He's the man of the hour, shaking more hands, getting pats on the back, having his cell phone filled up with messages to the point that he can't accept any more messages.
Unless Republican Al Taubenberger also knows how to perform magic tricks, Michael Nutter is your next mayor. He spoke with Metro on his way between Day After appearances this afternoon.
Has it sunk in yet that in about 250 or so days you’ll likely be running the fifth-largest city in the country?
I haven’t really thought about it in that fashion. ... I know it happened and I know I won. It is certainly a monumental challenge which I’m preparing myself for and I’m certainly up for. I’m very excited about it and I’m hopeful for the future.
When did you feel that you legitimately had a shot of running away with this election?
I never put a tremendous amount of faith in the polls. I always assumed that I was behind and just needed to keep my head down and keep working hard. I certainly received messages form the public that my candidacy was getting some positive response, but I just figured the best thing for me to do was stay focused, keep disciplined and keep working hard and the voters would take care of the rest.
How much were you involved in the decision processes over when and how to get your message on TV?
That was all a very collaborative process with our campaign hierarchy weighing in on a variety of decisions. I was certainly an active participant but it’s not the kind of thing where the candidate is the sole decision maker.
On whether your “we had a really good day today” line was a jab at Street?
I think I said, 'we had a really good day today.' It has nothing to do with the mayor’s famous signature line. I hadn’t even thought of it. I think if you look of any tape I’m almost sure we said, 'I had a really good day today.' No jab or anything at the mayor.
When do you begin the process of lining up the people you want in your administration?
I think that is very far down the road. I’m not making any assumptions and I still have an election to run in November. There’s a lot of work to be done on the ground. It’s much too early for me to even think about things like people to work in the government. I have a real election coming up in November. I’m going to spend most of my time making sure we have the right campaign people, that were coordinating the efforts, that Democrats and independents and Republicans who are friends of mine to run the strongest campaign that we can.
6th largest:
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20070322_Philly_drops_to_6th-largest_U_S__city.html
Posted by: keith | May 16, 2007 at 08:14 PM
Hello!
This is Tommy the Loan Shark & Jim Nixon. Tommy and I were very busy with final exams, so we had to basically put the breaks on things… We never endorsed a candidate (for what that is worth… haha), as it seemed very close to us right through the end.
For the record, we were never part of any campaign. We stand by that 100%.
And again, Mr. Keel’s obnoxious intrusion into our press conference was not why things slowed a bit. We really were very busy.
TO THE GOOD NEWS!!!!
We achieved our goal in keeping Knox out of City Hall (not that we take a large share of credit for that, we were just doing our part). As we have said all along, that was our one and ONLY goal. We congratulate Mr. Nutter, and feel he will make an excellent mayor. Good for you Mike!
If anybody needs to contact us, please e-mail us at: [email protected]
Mr. Nutter, if you need campaign assistance I’d be happy to help out. My friend who played Tommy is taking a summer abroad (and yes, I am jealous). –Jim
Thanks, it was a great time!
Tommy the Loan Shark and his sidekick Jim Nixon
Posted by: Tommy the Loan Shark & Jim Nixon | May 16, 2007 at 11:56 PM
We are especially happy that in Knox failing, we will not see Janie Blackwell, John Dougherty, Frank Keel, or Mr. Youngblood get any grip on City Hall! I guess loosing is what he gets for associating with the bottom of the barrel...
We are also thrilled that all that money could not buy City Hall!!!! I cannot imagine spending over $10,000,000.00 and countless hours for nothing...
Congratulations to Mr. Fattah, Mr. Brady, and Mr. Evans! You all ran very solid issue-based campaigns. Compared to the norm, it was very enjoyable and classy!
Posted by: Tommy the Loan Shark & Jim Nixon | May 17, 2007 at 12:30 AM
Question: Why would anyone need to contact Tommy the Loan Shark or Jim Nixon? Irrelevant.
Posted by: JKelly | May 17, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Jimmy and Tommy,
I exposed your connection to Smukler and the Brady campaign on that fateful Friday at City Hall. Although you vowed to return the following week to continue your juvenile and useless harassment of Tom Knox, you vanished, just like the gutless dopes I knew you to be. Go away for good. And thanks for the memory. I will always savor the taste of grilled shark.
Posted by: Frank Keel | May 17, 2007 at 09:51 AM
Brady might want to start thinking about why he lost his home ward and division in this election. The party machine structure is crumbling and going down - rumor has it many ward leaders are already gearing up to take on Brady! I can't wait to see the reform movement sweep out that bum.
Posted by: JerKelly | May 17, 2007 at 10:20 AM
Frank Keel - take your own advice and go away for good. Philadelphia doesn't need you and your nonsense.
Posted by: | May 17, 2007 at 02:11 PM
JerKelly -you are uninformed and in for a rude awakening - "you just don't know!"
Posted by: Dope and Idiot Monitors | May 18, 2007 at 01:50 PM
Mr. Dougherty, the batteries in your wire are running low, kindly report to Liberty One and we'll issue you new ones.
Posted by: FBI | May 19, 2007 at 09:44 AM