the right-sofa candidates were practiced, predictably steady, even a little bored (all right, that last was mostly Kenney who had to wait a very, very long time for his first question).They were also funny, thoughtful and prepared.
But all the passion, the fire and the surprises came from the couch on the left.
Street is the misfit — part Philly fixture, part community organizer, part preacher, part rabble-rouser. Perhaps the most startling moment of the evening came when he answered a question about whether he favored giving the vote to undocumented immigrants who have resided here for at least three years. His “yes” was unqualified, unhesitant. Whatever else Street may be, he is fearless in expressing his opinion.
Possibly the most quotable moment of the evening came from newbie Doug Oliver. Poised, polished, the consummate professional, Oliver nevertheless said that young Black men like him have reason to fear Philly cops. While he later went on to add that cops have reason to fear young Black men as well, that first moment rang with a kind of clear truth that is altogether rare from more seasoned politicians.
Diaz, like his beloved Latino community, is often underestimated and overlooked. But he spoke with feeling, and even a little heat, about the Latino experience in Philly and his skepticism about politicians who have long ignored the needs of the residents of the barrio and are only now showing an interest in them.
One of the participating journalists, Chris Krewson of Billy Penn, prefaced a question with a statement about everyone knowing Williams is going to win.
None of the other journos (Helen Ubiñas of the Daily News, Solomon Jones of WURD 900AM, Steve Yuan of Metro Chinese Weekly, Shai Ben-Yaacov of WHYY and Ana Gamboa of AL DÍA) tipped their hand about who’s on their betting pool for the next mayor, and we (at AL DÍA) are not convinced the in-group on the right-side sofa should feel comfortable enough to lean back and put their feet up.
One audience member told our content producers that Oliver and Diaz had carried the day, and the non-journalist tweets on our timeline  were most often about Street.  Passion, honesty and deeply held convictions are not to be sneezed at, and everyone (and we mean everyone) loves an underdog.
Meantime, in articles reporting on the event, everyone has noted the good, the bad and the ugly in terms of responses and evasions during the first half of our "In Conversation with Philadelphia." They have also noted it got very chaotic in the second half.
We own it, it did. But chaos is so much more entertaining than falling asleep, don’t you think?  Even when the sofa is comfy.

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