Just two years ago, Tom Knox pumped more than $10 million of his own cash into his failed mayoral bid. And just what did all those shiny television ads buy him?

Not a ton of local name recognition, according to a poll out this week by Quinnipiac University. The survey revealed that in Philadelphia, 19 percent of voters view Knox favorably, 16 percent unfavorably and 64 percent don't know enough about him to comment.

Paying $10 million for a 19 percent local positive approval rating seems pretty pricey to us. But Knox spokesman Josh Morrow says they're not worried about the ratings.

"Clearly, if you look at the combined number of years of all the elected officials in the race, it's 70 years they've been in politics," Morrow said. "Of course they're going to have higher name recognition."

Morrow said that the Knox campaign wasn't fazed by the poll and was preparing for battle.

"We're going to have the resources to be competitive on television. We're doing what we need to do, which is raise money,"Morrow said.

In the horse-race portion of the statewide poll, Knox came in last last among the five Democrats running for governor, although it's worth noting that 46 percent of voters are still undecided.

Nice work if you can get it

It's always nice when Philly's first, even if only tied for first.

Our own Democratic Rep. Ron Waters led the pack (along with Bucks County Democratic Rep. John Galloway) among state lawmakers taking taxpayer-funded payments of $158 a day for lodging and meals during the first two months of the ongoing state budget impasse.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports this week that Waters claimed 47 days in July and August for a total take of $7,426 on top of his base salary of $78,315. He claimed both days of three weekends during the period. These per diem payments are legal (after all, the Legislature makes the laws) and do not require any receipts. The Tribune-Review says that the total take by lawmakers during the period was $532,585.

Waters told PhillyClout that he was "shocked" to hear that he was tied for first place (us, too; our money was on Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen). He said that he works hard and spends lots of time in Harrisburg, and joked that he wants "a recount." Galloway didn't call us back.

Online foul by Pike campaign

It's official. There's no room to hide any more in politics - not even on the Internet.

The campaign manager for Doug Pike - the former Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board member running as a Democrat in the 6th Congressional District - has been banned from posting on a national liberal blog.

Andrew Eldredge-Martin was barred from the Daily Kos Web site after he was found posting comments critical of Pike's Democratic opponent, Manan Trivedi, on a Daily Kos sister site.

A Daily Kos editor wrote this:

"Pretending to be an impartial observer, especially for the purposes of spreading negative information about opponents, is a complete violation of our trust. For the most senior official, a campaign manager, to do so is especially unacceptable."

We called Eldredge-Martin to get his response. He abruptly hung up, promising to call us back.

We're still waiting for that call.

New job for Green staffer

Bon voyage to Seth Levi, a staffer for Councilman Bill Green, who is set to depart City Hall for a job at the Southern Policy Law Center.

Levi, 26, who has worked with Green since his 2007 campaign, will serve as online-fundraising coordinator for the nonprofit law center in Montgomery, Ala. He moves down in about two weeks.

Levi said that his exit is simply because he is ready for a new opportunity.

"It's been a good experience. I definitely learned a lot," he said, of working in Green's office.

Hope she's paid overtime

PhillyClout's sympathies go out to Kate Kelly, the tireless spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, who this week was flagged by Politico as having one of the nation's toughest political PR jobs.

Here's what the Web publication had to say:

"Not only did she have to switch from Republican to Democratic messaging, she's also tasked with helping Specter get re-elected while he's at odds with some constituents over his new party's health-care proposal. And Specter will be 80 years old when the campaign reaches its height next summer."

We asked Kelly how she felt about the characterization. She jokingly fired back via e-mail: "I'm too busy to comment. I'm just working to keep up with the Senator who is always firing on all cylinders."

Staff writer John M. Baer contributed to this report.

Have tips or suggestions? Call Chris Brennan at 215-854-5973 or Catherine Lucey at 215-854-4712. Or e-mail

phillyclout@phillynews.com.

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