With the mayoral election only days away, Finnegan had given the newspaper a good once-over. And, boy, was she annoyed.

"I'm appalled at the money they've been spending," she said after reading that all the candidates vying to succeed Mayor Rendell had spent more than $23 million.

Finnegan, 70, is outraged. Why, she wonders, is so much cash going down the drain? The millions spent by Republican Sam Katz and Democrat John F. Street on 30-second TV ads have done nothing, she said, to influence her vote Tuesday. That campaign booty could have helped the needy, she said.

Despite televised debates and prime-time campaign ads costing as much as $24,000 for 30 seconds, voters on this racially integrated strip of rowhouses in lower Northeast Philadelphia are still unsure whom to support.

Several families being profiled by The Inquirer are set on Katz, the underdog in a race in which Democrats outnumber Republicans 4-1. Others like Street or at least have not ruled him out. But if both candidates could hear the people on the 800 block of Brill Street talk, they might wonder whether all that advertising money was well-spent.

Because when some of these folks walk into the Hair Hut beauty shop to vote on Tuesday, their decision will come down to little more than a gut feeling, friendly advice, or a last-minute "Hail Mary."

"I'll be glad when it's over," said Finnegan, a retired billing supervisor who is treasurer of the seniors group at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church. "I'm sick and tired of listening to this crap."

"So many times, I've walked into that booth, not knowing who to vote for, said a prayer, and then just picked someone," Finnegan said.

This year is no different.

The biggest choice facing the Ralston household these days has nothing to do with the mayor's race.

It's whether 10-year-old Craig should save his mother some money and be the Cat in the Hat again for Halloween, or should he get her to buy a "Dripping, Bleeding Mask" for eight bucks.

This is Sunday evening at Marianne Ralston's three-bedroom rowhouse, a rare time of peace and quiet for this single mother. The spaghetti is ready and Marianne, Craig and Matthew are done playing cards.

Anthony, 7, is on the computer. Their mother shouts from the kitchen: "Anthony! Do you want meatballs or just spaghetti?"

"Just p'sghetti," he answers.

What is shaping up as a potentially historic mayoral contest is as inconsequential to Ralston now as it was a month ago, when she could barely name the candidates.

Back then, Ralston, 34, a human resources specialist, knew nothing about Katz, and her image of Street was that of a longtime politician whose temperament troubled her.

The money spent to influence her has had no effect. The little she now knows has come from TV news blips and chats with relatives.

She now defines the contest in terms of just two issues: school vouchers and lower taxes.

That is all she needs to know.

"I'm with Katz," she said.

Katz supports vouchers and reducing the city wage tax - issues that resonate with Ralston.

Voting has never been a passion to Ralston. While growing up in Summerdale, she and her family often voted according to sample ballots distributed by a Democratic committeewoman up the street.

Nowadays, she consults with her mother, Nancy McFadden of Holmesburg, and her brother Frank McFadden, of Ambler. Both like Katz.

"I just think he's the better candidate," she said. "He's hitting where people need help the most."

A month ago, Ruth Sherman was sure of just one thing: She did not like her party's nominee.

The Brill Street Democrat feared that Street, if elected, would favor his old district, North Philadelphia, the way she felt Rendell had boosted Center City. Sherman said she was also wary of his "caustic personality," even though he seemed statesmanlike as Council president.

If public officials are "disrespectful," she said, "you wonder how much attention they're going to pay to the needs of the people."

Katz, meanwhile, was a name without a face, a bland unknown.

Last weekend, Sherman took her mother, Agnes Stocker, on a stroll down South Street. It was a treat for her mom, who at age 83 rarely leaves Fishtown. Stocker strutted her stuff down the strip that she hadn't seen in more than 25 years.

Stocker, a widow, spends her days watching soap operas in the same rowhouse where she reared her children. Despite spending hours in front of the TV, she has paid little mind to campaign ads.

Idle chit-chat at her senior center helped her decide how to vote.

"Katz, of course," she said, ambling toward the intersection of South and Second Streets. "He's going to do a lot for us. From what I heard, he's a good man for seniors."

Stocker cannot pinpoint a single promise Katz has made. But "whoever I talk to," she said, "they tell me, 'Go for Katz.' " Including black friends, she adds.

