Notable Pa. Democrats on opposite sides

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Martha T. Moore

PHILADELPHIA -- Two Democratic rising stars find themselves on opposite sides in this state's pivotal presidential primary.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter swept into office last fall as the first African-American mayoral candidate to win both the black and white vote.

In suburban Bucks County, freshman Rep. Patrick Murphy knocked out a Republican incumbent and became the first Iraq war veteran to serve in Congress.

Now, both men are putting their new political leverage to work in the presidential primary April 22. Each faces a heavy lift.

In the state's largest city, where the question is less whether Sen. Barack Obama will win than by how much, Nutter supports Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Murphy, the freshman who won his...