PHILADELPHIA — More than 500 people crammed into a West Philadelphia ballroom on a Wednesday morning in November to see a grocery store owner.
It was the day Jeff Brown announced his bid to be the first person in a century to become mayor of Philadelphia without ever having worked in government. With live music and a cheerleading squad, Brown got a celebrity's welcome to city politics.
"We are here for something that we need desperately," the Rev. Marshall Mitchell said to open the event. "We need leadership."
