Public disengagement from the electoral process may be a problem in statewide races, but it’s not a factor in the race to replace former state representative Kevin Fitzgerald, who held the 15th Suffolk House District for 28 years. A candidates’ forum in Mission Hill last week drew 300 residents on a hot, humid August night.

Seven people who are eyeing the 15th Suffolk House seat were arranged before the crowd, packed tight like sardines. All the candidates stared at the audience — their prospective backers — as if in awe. But as soon as they were called upon, they came alive. They stood and gesticulated. They pleaded for support. They evoked rousing applause.

It was, to say the least, retail politicking at its best.

Just weeks before the Democratic Primary on September 17, the 15th Suffolk state-rep race is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in the city. Part of the excitement has to do with the crowded ballot, of course. Five Democratic candidates — Bill Allan, Kathryn Brookins, Richard Giordano, Juan Lopez, and Jeffrey Sanchez — are vying for victory in the upcoming primary. The Democratic nominee will go on to battle two independents, George Chidi and John Clifford, in the November general election. (Candidates who are unenrolled in a political party and who collect enough signatures to get on the ballot do not participate in party primaries; they run in the general election.)

When Fitzgerald announced last April that he would not seek re-election — but rather pursue the largely ceremonial post of State House sergeant at arms — a stampede of candidates jumped into the race to succeed him. These wannabes are duking it out over the recently redrawn 15th Suffolk District, which includes all of Mission Hill, Fort Hill in Roxbury, Hyde Square in Jamaica Plain, and the tony Fisher Hill neighborhood in South Brookline. The highly diverse constituency runs from housing projects to million-dollar mansions, from Latino and Russian immigrants to old-school Yankees — all of whom the candidates must woo to win.

With some 20 days left until the primary, none of the five Democratic candidates has emerged as the front-runner. This is partly because the candidates, by and large, look alike. They are all progressives. They are all known commodities. They have all worked on many of the same community projects over the years. And when they speak generally about their platforms, notes one observer who has followed the race, "they all sound mind-numbingly the same."

Theoretically, the heir apparent of the race is Richard Giordano, who has served as Fitzgerald’s aide for nearly six years. In real terms, Giordano has effectively earned the House seat. After all, he is the one candidate who has attended, by his own count, "hundreds of thousands" of crime watches, development forums, and neighborhood events on behalf of Fitzgerald, who has remained uncommitted in the race. As such, Giordano has tackled everything from traffic-calming initiatives in Hyde Square to underground phone lines in Mission Hill. Says Giordano, "I have seen that the state-rep seat is a place where you can make a difference."

Despite his record on constituent services, Giordano can come across as an Al Gore type – a policy wonk with a solid grasp of the issues, yet who puts voters to sleep with his soporific style. At last week’s forum, for instance, Giordano appeared far more subdued than his political rivals. Throughout the 90-minute event, he sat with legs crossed and hands folded as he ticked off his agenda on housing, education, the budget, and development in compressed, 120-second sound bites. Suffice it to say, he could stand to infuse his campaign with a little more energy — something toward which he’s moving in today’s final campaign stretch. "I’m going to work as hard as I can to get out my message," he explains. "I want to keep up the fight."

Giordano is competing for support among much the same base as Bill Allan, who admittedly sees the Fitzgerald protégé as a man with whom to contend. A long-time community advocate who was laid off from his job at Compac last fall, Allan boasts name recognition and respect in JP and Mission Hill, which combined make up 78 percent of the district. Thus Allan sees himself as the perfect successor to Fitzgerald. "I understand the district and its politics," he explains.

Most notably, Allan stands apart from the rest of the pack in several key ways. He ranks as one of just two Clean Elections candidates in a district that voted overwhelmingly for the state-funded, campaign-finance law in 1998. He’s also become the only one to express a commitment to the gay and lesbian community — a strong voting bloc in Boston — in any meaningful way: he favors gay marriage.

