If you watched President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night, you may have seen local Congressman Todd Platts at the end, shaking Obama's hand and getting his complimentary copy of the speech autographed for Mayor John Brenner of York.
Brenner was actually in the gallery at the time, occupying the seat ordinarily reserved for Platts' wife, Leslie.
I spoke to Platts today. He said that in light of the fact that Brenner is stepping down, and he's one of a handful of Pennsylvania mayors who supported Obama from the primary on (more on that in a minute), he thought it would be nice if Brenner could see the speech.
I thought that was a pretty classy move on Platts' part, in light of the fact that he's a Republican and Brenner is a Democrat. But the two have always gotten along pretty well, as far as I can tell.
Obama reportedly recognized Brenner's name immediately, and was delighted to sign a copy of the speech for him. Not only that, but today Brenner told me that Obama hugged him when they met after the speech.
I'm not surprised, in light of Brenner's support during the primary. What did surprise me back during Obama's showdown with Hillary Clinton is that more city mayors in Pennsylvania didn't support Obama -- for purely political reasons if nothing else.
Obama, of course, was very popular among black voters. And urban centers such as York tend to have high black populations. Before the primary juggernaut hit Pennsylvania, I figured urban mayors would be tripping over themselves to support Obama, in a show of solidarity with their black constituents.
The fact that it didn't happen, I suspect, was due in no small part to Gov. Ed Rendell's early and fervent support of Clinton in the primary.
If so, Brenner could afford to break ranks. Why? Because he already had plenty of political capital with Rendell, based on his early support of Rendell over Bob Casey in the gubernatorial primary back in 2002.
I don't know what Brenner plans to do for a living when he steps down as mayor next year. But he could probably make a good living betting on horse races. The guy's got a knack for picking come-from-behind winners.
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