According to a new poll released leaked today (to everyone by the Nutter camp), Michael Nutter has gone from virtual dark horse candidate to insurgent contender for front-runner, a spot currently held by millionaire and manequin Tom Knox.While the poll shows an uptick of 3 points for Knox, taking him to 27% of support from the 403 survey respondents, Nutter jumped from a dismal 12% to 18%, largely due to the success of his new series of TV ads.

More good news for the Nutter camp is that the Undecided voter contingent has remained around 22% since January despite the new TV ads for Dwight Evans and Bob Brady, which have clearly not made a dent in front-runner Knox’s suit of armor. Moreover, the perceived strategy of the Fattah campaign to wait as long as possible to start airing TV spots appears to have come at a high cost thus far in the campaign, as the poll results show a precipitous drop for the candidate, from a robust 26% in January down by 9% by late March/early April, and down again to 15% of respondents this week. Ouch!

Stay tuned. This may be a nail-biter!

Check out this new anti-Knox tactic afoot as reported by the Metro’s political blog, The Fight for Room 215 on April 4th. Indeed, an interesting development in light of Tom Knox’s strong showing in the recently released Keystone/Franklin & Marshall poll on the mayoral race.

The Philadelphia Unemployment Project asked us to promote their showing of producer Henry Hampton’s celebrated documentary, Eyes on the Prize, every Wednesday @ 6pm thru late March at their headquarters:

1201 Chestnut Street
Suite #702
For questions, please call 215.557.0822

Hope some of you can make it out. This is a moving series that every American should see by the time they reach high school.

The following video featuring Rep. Chaka Fattah (uploaded to YouTube on January 25th) is as baffling as it is foul, but clearly not produced for or by his campaign. If this can be traced to Brady’s campaign, he’s going to be in a world of hurt.

It appears that due to the surprise surge in Democratic mayoral candidate Tom Knox’s poll numbers, folks (read: fellow white mayoral candidate Rep. Bob Brady) are getting so nervous that they are encouraging the City Council to repeal the City’s political contribution limits of $5,000 per individual and $20,000 per political action committee (PAC).

As of January 31st, Knox has already ponied up nearly $2 million of his own money in addition to raising another $500,000, far more than the second closest fundraiser of the five candidates, former City Council member Michael Nutter (District 4).

Haven’t seen the ubiquitous ads that have been airing on local TV for weeks and weeks? Check out the latest Knox ad below and ask yourself who you think make up the additional 25% of polled voters who are now excited by his candidacy.

Welcome, readers!

This is the inaugural post to PhillyBlack, a digital clearinghouse for those interested in all things, well, . . . PhillyBlack!

This website is a community resource whose “success” will therefore depend entirely on those of you who choose to engage and share with one another for the benefit of the many who are invested in the future of this great Black metropolis, home to diverse communities of myriad ethnicities.

Consider PhillyBlack a digital toolshed from which those of you who seek to build a better, safer, more vibrant and equitable city can share the tools for substantive community-building and high impact civic engagement.

Now, that you’ve found PhillyBlack, let us author our own fate together!