With a Senate nominee who is both pro-life and pro-Iraq war, local Democrats had their work cut out for them getting voters excited about the race. Ray Murphy's politically savvy Philadelphians Against Santorum has done that. Using creative stunts like a Santorum impersonation contest and the upcoming Halloween-themed "Santorum Scares Me" cabaret, PAS kept the focus on the incumbent for most of the summer. They finally endorsed Casey last week, after organizing more than 1,500 volunteers to knock on doors, and accepting donations from, for example, sex columnist Dan Savage, whose check the Casey campaign returned.

Murphy, 27, is a lifelong Philadelphian who worked in welfare organizing and on the 2004 presidential campaign before engaging in the Santorum race. In addition to his funny gimmicks, Murphy exhibits a wonky side with his long, policy-centered posts on the blog youngphillypolitics.com. He's not entirely sure what we should expect from him after this race is done, but says, "I can't promise you anything except that in 25 years, I'll be in Philly."

Despite Philly's proud jazz legacy, big jazz and experimental names don't grace our stages as often as they might. That has begun to change with the growth of this nonprofit music-presenting organization. One of the outfit's signature moves is to present the music in "alternative spaces."

"We don't necessarily think that jazz belongs in a club anymore," says Executive Director Mark Christman. The atypical venues "are relatively sterile and can give the musicians and audience an opportunity to have a sense of ownership of the space." Christman, 30, created Ars in 2000 after tiring of traveling to New York to see performances. The types of forums he uses are art galleries, theaters, community centers — places that don't have the ghosts of prior musicians haunting them.

"I'm not presenting on the top of a building or anything like that," he says. "Although that would be cool."

The 13th Street corridor below Chestnut was not a pretty one when this team opened Open House, a housewares store, in 2002. But the store thrived, and Turney and Safran were on their way.

Instead of expanding by going bigger, though, or by opening another, similar store in a different location, the team decided to open other, different stores on 13th Street — Lolita, a Mexican BYOT (tequila), and most recently Grocery, a gourmet market/cafe.

"We truly believe that smaller is better," says Safran, 31, who handles the business end of the operation while Turney, 36, works as chef and designer. "People always say, why don't you open another Lolita, another Open House? For us, it's about doing something different and creative. I think Philadelphia is very ready for new things."

As a result, they've had the pleasure of seeing their neighborhood spring up around them. Next, they're planning to make some of their products, such as olive oil from Grocery's olive oil bar, available for wholesale in the near future.