Money Can’t Buy You Love in the Mayor’s Race – Or Can It?
The week of truth has arrived. The debates are over. All that’s left is the sleepless nights and incessant campaigning by the five men who want to be Mayor of Philadelphia.
They are nervous. And they should be.
I’ll begin with Tom Knox. Knox, until too weeks ago, felt the love that millions of dollars of TV ads could buy. Then the shine came off the campaign with negative reports of his business practices and a scathing article in Philadelphia Magazine. Since that time, independent polling shows Knox being seriously challenged by Michael Nutter. The first part of this week is huge for Knox. The F and M Poll will be released on Wednesday. If the poll shows Michael Nutter ahead, Knox will unleash a advertising barrage that will make his earlier campaign look small by comparison.
The problem that Knox has now is that Nutter, Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah and the hard-driving Dwight Evans have enough money combined to counter his push.
My view: At this point in the race, as Paul McCartney would say, “Money Can’t Buy You Love.”
Money can put you on the map. It can sell you. But history shows that well-financed or self-financed candidates who face trouble in their campaigns must be able to take the incoming flak and deal with it. Right now, most Philadelphians know enough about Tom Knox to make a choice. His barrage won’t do him much good. Winning or losing will depend now more on viewer and voter instinct.
On the other hand: Nutter and Brady still have time left to create an unusual synergy. If Brady improves his standing, even by a few points, he could slice away at Knox.
Other scenarios: If Dwight Evans gets more supporters, he will hamper Chaka Fattah, who has staked his claim on winning the minority vote.,
Bottom line: If Knox loses his edge, Michael Nutter stands to gain the most from ANY IMPROVEMENTS BY EVANS AND BRADY.
In the world of political momentum, perception is reality.
If the independent F and M poll shows Nutter gaining fast, or leading, he has a good chance of scoring an upset against the self-financed Knox.
In any event, this will be a week to remember!
Comments(1)
I think Dwight Evans is a great candidate for this race. The projects he’s worked on in West Oak Lane has made a tremendous contribution to the community and I’d like to see it city wide. This race is not over yet so DO NOT COUNT HIM OUT.