The Smukler Revenge – Damage Control and All Out War In Mayors Race
I’ve really enjoyed chatting everyday with the people who work in all the Mayor’s candidates camps. There are some brilliant strategists, and some are doing the usual out of the box things to advance their causes.
Tom Knox’s campaign manager is Josh Morrow. Up until this week, Morrow has been a master at damage control. Earlier in the week, the Knox folks were thrilled when Ken Smukler, this town’s brilliant political operative, quit the Brady campaign after charges that he helped out one of those 527 groups that can raise money independently.
No doubt that the Knox team was thrilled. But you have to be careful what you ask for in a Mayor’s race.
Smukler, a giant in local and national politics, is now free to be whatever he wants to be. Since he left the Brady campaign, he personally crafted a devastating anti-Knox ad that he posted on You Tube, and that will be aired by a 527 group on prime time Thursday and Friday nights.
I SEE KEN SMUKLER AS THE “SIXTH MAN” IN THE MAYOR’S RACE.
He is feared and respected, and here’s the impactful part of this story. Forces in the Brady, Nutter, Fattah and Evans campaigns, are thrilled that the Smukler spot is running. WHY NOT? They get the benefit of the area’s most creative political mechanic, while at the same time distancing themselves from his work.
As far as the Knox campaign: They apparently engineered the charges that led to his resignation, along with Frank Keel, an aide to electrical union chief John Dougherty.
Respect and hate run deep in the background of local politics. If Smukler’s powerful ad helps sink Knox, he will have exacted revenge for the still unproven charges that he helped organize one of those independent 527 groups.
As of this writing, Tom Knox is the man to beat. Michael Nutter is closing in. Bob Brady is campaigning harder than ever, and Dwight Evans stays principled to his anti-crime and pro education message. Chaka Fattah is the question mark here?
What will HE DO in the final 12 days to close a big gap??
And what will Ken Smukler do as an encore to his knock Knox ad?
As Frank Rizzo once said, “Smukler is always watching, always thinking. He is like a tiger in the grass, waiting to strike.”
Can this tiger stop the Knox juggernaut? Or will the man who has taken control of this election as the proclaimed outsider, edge his way to victory?
