Lynne Abraham Mayoral Candidate Profile

Lynne Abraham's profile and name recognition are sky high after decades as Philadelphia's District Attorney. That factor is fueling her run for mayor, but Abraham's opponents have started attacking her on long held stands like her use of the death penalty.

Abraham believes the attacks mean, "They must be very nervous. They must be scared. I think any time you can't rely on your own record and you have to tear down someone else's, that's a pretty good indication that you're a little frightened."

On schools, Abraham indicts Harrisburg for shortchanging Philadelphia's children.

She says, "The state has its obligation to fund schools. Essentially, they've cheated Philadelphia of its rightful allotment for each and every student."

On job creation, Abraham says improve the schools and businesses will be willing to pay higher taxes.

She adds, "Job creation probably comes along with schooling. If you have great education you'll have jobs. So workforce development is the single most important thing."

Abraham does promise wholesale tax reform from a new commission.

Here's how she says it would work: "All the interested parties sitting at the table talking about how we can reform our business taxes, our wage taxes, our use and occupancy taxes, our sales taxes and everything else."

Charles Ramsey, she says, stays as police commissioner if he wants to continue as the city's top cop. But she says his stop and frisk policies must go.

She explains it misses the mark, saying, "It hits all the wrong people for all the wrong reasons. Very little has been accomplished by stop and frisk as implemented by the mayor, except make people angry and hostile. It disproportionately affects the minority communities in Philadelphia."

Abraham's fainting spell during a live televised debate is now in the rear view mirror, and her health has not been raised as an issue.

She's practically a household name in the City of Philadelphia.

The question - is there a large enough base of support to carry her through the primary? Or will her rivals gather the momentum to overtake her in the stretch?

We will find out on May 19th.