Perhaps the biggest buzz around the 15th Suffolk race, though, has less to do with ideological politics than with identity politics. Local observers are chatting it up over the race-within-the-race – the contest between Juan Lopez and Jeffrey Sanchez for the hearts and minds of Latino voters. The candidates — both of whom have ties to City Hall — are battling it out in a big way, as evidenced by the evenly split number of Lopez and Sanchez signs in the heavily Latino Hyde Square. The candidates have even had their own private debates, sponsored by local Latino organizations.

Neither Lopez nor Sanchez seems eager to be pigeonholed by identity politics, however. As Sanchez tells the Phoenix, "Don’t peg me as the Latino candidate. I’m Latino and I’m a candidate. But I’m a candidate for all."

Lopez, a staff member of the council’s planning and economic-development committee, has trumpeted his decades-old experience in the local arena as proof positive that he’s the best candidate for the job. He has spent some 20 years as an activist. He has worked as liaison to the Hispanic community under former mayor Ray Flynn. He has coordinated council hearings on such issues as housing, transportation, and public health. "I offer the most experienced candidacy," he told the crowd at the August 19 debate, citing his "extensive" tenure at City Hall and his "ability to work efficiently in a diverse environment."

Lopez has all the passion required for the post, but he’s appeared a bit overshadowed by the gregarious Sanchez. Indeed, the independent consultant boasts a cadre of supporters from his native Mission Main housing project and beyond. They travel with him to debates. They fill the seats. They put on a good show. At last week’s forum, for example, Sanchez repeatedly gestured toward his 100-plus fans as they responded with vigorous applause and chants. Whenever a topic allowed, he’d single out a backer and relay that person’s plight. In short, he is a natural-born pol, who can lay on the charm with handshakes and baby kisses. "I’m going after my vote," Sanchez says. "I am on a mission. I have got to get elected."

Of the five Democratic candidates, Sanchez is seen by many local observers as having the best organization in the campaign — and the one rumored to be backed by Mayor Tom Menino, although the mayor has taken no position in the race. Still, Sanchez, who used to work as Menino’s liaison to the Hispanic community, has garnered support from the district’s political machine. "Most community-development corporations and nonprofits seem to be all over Sanchez," observes Mission Hill resident Joe Flynn, who describes Sanchez as the "platitudes and coined phrases" candidate. And so, Flynn adds, "Watch the machine work."

If Sanchez appears to be the ultimate insider, Kathryn Brookins, who publishes the Mission Hill News, bills herself as the ultimate outsider. She sees a sharp difference between herself and the others. She has never held a political post. She has no ties to incumbent politicians. "I’m the big-time reformer," she says, explaining that, as a newspaper publisher, she has chronicled what’s wrong with the current system. "I offer an alternative to business-as-usual."

Of all the candidates, Brookins may qualify as the long shot in the race. But she cannot be easily dismissed, either. For starters, she’s the only woman on the ballot, which will matter to those who want to see more women elected to public office. Moreover, when she ran against her nemesis Fitzgerald, in 1994, she won an impressive 37 percent of the district vote. At the time, she was not a serious contender; her war chest hovered at $1000, as compared to Fitzgerald’s approximately $60,000. Now, as the second Clean Elections candidate, she has some $16,000 at her disposal for campaign signs, flyers, and mailings. Says Anthony Schinella, a former Mission Hill resident who has advised Brookins on her candidacy, "She cannot be counted out yet."

So what’s going to happen come September 17? The local scuttlebutt has it as a toss up. Perhaps the biggest question mark remains the new Brookline voters. Although the two Brookline precincts have historically attracted high turnout at the polls, the issues that the candidates have touted — such as affordable housing and rent control — don’t necessarily dominate the agenda in the leafy suburb, where people care about things like open space and historic preservation. Thus observers perceive the Brookline constituents as being up for grabs.

Perhaps the only thing that can be said for sure about the primary election is that it’s anyone’s race to win. "If I had to lay money down today," notes one JP resident and campaign watcher, "I’d just pick a number and roll the die. It’s that close."