What has received less attention, though, is why Nutter predicted that Obama would win the race for president - in February 2007 - at a mayoral forum at Central High School.

The Huffington Post, a political blog, posed the question to Nutter recently. Here is an excerpt:

"It wasn't so much a prediction," he recalled. "We were at a high school-sponsored candidates forum and we were asked who do you think will be the Democratic nominee or who will be the next president. I said I thought Sen. Obama. Now, at that point, I was at fifth place. Since I was a long shot and it appeared to me that he was a long shot, I was trying to get some solidarity with the long shots."

Had his political crystal ball changed?

"Absolutely," Nutter replied, saying he thought Clinton would now win. "Obviously, I had no way of knowing that we would be where we are here today. . . [back then] I was trying to give little hope to my own candidacy."

Maybe it worked.

- Marcia Gelbart

The squeaky wheel

During Green's first 98 days on Council, Frank DiCicco told him to keep his nose out of DiCicco's district. Majority Leader Marian B. Tasco suggested Green "get the lay of the land" before taking on a controversial retirement perk favored by a number of senior Council members. And Jim Kenney walked out of a Green committee when things weren't going his way.

Council President Anna C. Verna appeared to join the offended on Thursday when Green introduced a resolution opposing a State Senate bill that would define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Resolutions rarely meet resistance, but Verna and four others voted against this one.

"So be it," Verna dripped after the roll was called, so visibly cross that she drew titters from the gallery.

Green's penchant for controversy is praised by some who see him as a reformer, derided by others who view him as a headline-grabber. It's too early to tell whether Green can depend on nine of 17 Council votes to press his agenda. As one insider advised, "He better learn to count."

- Jeff Shields

The region's mayor?

Nutter is immensely popular with Philadelphia's neighbors, and his schedule helps explain why: In the last few weeks alone, he has turned up at an Ardmore Rotary Club luncheon, a fund-raising dinner for Delaware County Democrats, delivered the keynote address at a meeting of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors, given speeches at Villanova and West Chester Universities, and no doubt made a host of other appearances that escaped our notice.

Word is, all the events have been packed.

Nutter has long said the city needs better relations with its neighbors, and these appearances ought to help. More substantively, he's scheduled to meet with Bucks, Delaware and Montgomery County commissioners this week to discuss the local economy, transportation issues, and other matters of regional concern.

There's a model for this sort of thing. In 1997, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley formed the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, which now includes 272 Chicago-area mayors. Nutter clearly would like to see something similar in Philadelphia.

And hey, it doesn't hurt his future political prospects to be a suburban rock star, either.

- Patrick Kerkstra