At a GOP fund-raiser in South Philadelphia, mayoral candidate Sam Katz gets a hug from his wife, Connie, as he prepares to speak to supporters. (Rebecca Barger-Tuvim / Inquirer Staff Photographer)

For months, Sam Katz had been hesitant to be seen in the company of known Republicans.

Last night, he was seen with 1,000.

With the mayor's race coming to a close finish in six days, both Katz and Democrat John F. Street sought yesterday to juice up the enthusiasm of party loyalists.

Street for weeks has been wrapping himself in the Democratic flag. President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton joined Mayor Rendell yesterday in trumpeting a Street victory on Tuesday.

But Katz, the nominee of a party that has not won City Hall since 1947, has shied away from the GOP label. His letterhead says, "Sam Katz-Mayor." A campaign button reads, "Democrats for Katz." One of his TV ads suggests that he, not Street, is the more liberal.

But there he was last night, pumping hands and accepting applause inside the Republican City Committee's fall cocktail party at the sheet-metal workers' hall in South Philadelphia.

"I just want to say one thing: We are going to win," Katz told a cheering crowd of GOP committee members, most of whom have never seen a Republican mayor in Philadelphia.

"Does anybody have any questions about that?" he asked.

The crowd shouted, "No!"

The rally marked the only time this fall that the Republicans have gathered in large numbers. No prominent Republicans have been asked to come into town on Katz's behalf.

Street, by contrast, has called on the Democratic Party's biggest guns. With Democrats outnumbering Republicans in Philadelphia by a 4-1 ratio, all he needs is the support of his own.

Yesterday, through the marvel of electronic phone banks, Hillary Clinton sent a tape-recorded phone message to thousands of Democrats, urging them to vote for Street.

Word came from Street campaign headquarters that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, one of the party's most visible figures, would join President Clinton at a Street rally Friday morning at La Salle University.

Clinton, who on Monday called a local talk-radio show to urge Democrats to turn out for Street, was heard yesterday in a radio commercial saying: "In a few days, the eyes of the nation will be on Philadelphia. . . . I hope you will score a victory for Democrats and for Philadelphia by electing John F. Street as your mayor."

Today, the phone banks hired by the Street campaign will begin churning out thousands of tape-recorded presidential messages to registered Democrats.

Also yesterday, for the first time since last month, Rendell went on TV with a commercial extolling Street.

"I think it is very important that John Street be elected mayor," he tells viewers in the ad, which is expected to run all week. " . . . John Street knows more about city government than anyone who has ever run for the job."

Viewers, however, will be getting a mixed message from Rendell about party loyalty. Rendell debuted a television commercial yesterday for Republican City Councilman Thacher Longstreth in which the mayor declares: "Hey, I'm voting for him."

Rendell, who is general chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has been urging Democrats to vote for Street for the sake of party unity. Katz's campaign director, Bob Barnett, said: "I think Ed's pretty much of a hypocrite."

Street spokesman Ken Snyder described Longstreth as "a well-understood exception" to the vote-for-Democrats-only rule. However, Snyder said, Longstreth can't expect a similar endorsement from Street. "Street's voting straight Democratic."

Also yesterday, the mayoral candidates debated twice, first in a lunch-hour forum at St. Joseph's University and later on live television.

Talking before several hundred people at Mandeville Hall, the two sharpened their differences over how to get the state legislature to provide more money for the city's underperforming school system.

The candidates agreed that the schools, which have $1,900 less to spend per pupil than the typical suburban district, need more money. They agreed that city residents are not in a position to provide the additional money.

Street said that amount was "hundreds of millions of dollars." He said the only way to get a Republican governor and Republican legislature to come up with the money was to force a "crisis."

Earlier this year, Street said, the school board approved a budget with a projected huge operating deficit rather than "decimate" programs.

"The school budget problem we have was planned. . . . It was calculated," Street said.

He predicted that when money runs out, leaders in Harrisburg will be forced to come to the city's aid. He repeated a proposal for a state-city agency to oversee the schools. A similar agency helped city government out of a fiscal crisis.

"We will go to Harrisburg. We will make our request," Street said. "We won't be polite, and [when] Harrisburg says no, just go home. . . . We will be in a crisis mode."

Katz scoffed at what he called Street's "brinkmanship."

He said the key was finding a way for the city to get a majority of legislators to recognize the city's need and want to do something about it. That cannot be accomplished with threats, he said.

Katz, who with other Republicans favors a school voucher proposal, said GOP leaders would be more willing to bargain if city leaders dropped opposition to vouchers.

"But I am not prepared as mayor of Philadelphia to put my personal support for school choice ahead of my responsibility as mayor of Philadelphia to fight for and get for the kids . . . the financial support they need from Harrisburg," Katz said.

Except for the forums, Katz spent most of his day in meetings.

Street kept up a frantic schedule, starting the day by having his Polaroid photo taken with commuters at the 15th and Market Streets subway station at 8 a.m.

Bolstered by a $250,000 fund-raiser the night before, Street exuded confidence, telling reporters he expected to win by a large margin.

"I think you'll continue to see a dead heat at the polls, but on Election Day we'll have an army of people on the street that will provide a great Democratic victory for this city," Street said.

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