TRENTON - On several occasions at tonight's mayoral forum in the basement of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, plants in the audience try to get a surge of clapping started for their respective candidates, but in each instance can't make it stick.

An oceanic response to a candidate's one-line answer from the people might produce an unlikely hero on the night, even pinpoint a frontrunner among the eight men and one woman sitting - and simultaneously jockeying - onstage.

They wait for the right moment to take advantage of an emotional turn of phrase and turn it into a sudden shift of power.  

Former Mercer County Freeholder Tony Mack tries to assert himself as the people's champion.

"I stood up for you, now I'm asking you to stand with me," he says, triggering two hands vigorously clapping, creating two more sets and maybe three or four clapping in an otherwise silent church hall.

At-Large Councilman Manuel Segura produces a moment that threatens to turn into something bigger.

"I am honest," he announces. "I have qualifications."

People prepare for a typical politician's self promotional advert, then Segura - the only Latino in the contest - goes in another direction.

"I even have an accent," he exclaims, and that gets a laugh tinged with curiosity at his decision to confess. Some heads rise.

"And guess what? With that accent, I have touched thousands of lives."

Someone in the audience decides the testimonial is good enough to merit a tidal wave of applause, and tries to get something going. Segura has grassroots support in Trenton, and a slightly larger section of crowd than in most other instances creates some reverb in the room, but it's still not a war cry of victory.

"I know you've got to manage the city like a business," declares buisnessman John Harmon.

Someone starts to clap and then aburptly stops.

Alert to Mack's change message one chair over on one side, and just as conscious of Segura's efforts to position himself as the new look Trenton mayor on the other, Council President Paul Pintella goes after Segura this time.

Segura had said in an earlier respnse to a question that people in City Hall are receiving paychecks for doing nothing.

Pintella hits hard.

"My colleague has people on the payroll in City Hall," he says. "I wouldn't balance the budget on the backs of the people of this city who work hard."

Applause.

Businessman Frank Weeden seldom responds without evoking laughter and people power affirmations, and he triggers decidedly favorable feedback tonight when he reminds residents of his citizen activist battles against eminent domain and says, "Most of the candidates here are the reason we are in the trouble we are in. We need a mayor who's going to clean house, from top to bottom."

Councilwoman Annette Lartigue does not appear over eager to pursue the audience, nor does Mercer County Freeholder Keith Hamilton, who spruces his answers with understated gravitas and resume highlights: engineer with Bel Labs for 20 years, CEO of a business that went from a $30 million to a $48 million operating budget.

Department of Public Works Director Eric Jackson pruduces little tangible emotional chords when he professes "know how" and expertise in "crisis scenarios."

Landing in the race earlier this week with the mea culpa confession that he fathered three children out of wedlock, Emmanuel Shahid Watson ben Avraham does not participate in tonight's debate.

But Alex Brown, vice president of the Trenton Board of Education, may get the biggest applause line when, as the final candidate to speak this evening, he deadpans, "And in conclusion..."