CHAKA FATTAH

NEW: Read Fattah's women's agenda

Read Fattah's jobs plan

Read Fattah's arts plan

Read Fattah's after-school plan

Read Fattah's environmental plan

Read Fattah's technology plan

Read Fattah's fiscal stability plan

Read Fattah's Opportunity Agenda (detailing education and workforce development plans, as well as his plan to lease the airport to pay for this plan)

Read Fattah's transportation plan

Read Fattah's small business plan

Read Fattah's housing plan

Read Fattah's healthcare plan

Read Fattah's ethics plan

Read his anti-gun plan or compare the candidates' crime plans

See list of Fattah's endorsements

Read Fattah's press releases

Age: 50

Job: Congressman

So far in the race: Fattah entered this race with a long list of ideas - and he presented them all through the primary in a series of position papers. Perhaps the most significant among them is his "Opportunty Agenda," which calls for a long-term lease of the airport to fund a broad anti-poverty program. Through the campaign, Fattah focused on the city's high rate of poverty, high rate of school dropouts and low levels of education - and the role that a lack of opportunity plays in neighborhood crime. Fattah seized an early lead, and remained front-runner through much of the primary, though he lost that status to self-funded candidate Tom Knox after Knox began an ad blitz; Knox was later overtaken in the polls by Michael Nutter. In the final weeks of the campaign, Fattah took the lead in attacking Nutter for his "stop and frisk" proposal. Fattah has been endorsed by several unions, the Pentecostal Clergy Political Action Committee and the Clergy Coalition.

Campaign cash on hand: Fattah raised a total of $1,685,981 for his mayoral campaign, including $1,287,771 in the first three months of this year. As of April 30, Fattah had $210,843 left to spend.

Marital status: Married to NBC-10 news anchor Renee Chenault-Fattah. Fattah has two children, a son and a daughter, from his first marriage and two young children from his current marriage.

Bragging rights: In his sixth term in the U.S. House, Fattah has a history of taking on incumbents and winning. He brings racial cross-over appeal and a highly regarded field organization. In policy areas, he's perhaps best- known for his efforts in education policy. He created the pre-college program GEAR UP and CORE Philly, a citywide scholarship effort.

Downsides: Had to repay money to his exploratory committee after the city ethics board said it was improperly spend on campaign expenses. Faced scrutiny over his educational background and his refusal to disclose his tax information, which was filed jointly with Renee Chenault-Fattah.

Friends and enemies: Fattah has the enthusiastic backing of Mayor Street, who has all but endorsed him as an heir. But NAACP president J. Whyatt Mondesire is a sworn foe, and there's bad blood between Fattah and other African-American Democrats in Northwest Philadelphia. He angered the police union by saying publicly that Mumia Abu-Jamal deserves a new trial.

-- Catherine Lucey and staff reports

Contact the campaign:

The Fattah for Mayor Campaign

Campaign Web site

Online contact form

Phone: (215) 829-1620

Learn more about Fattah:

His MySpace page

His Wikipedia entry

His YouTube account

His Flickr account

His Congressional bio

His Congressional Web site

Declaring his candidacy
	"We want to write in those who have been written off.” Read his campaign announcement press release.
Scene from Fattah Announcement Event. 11/18/06