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Murphy's supporters watch results inch their way along
Wednesday, May 16, 2001 By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Everything was just a few degrees off plumb at Tom Murphy's victory party last night.
A band called "Five Guys Named Moe" turned out to be a quartet. Even a Moe short, they were able to fill the hall with swing music -- befitting a night in which numbers swung perilously.
Attendant Murphy supporters traded loyalties between two televisions that flanked the stage. On one, the Pittsburgh Penguins turned around a 2-0 first-period deficit and overcame the New Jersey Devils. On the other, the very devil was at the gates in the form of City Council President Bob O'Connor, who clung to a pencil-thin margin.
"We're gonna sing 'em through to victory," shouted lead singer Jimmy Sapienza. It was not clear which audience he was addressing.
The band kicked into "What a Wonderful World." At 9:47 p.m., a cheer split the air. On the non-hockey television, new numbers tied the mayoral score at 47 percent.
By the time the second set had been switched to news, Murphy was back down.
"It's going to be close. We know that," said Jerry Voros, a longtime Murphy hand who prowled the floor.
It was a night -- for that matter, a day -- of odd alliances. Bob Cranmer, the former Republican chairman of Allegheny County, walked the room and worried about the numbers. John Seidman, the spectral figure who advised former Mayor Sophie Masloff, had spent the campaign advising Murphy. Ben Woods, the sleekly dressed former council president and alumnus of several federal institutions, turned up with his moral support.
Murphy himself was in seclusion. Staff refused to say where he had holed up to wait out the longest night of his political life.
"We're just adding up the returns," said campaign manager David Caliguiri, reached by cell phone. "Close race." That's all he would say, and those words echoed throughout the night at Murphy headquarters.
The uneasiness began early in the evening, when members of Murphy's coalition traipsed into Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on the North Side. Cranmer and fellow former county commissioner Michael Dawida walked in. Dawida, a Democrat, and Cranmer, a Republican, were supporting Murphy and neither was cheery.
"We're here to support Tom. He's going to need it tonight," Dawida said without cracking a smile. He referred inquirers to his father, Matt Dawida, Democratic committeeman for the Fourth District of the 29th Ward in Carrick.
Murphy carried the elder Dawida's district over O'Connor 89-84.
"I usually bring this poll in 3- or 4-to-1," Matt Dawida said. "That doesn't bode well."
"It's all about stadiums," said Cranmer, whose own political career faded after he committed himself to a series of moves to build new stadiums for the Pirates and Steelers. "If this election was a month from now, Tom would be much better. Three months, he'd be great."
As Sapienza ploughed through his play list, Murphy's numbers ticked upward.
By the time Murphy's lead seemed locked into place, Voros was dissecting the reasons a two-term incumbent found himself so close to disaster.
"Tom's a really nice guy," Voros said. "The problem is, he doesn't always let people know it." Voros told of working the polls in Squirrel Hill yesterday morning, where Murphy's tenuous appeal became clear.
"I had one elderly lady come up to me and saw my Murphy button and she said 'I'm for you, but you tell that Murphy I still don't like him with that stadium.' "
Claire Staples and Eric Marchbein, who live in the 14th Ward where he is Democratic chairman, told of encountering Joni Rabinowitz, director of Just Harvest, who fought angrily with the Murphy administration on a range of issues, notably the stadiums.
"She worked her tail off," Staples said, sporting a blue-and-white Mayor Tom Murphy T-shirt. "I asked her today, 'Joni, would you like a T-shirt?' She said 'Nah. Tomorrow I go back to hating him.' "
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