"Please, everybody eat!" she insisted after campaign remarks in which she stressed her agenda for women's reproductive rights, arts and culture, and education.

Graboyes is the president, founder and CEO of a commercial window company. "And I've made payroll every Friday," she said. Her political career began when she worked as a legislative liaison for Helene Wohlgemuth, the welfare secretary for Gov. Milton Shapp.

Supporters at the event included former Commerce Director Jim Cuorato, possible 2007 mayoral candidate and former City Controller Jonathan Saidel and Democratic City Committee attorney Steven Kaplan. Graboyes also has the support of state Sen. Vincent Fumo, whose allies Councilman Jim Kenney and consultant Howard Cain attended. "I met Howard on a blind date in 1979," said Graboyes, "and it definitely did not work out. I ran into him 10 years later through Obra Kernodle and Howard and I have been best friends ever since."

The solidly Democratic 175th is a high-interest primary race because incumbent state Rep. Marie Lederer is retiring. Lederer's former chief of staff, Michael O'Brien is also running, as is Anne Dicker, a Philly for Change activist. The district covers Old City, Queen Village, Society Hill, Port Richmond, Fishtown, Kensington, Northern Liberties and Bella Vista.

Second Ward leader Tony Palmiere dropped in to the fundraiser, but said he has not committed to any candidate and will attend functions for the three would-be's.

Palmiere and 25th Ward Leader Tom Johnson both supported an open primary. The rest of the ward leaders in the district endorsed O'Brien.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring 182nd District, state Rep. Babette Josephs is still waiting for the state Supreme Court to rule on whether she will remain on the ballot.

Josephs' challenger is attorney Lawrence Farnese. One of his supporters in the district, Dolores Cohen-Lowry, objected to Josephs' financial disclosure forms in court. (The financial statement, which the Pennsylvania Ethics Act requires candidates to file, accompanies the candidate's nominating petitions. Challengers often use proxies to make their objections in court.) Cohen-Lowry objected to Josephs' form on the basis of not accurately listing her additional income, according to Cohen-Lowry's attorney, Sharon Suleta. Suleta said that not revealing the source of income is considered a "fatal defect."

Along with her state salary, Josephs listed rental properties and investment income, but no specifics on locations and financial institutions. She later filed an amended form.

Commonwealth Court Judge Rochelle Friedman ruled that Cohen-Lowry did not have enough evidence and allowed Josephs to remain on the primary ballot. Josephs did not seem concerned with Cohen-Lowry's appeal.

What is interesting is that judges who rule on financial disclosure forms do not appear to follow any precedent, so the rulings are inconsistent.

For example, in 2003, City Council candidate Vernon Anastasio, who was running against Councilman Frank DiCicco in the Democratic primary, was removed because he failed to disclose 2002 income. Common Pleas Court Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe ruled against Anastasio for what appears to be a similar defect to Josephs'. Judge Friedman was on the Commonwealth Court panel that heard Anastasio's appeal and upheld Dembe's ruling. The state Supreme Court agreed.

The high court also ruled that John Braxton, who ran against Alan Butkovitz for city controller in last year's Democratic primary, could not remain on the ballot because he omitted pension and rental income on his financial disclosure statements.

But in 2004, Democratic state Senate candidate James Tayoun Jr. challenged Fumo, claiming he failed to fill out his first candidate's affidavit properly and that on his second attempt to file the affidavit, an aide signed Fumo's name. (The affidavit accompanies the financial disclosure form.) Tayoun lost in the lower courts and in his Supreme Court appeal.

Political junkies can feed their jones when Joe Klein makes an appearance at the National Constitution Center on Monday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. to promote his latest tome, Politics Lost: How American Democracy Was Trivialized by People Who Think We're Stupid. A political columnist for Time magazine who made national news with his thinly veiled Bill Clinton expos…/satire, Primary Colors, Klein will also dish on possible 2008 presidential candidates.

And at the Center on Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m., catch a screening of Good Night, and Good Luck along with a conversation with former New York Times reporter Tom Wicker who also has a new book—Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Joe McCarthy. For more information visit www.constitutioncenter.org.