Civic leaders and citizens may debate what kind of mandate accrues to former City Councilman Michael Nutter, who won by capturing nearly 37 percent of the vote in a field of five major Democrats.
But it is clear that he and the second-place finisher, businessman Tom Knox, stoked and benefited from a desire for change in an electorate historically averse to it.
Several trends that had been building for at least four years combined to create the political atmosphere that led voters to strike against City Hall corruption and a government many perceived as ineffective at performing tasks ranging from picking up trash to fighting crime:
Corruption. In 2003, an FBI bug was found in Mayor Street's office, disclosing a federal investigation of pay-to-play politics in city contracting. Two dozen convictions resulted. Other incidents kept the issue alive - from former Councilman Rick Mariano's six-year federal prison sentence for selling favors, to this year's indictment of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo on charges that he used state and nonprofit money for personal and political gain.
(Four years ago, a backlash over discovery of the bug helped Street win reelection; supporters portrayed him as the victim of a Republican-run Justice Department.)
Campaign-finance limits. Reacting to the pay-to-play scandal, Council in 2003 voted to cap donations to candidates at $5,000 from individuals and $20,000 from political committees.
Knox, exempt from the limits under a Supreme Court ruling because he was financing his own campaign, spent millions on a TV ad blitz and by March was raising alarms in the city's political class when he shot into the lead in polls. But when some entrenched Council members tried to roll back the spending limits, public protests caused them to back off - amid fears that voters would punish them.
