Sen. Bob Casey did a walking tour of surveillance cameras in the Mexican War Streets today, followed by a retinue including Police Chief Nate Harper, North Side council members Darlene Harris and Dan Lavelle -- but not Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who is apparently out of town. Dangling a check for $2 million in hoped-for earmarks funding can get you that kind of following.

At the end, the senator sat at Zone 1 Cmdr. RaShall Brackney's desk and called up camera feeds on her computer screen that allowed him to zoom in on license plate numbers, the front stoops of row houses, into West Park, and along bustling, hustling Federal Street.

If you're on public North Side streets, then, it would be a mistake to think you have any privacy -- unlike those being considered for U.S. Attorney.

Casey told reporters that after months of reviews he and Arlen Specter have forwarded a list of U.S. Attorney candidates to the White House for the three slots open statewide. In Pittsburgh, the last one was Mary Beth Buchanan, who served from 2001 through late last year. Casey would not identify the Western District name, or say if there was one candidate for district or several.

"Sometimes in a district we reached a consensus about one person and in other instances you can't arrive at one so you give the White House some options," he said. On the Pittsburgh nominee he said "I don't want to advertise someone who's in the process of being reviewed and, if it doesn't work out, they're entitled to some measure of privacy."

He said an announcement of the candidates "is not months away. It's definitely in the weeks category."