Philly's political insiders apparently agree on one thing: Mayor Michael Nutter could very well be the state's first black governor.
“I think that with the election of President Obama, those walls have really been broken down,” longtime Democratic political consultant Larry Ceisler told The Metro.
Keep in mind that Nutter's not even halfway through his first term, but Philly's former managing director Phil Goldsmith thinks he has what it takes.
"He's got visibility. He's certainly got name recognition,” said Goldsmith.
But not everyone is so enamored with Nutter.
"Passivity had become the Mayor’s only means of controlling a crowd -- a shocking finish to a year that started with Nutter serving as the symbolic vessel for all this city’s hopes," writes Steve Volk in the latest Philadelphia Magazine. "On Inauguration Day, thousands of Philadelphians had lined up around City Hall just to shake his hand. Our expectations were over inflated. But the Nutter campaign had furiously worked the air pump, posing him as a bold reformer in a city that desperately needed change. In one commercial, Nutter literally tore the top off City Hall, throwing out the 'bums … who have been ripping us off for years.' Our savior. But less than a year into office, he lost his brand."
And don't forget, the biggest mountain to climb from Philly to Harrisburg is still the middle-of-the-state mindset. The one that brought us that embarrassing adage, "There's Philly, Pittsburgh and then Arkansas in between."
