Yes, it is also about Sam Katz, but it's about Katz mainly as a possible alternative to John Street.

It is not about public schools or about crime. It is not about city services or neighborhoods or fiscal policy or any of the so-called "key" issues that other mayoral races have ostensibly been about.

Back when those issues were more of a litmus test, Street emerged from a crowded field of qualified candidates as the man who appealed to more of the city's Democratic voters than any other.

But more recent coverage has been largely about perceptions of Street's personality: did he diss people by not showing up for some forum or by showing up late or by not smiling broadly enough or shaking enough hands? Is he too "arrogant" to be mayor?

His alleged arrogance was one of the factors cited six weeks ago when Street failed to win the endorsement of Democratic Party rival John F. White. "Street blew it," commentators said, by refusing to talk issues with White and taking White for granted.

White's supporters claimed a remark Street may have made about the difficulty of finding qualified black men to hire was a better indication of his feelings about black men than all he has done or said in 25 years of public advocacy in North Philadelphia.

But Street was not too arrogant to court White and his supporters in three meetings after defeating them soundly in the primary. Nor did commentators bother to mention that Street had refused to assure White's appointment to the boards of the Redevelopment Authority and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation as White had asked him to.

If he had, it probably would have been viewed as just another backroom political deal.

But don't blame the press if a more accurate picture of Street fails to emerge. Self-promotion has never been his strong suit. Like Bill Bradley's presidential bid, Street's candidacy presents the enigma of an intensely private person seeking public office.

But choosing a mayor has more to do with instinct than intellect. We need to have a good feeling about the person we elect mayor.

I have a good feeling about John Street. I don't buy the hype about his so-called arrogance or callous treatment of constituents because in more than 20 years of watching him work, that's not what I have seen.

But I understand the concern. Street tends to be aloof and does not exude much warmth, all of which makes it easy for rivals to paint him as cold and callous.

And, frankly, if I believed a candidate was cold and callous, he or she probably couldn't be qualified enough to earn my vote, either.

But that's not the John Street whose career I have covered off and on for the last 20 years. It is certainly not the John Street I saw emerge from the shadow of his larger and louder brother to become a more effective and consistent leader than Milton was.

I was covering City Council when he got there, first as an outsider banging on the wrought iron gate and later as an elected official representing a constituency that was too often ignored.

I watched him break from a pack of elected drones who were content to handle constituent services and wait passively for orders from the backroom from the likes of George Schwartz.

I was there when he seized power not by political treachery but by working harder and longer and more effectively than his colleagues. He came to work earlier, stayed later and got more done.

And when the city teetered on the brink of fiscal disaster, I remember how he teamed up with Ed Rendell, even though Rendell had refused to support Street's re-election bid.

So I don't know who this guy is that I hear about, the guy who slays his political enemies, who puts his personal vendettas ahead of our public business. And I don't buy the business about his leadership style either. He managed to lead a Council that owed him nothing and that he had no real power over and lead it better than anyone has in the last 20 years.

Did he make some enemies along the way or fail to take someone's feelings into account from time to time? I'm sure he did.

But when it was time to do the people's business, John Street always handled it with care.

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