That is not an insignificant detail. Katz is white, Street is black and voting patterns in Philadelphia indicate that people overwhelmingly vote along racial lines.

Both men in this race will need some crossover support to win.

The campaigns have hoped their ads would provide just that. Street and Katz booked a combined $2 million in radio and TV commercials for the last two weeks of the race.

But neither Ruth Sherman nor her husband Ben, a school district building engineer, feel influenced by them. Ruth says a campaign ad, by its nature, is hard to trust.

"Can it be verified?" she asked. "What they're saying - is it true? Are they saying things out of context that add a different tone?"

Campaign strategists might consider Ben the perfect target. He watches lots of TV - from Kung Fu reruns to the Discovery Channel.

But even he is numb to the ads that have flashed before him.

His wife considers them a loathesome product of special-interest donations that have poured into the campaigns.

Candidates in the race, including those who competed in the five-way Democratic primary in May, will have spent up to $25 million by Tuesday. That number, divided by the estimated 480,000 registered voters expected to turn out Tuesday, amounts to $52 per vote.

It is the costliest mayor's race ever in this city and the most expensive election nationwide this year.

"This is ridiculous," Ruth Sherman said. "Where's this money coming from? Why isn't it being used for some real needs?"

In the end, the school district secretary is giving most weight to what she has heard about Katz from co-workers who know him.

Katz is funny, confident and shrewd, she hears, and his business savvy is an asset.

"That's something that can't hurt the city," Ruth said. "I think he can learn the rest, the protocol."

Ben Sherman usually follows his wife's lead. But he can't ignore his instincts - those visceral impressions that measure character.

"When it really comes down to it and I step into that polling place," he said, "I'm really going to have to make a judgment call about which one I think is really going to fulfill the promises they've made."

Don't expect Carol Stewart to hesitate one minute after that curtain closes behind her on Tuesday. Her mind is made up.

Stewart, 49, has studied the candidates, heard the debates, read the newspaper. The process was painful, she admits. She had really wanted to feel good about Katz. But in the end, her sights are set on Street.

"I don't think Katz can really do everything he feels he can do once he gets into office because of his inexperience," said Stewart, a psychiatric nurse.

Stewart, a Mount Airy native who just moved back to Philadelphia after rearing three children in Willingboro, originally favored Katz.

A lifelong Democrat, Stewart considered backing the Republican because she thought a new face could bring fresh ideas to City Hall.

Then came the live radio debate on Oct. 12. Street asked Katz to explain why, when he was running for governor in 1994, he talked about cutting state aid to public schools.

Katz skirted the question, instead trying to turn the spotlight back on Street. Stewart, who is gravely concerned about the condition of city schools, was disappointed.

The exchange became a turning point for her.

"Why not just answer the question?" Stewart said.

That, along with Street's experience and opposition to school vouchers, helped win her over.

"He's had his hands in the pot," she said.

Stewart also said she thought Katz never proved that his proposal to reduce the wage tax from 4.61 percent to 4 percent by the end of 2004 would not harm city services.

"It's not because [Street] is black," added Stewart, who herself is black."If Katz had a little bit more experience, I'd feel more comfortable about him being in office."

Unlike some neighbors, Stewart is excited about the election. She is even taking a day off from work to see how things shake out.

Why the enthusiasm? Stewart has done something rare. She moved into Philadelphia, a city that has lost 150,000 residents since 1990.

And she wants to make sure her investment is not threatened by the policies of the next administration.

"I want to know who's going to be my next mayor," she said. "No matter if it's Katz, Street or whoever, they'll have my future in their hands."

What's that third-party candidate's name? Bill Finnegan can't remember. That's OK. Whatever it is, he's decided to vote for him.

"I think they've got to be recognized," said Finnegan, 72, of conservative Constitutional Party candidate John P. McDermott.

This is hardly a surprise. Finnegan is a conservative who backed George Wallace in 1968 when he ran for president on the American Independence Ticket.

His wife, Dolores, is less candid about her intentions. Suffice to say, however, that the obscure third-party candidate has been ruled out.

"I certainly wouldn't vote for somebody whose platform I know nothing about," she said.

Can Street be a good mayor?

"He doesn't leave a good taste in my mouth," she said. And she will not yet commit to Katz.

Any chance she won't vote at all?

"That's our duty as citizens," Dolores said. Besides, she smiled, "My little vote just might swing it."