On Friday, former President Bill Clinton called. This morning, it was Sen. Barack Obama. Seems that with Pennsylvania the next big prize in the presidential nomination battle, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is a hot political commodity.

He characterized his conversations with the Illinois senator and the husband of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton as "just very vanilla," but said he expects to have sit-downs with the nomination contestants before long.

"I'm still uncommitted," he said. "I told them that I look forward to meeting in person with them to talk about some of the things that I feel are important in the election, and will probably have a chance to do so in the very near future."

Tops on his list is reversing "the continual decline" of federal funding for city development, foreclosure prevention and job training.

"All of the resources that cities need to continue to be vibrant, have continued to decline under the current administration," he said. ""The important thing for us, and I would argue as a Democrat, is to have a Democratic president."

Both camps, he said, have agreed that their candidate will meet with him, but no dates have been set.

There's more at stake than the endorsement of the youngest big-city mayor ever. Mr. Ravenstahl will be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, free to vote his mind, according to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.