But some say there is. Already, several politicos are prospecting for a challenger to Brady in next year's House primary, or thinking of running themselves.
Clad in a Delaware River Port Authority polo shirt and surrounded by glossy photos of John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and other heroes of his party, Brady spoke of having no regrets about the mayoral race, in which he finished fourth.
His cell phone kept ringing, but he's not running for mayor anymore, and for a few minutes, Brady let it ring.
He had run as "the change Philadelphia needs," but he even lost his home ward, getting just 17.5 percent of the Democratic vote there - better than his citywide average of about 15 percent, but still good enough for only third place in the 34th. Former City Councilman Michael Nutter carried the ward on his way to winning the Democratic nomination.
Mere vote returns don't capture how unpleasant the campaign seemed at times for Brady. He was the media's chew toy for weeks, enduring stories about his family's patronage jobs. He had to defend his right to be on the ballot in court after rival Tom Knox sued, alleging Brady's ethics-disclosure form was incomplete. That case disclosed the yearly payment into Brady's pension from the carpenters' union for occasional consulting work, and made him look like a bumbler on the witness stand.
All of that fed into Knox's efforts to caricature Brady as the epitome of the big-boss insider Knox wanted to crush as he took the "For Sale" sign off City Hall.
Brady fought back, even using a precious week of television time near the end of the campaign to attack Knox's business practices.
"I like Tom Knox. I'm sorry it wound up the way it wound up," Brady said. "But I just got tired of him beating up the Democratic Party and beating up the political process. I just wasn't going to take that anymore."
