It's dreads versus toupee in the battle for the 195th between challenger Sharif Street and incumbent Frank Oliver.

In the 195th District, it’s the young lion versus the old warhorse, the talented rookie versus the wily veteran, the … OK, you get the point. Sharif Street, 28-year-old son of Mayor John Street, is mounting a formidable challenge to 80-year-old state Rep. Frank Oliver, who has represented the 195th since before his opponent was born.

The difference between the candidates goes a lot deeper than age and hairstyles. Street wears his long dreadlocks tied back in a ponytail that reaches the middle of his back, while Oliver covers his thin pate with a toupee that, how can we put this delicately -- is somewhat short of undetectable.

What he lacks in hair, Oliver surely makes up in seniority and influence. As one of the legislature's senior members and chair of the House's Health and Human Services committee, Oliver wields the kind of power most legislators can only dream of. A tough man who speaks his mind freely, Oliver is fairly dismissive of the challenge from his young foe. Asked to comment on Street's assertion that the district needs fresh blood and new ideas, the incumbent launches into an ascerbic diatribe that is at once honest and cutting.

"If the boy's got any new ideas, he should go tell them to his father," Oliver sputters at a convocation of Democrats at the sheet metal workers union hall on Monday night. "The mayor could use some new ideas. What my district needs, what my constituents need, is somebody with experience at getting the job done. If he were to go to Harrisburg, he couldn't get a damn thing done. He has no experience and has done nothing to earn the respect of the legislature. And believe me, respect up there is earned."

As if on cue, fellow state rep and lieutenant governor candidate John Lawless of Montgomery County walks up, embraces Oliver and finishes Oliver's stump speech for him.

"This man is the best representative in the house," Lawless booms, wrapping a beefy arm around Oliver's shoulders. "Frank is equally liked on both sides of the aisle, which is extremely rare, and he gets everyone's respect. If Frank Oliver leaves office, it's not just a loss for Philadelphia, it's a loss for the state of Pennsylvania. I'm not ashamed to say that I love Frank Oliver, and the voters are crazy if they don't keep him in Harrisburg for as long as he wants to stay."

Lawless also reiterates Oliver's claim on the importance of seniority, going so far as to say that without it you have nothing. Freshman representatives don't get much staff or office space to work with, can't get the ear of senior members, and can find their initiatives dying on the vine, Lawless says.

Street begs to differ. He says he'll easily gain not only respect, but recognition rather quickly by doing one thing: working harder than anyone else in Harrisburg from the very first day.

"We can overcome the seniority deficit by hard work," Street says. "One of the things that hamstrings freshman legislators is that, even if you have good ideas, they rarely give you the staff and capacity to flesh out your ideas and turn them into legislation. I'll just stay up an extra couple of hours and write the stuff myself. I'm a lawyer."

Regarding his choice to enter state politics instead of city politics, where he may have a smoother ride, considering his parentage, Street says that that's where he can make the most impact.

"Our community's greatest challenges lie in Harrisburg," he says. "Issues of school funding, road repair and taxes all originate in Harrisburg but have implications here in Philadelphia. I believe I can make a positive contribution to the community."

In his short career, Street has already shown an affinity for hard work and political acumen. A graduate of Morehouse College and University of Pennsylvania Law School, Street is a lawyer with the Center City firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen and is the incoming recording secretary of the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia. He also serves on a half-dozen boards and committees, including the Philadelphia Young Democrats, Pennsylvania Young Democrats, Urban Solutions and the NextGen political action committee. He doesn't deny that being his father's son has opened doors for him, but he says that the accident of birth will only take you so far and that after that you have to prove yourself like everyone else. And Sharif Street seems determined to prove himself and be counted as his own man, not just the mayor's kid.

It's a familiar old debate as shopworn as any in politics. Enthusiasm or experience? An insider's knowledge of the system or an outsider's belief in changing that system? One candidate at the dawn of a promising career, another at the twilight of a successful career. On Tuesday, the voters in the 195th get to choose not only between Frank Oliver and Sharif Street, but between the old master and the young turk. It's Tiger Woods versus Arnold Palmer, it's ... wait a minute, this is where you came in.