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Pols polled about future races

We poll politicians on the 2014 race for governor, the 2015 race for mayor and the future of Mayor Nutter.

CLOUT, HAVING just suffered through another "off-year" election season, looked hopefully with help to the future yesterday.

We canvassed more than 20 politicians and asked them to ponder three political questions:

1. Who will win the 2014 Democratic primary for governor?

2. Who will win the 2015 Democratic primary for mayor?

3. What will Mayor Nutter do when his second term ends?

Our top 10 answers were:

* District Attorney Seth Williams (who won a second term yesterday): 1. U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz in a close race with state Treasurer Rob McCord. 2. State Sen. Tony Williams. 3. Maybe work with the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group.

* City Controller Alan Butkovitz (who won a third term yesterday and might run for mayor in 2015): 1. Schwartz. 2. "I gotta consult with lawyers before I answer that question." 3. I just can't figure that one out.

* State Sen. Tony Williams: 1. A Democrat. 2. A personality that sees the city not in the past, not in the present, but in the future, where it's going. (Williams considers himself such a personality.) 3. He knows. He has a plan. I don't personally know what it is.

* City Council President Darrell Clarke (another potential 2015 mayoral candidate): 1. It's still really open. 2. No idea. 3. I've been hearing all kinds of rumors, possibly running statewide.

* State Treasurer Rob McCord: 1. Rob McCord. 2. I don't know. 3. He will have some great options, including in the private sector.

* U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah: 1. Too soon to know. 2. I have no idea . . . I'm not contemplating it. 3. I would not rule out politics . . . he's very close to [former U.S. Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton.

* Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies (seeking her old 13th District seat in 2014): 1. There are three strong candidates - Schwartz, McCord and former state Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf. 2. I don't know. 3. Anything he wants to do.

* Tom Wolf: 1. Tom Wolf. 2. Tony Williams. 3. Private sector.

* Sheriff Jewell Williams: 1. Schwartz, but I still think Gov. Corbett has a good chance. 2. Seems like Tony Williams. 3. Probably teach.

* Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham (a potential 2015 mayoral candidate): Schwartz, but it's a long time from now and you have to watch out for McCord and former state Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty. 2. Maybe Lynne Abraham. Making a call on whether to run very soon. 3. No clue.

Smile for the voter

There's something about voting booths that seems to remind people of those photo booths you find on the boardwalk down the Shore.

Ask our newly re-elected district attorney, Seth Williams.

Williams snapped a picture inside the voting booth and then tweeted it, showing his vote for himself and some other candidates. He then deleted the tweet after suggestions that the voter-booth picture violated state law.

So did it?

Several websites we perused say just that, citing part of the state's Election Code, which says a voter can't "allow his ballot or the face of the voting machine voted by him to be seen by any person with the apparent intention of letting it be known how he is about to vote."

But the Department of State, which oversees elections, told us this is a question for each county's Board of Elections. That agency asked each county last year to develop its own policy on the issue of cameras in voting booths.

The City Commission yesterday said that policy directive dealt with cameras in polling places overall, not specifically in voting booths. So the question of whether Williams stepped over the line is unanswered.

Williams takes the blame, saying his daughters asked him to snap the voting-booth photo.

"Charge it to my heart, not my mind," he said. "I wasn't aware that it was violative of anything. Live and learn."

- Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this report.

Phone: 215-854-5973

On Twitter: @ChrisBrennanDN

Blog: ph.ly/phillyclout