In politics, as in war, yesterday's foe could be today's friend.
Two political pros who worked hard throughout the winter and spring to defeat John F. Street in the Democratic mayoral primary have joined his campaign team.
Street says it's just a matter of rallying loyal Democrats to take on the real foe in November: Republican Sam Katz.
Dean Levitan, campaign manager for Street opponent John White Jr., was at home in the Virginia suburbs of Washington when he was called last week to join Team Street.
Street, in an interview, said Levitan will work with Lana Felton-Ghee, his campaign manager, on "politics and other things."
White, in the meantime, was still dithering last week whether to endorse Street.
The other pro to join Street is Mark Lopez, whose former boss was Democrat Marty Weinberg.
Lopez ran a big Weinberg campaign effort to reregister Republicans in the Northeast as Democrats. He is a local guy, a committeeman in Oxford Circle, and is regarded as a comer in city politics.
Street said Lopez would be his "coordinator for the Northeast."
Levitan and Lopez join other new faces at Street headquarters on Arch Street. They include lawyer Abbe Fletman, on leave from a Center City law firm, who in the spring joined a pro-Street group of gays and lesbians.
-- Tom Infield

Katz family nest a little emptier

Sam Katz was a proud papa last week as he saw the eldest of his four children enter college.
Lauren Katz, 18, who graduated in the spring from Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion Station, is a freshman at Tufts University, outside Boston.
That's a tough school, that Tufts.
Bob Barnett, Katz's campaign director, said the candidate wasn't doing too well.
"He's going to miss her."
-- Tom Infield