Philadelphia: Republican Specter

As a lawman, Philadelphia's District Attorney Arlen Specter was almost to Blackstone born. He has officially been a law enforcement officer since the age of three, when the sheriff of Sedgwick County, Kans., deputized him during a visit and won young Specter fleeting fame in Ripley's Believe It or Not. In 1964, as one of the youngest (he was then 34) investigators with the Warren Commission, Specter developed the report's cental "single-bullet" theory of the Kennedy assassination. Then, back in Philadelphia, Specter shifted political allegiance from liberal Democrat to liberal Republican, won handily in the 1965 race for district attorney to become the city's first major G.O.P. victor in a dozen years. Last week Specter took on a new challenge: he accepted the Republican nomination for mayor in this fall's municipal election.

Few Philadelphians doubt that Specter will win. Polls by Psephologist E. John Bucci, who predicted the gubernatorial victories of both William Scranton and Raymond Shafer, peg Specter as a 2-to-l favorite over any other candidate. Meanwhile, the Democrats, badly split after five years of lackluster leadership, face a furious primary dogfight.

Imagination & Execution. Democratic Mayor James H. J. Tate, 57, a courtly Irishman with the instincts of a machine gunner, won in 1963 on the strength of Negro support. His obstinate opposition to neighborhood control of poverty funds turned both Washington and the Negro community against him. It also brought out the fighting instincts of City Controller Alexander Hemphill, 45, who will oppose Tate in the primary. Says N.A.A.C.P. Leader Cecil B. Moore, himself running for mayor as an independent: "Tate will be retired to the position he's best qualified for: cesspool attendant."

Specter's mayoral qualifications are exemplary: as assistant attorney general, he singlehandedly reformed Philadelphia's corrupt magisterial system and convicted three errant magistrates (TIME, Oct. 1, 1965); as D.A. he initiated a round-the-clock police court to speed justice for minor offenders and won Negro support by padlocking dives in "the jungle" of North Philadelphia. Previously backed by the Americans for Democratic Action despite his party switch, Specter also has the wholehearted support of Philadelphia's Republican Boss William Meehan.

Specter wasted no time last week in getting his campaign under way. Tate's government-by-crony, he said, produces underlings who "take direction by tantrum." To cope with Philadelphia's problems of poverty, housing, race relations, retaining and attracting industry, he added, "you need imagination and execution at the top municipal levels. We don't have that here." Yet.