Nutter goes official

Big news of the day is that Philadelphia City Councilman Michael Nutter will officially resign his Council seat in the next few days in order to pursue his campaign for mayor, making him the second official candidate in that race. Seems early, but (a) the current session is ending, so now is about equivalent to September, and (b)

Political observers say candidates must raise about $10 million to be competitive in the May primary and then the November 2007 election.

Yeowch! Anyway, he's expected to provide more details at a press conference today.

This is sure to generate a lot of regional kerfluffle around who might be interested in his District Council seat (comprising Manayunk and Overbrook), whether there will be a special election to fill the now three empty seats, and whether other mayoral candidates will announce their intentions. Already yesterday there was some chat about whether Wilson Good, Jr., would prefer a District seat to his current At-Large position (see here), and there are plenty of people with expressed or assumed interest in the At-Large openings. Could get interesting.

Meantime, chat today surrounds Nutter's prospects. For general reference, here's Nutter's page at The Next Mayor website, with links to presumed competitors. Dan UA notes that Nutter appears focused on taxes even though Philadelphians value many issues more highly, and implies that could be a deal-breaker for him, at least. But positions are still to be clarified, websites focused, issues discussed. Should be an fascinating summer and fall...