Williams, Abraham to join mayoral field

    By next Wednesday, we should have four announced candidates for mayor of Philadelphia, all of whom have one thing in common.

    State Sen. Anthony Williams will announce his plans next Wednesday along with former District Attorney Lynne Abraham, the Inquirer reports. They’ll join previously-announced hopefuls Terry Gillen and Ken Trujillo.

    The first four candidates to jump into the mayoral pool all share an advantage over some of their likely rivals in that they don’t risk their jobs or income by running. For current city officials considering the race – City Controller Alan Butkovitz, City Councilman Jim Kennney and Council President Darrell Clarke – running is a riskier proposition. The resign-to-run provision of the city charter prevents them from holding one city office while running for another.

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    Clarke, Kenney, and Butkovitz can continue to raise money with the unspoken understanding it might be for their mayoral campaigns, but the minute they say publicly they’re running, they have to kiss their their offices, paychecks and health insurance goodbye.

    All are Democrats who would compete in the May 19 primary if they run.

    It will be an interesting campaign season, and past campaigns have shown that the likely winner six months before the election often isn’t the one who wins. I’ll only make one prediction: not all of these candidates will be on the ballot when it’s time to vote.

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