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Philadelphia's race for mayor begins today

Here's our rundown of the announced, the likely to announce and the oft-mentioned.

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, left, and Council president Darrell Clarke talk outside Famous 4th Street Deli on November 4, 2014. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )
State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, left, and Council president Darrell Clarke talk outside Famous 4th Street Deli on November 4, 2014. ( DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer )Read moreDavid Maialetti

YEAH, YEAH, we know. The governor's race is over with a historic outcome, Democrat Tom Wolf becoming the first candidate to unseat an incumbent, sending Gov. Corbett home after one term.

Let's talk about what's really important: Today is the first day of the 2015 race for mayor, the first open-seat race since 2007.

There are just 6 1/2 months until the May 19 Democratic and Republican primary elections.

Here's a rundown of the declared and potential candidates.

DEMOCRATS The big names

State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams

Status: Could declare any day, since he doesn't have to resign his Senate seat to run for mayor (a big advantage).

Story: Williams raised his profile with a 2010 run for governor, and has built a strong base of support and staff infrastructure to campaign for mayor.

Backstory: Has the backing of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the city's Democratic Party chairman (and a 2007 candidate).

Baggage: A big proponent of school choice, while the underfunding of the Philadelphia School District is likely to be a hot topic.

City Controller Alan Butkovitz

Status: Expected to declare if and when City Council President Darrell Clarke decides against a run.

Story: A numbers guy, student of the city budget and ward leader with a base in Northeast Philly. He also has a campaign team up and running.

Backstory: Expected to make a big play for union support that would have gone to Clarke.

Baggage: Not the smoothest of candidates.

Council President Darrell Clarke

Status: Raking in the cash.

Story: Clarke has been holding plenty of fundraisers, listening to supporters who are urging him to run.

Backstory: If he doesn't run, that money could help Clarke select the next mayor.

Baggage: Known to chafe at the little public scrutiny the Council presidency draws, so it's hard to imagine him enduring a contested mayoral primary.

Former City Controller Jon Saidel

Status: Thinking about it.

Story: Saidel was running in 2007 but stepped aside at former state Sen. Vince Fumo's urging to make way for Brady.

Backstory: Saidel, as tight as can be with Brady, could lure that support from Williams. Or he could use his candidacy to damage Butkovitz on behalf of Williams.

Baggage: Oh, what a mouth. Reporters love him at the podium because his enthusiasm to pump up a crowd can prompt him to say some wild stuff.

City Councilman Jim Kenney

Status: Thinking about it.

Story: Kenney made the lonely journey from being Mayor Nutter's only friend on Council to one of his most outspoken critics, upset that Nutter could not or would not work with Council.

Backstory: Kenney gets in if he can see a path to victory, and a way to support himself when he resigns his seat to run.

Baggage: He almost always takes the bait on social media, feeding trolls he should ignore.

Declared candidates or close to it

Ken Trujillo

Status: Declared on Sept. 17.

Story: Made his case to the media standing in front of school district headquarters, marking education as a key issue in his campaign.

Backstory: A city solicitor under Mayor John Street and state Gaming Control Board member under Gov. Ed Rendell, Trujillo is known to be smart and savvy.

Baggage: Trujillo needs to stitch together a coalition to have a chance. It's unclear how he does that. And, in a town where politicians of Puerto Rican decent dominate, Trujillo is Mexican-American.

Terry Gillen

Status: Declared on Sept. 7 in front of the rowhouses of her Southwest Center City neighborhood.

Story: Gillen has been a top aide to Nutter and Rendell, taking on complicated tasks at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and the Navy Yard.

Backstory: This will be her third stab at public office, having lost races for City Council in 1999 and the state House in 2004.

Baggage: Gillen is known for her sharp elbows in local politics. Also, a connection to Nutter is likely to be a millstone hung around a 2015 candidacy.

Former City Councilman Frank Rizzo

Status: Likely to announce his candidacy soon.

Story: His new office phone-line voicemail says, "You have reached the Frank Rizzo 2015 committee . . . "

Backstory: Brady made a big deal of inviting the media to the Democratic City Committee offices a year ago to watch Rizzo switch his party registration from Republican to Democrat. His candidacy could drain votes from Butkovitz, helping Williams.

Baggage: Rizzo lost his 2011 bid for a fifth term on Council in the Republican primary. His participation in the controversial Deferred Retirement Option Plan doomed him.

Nelson Diaz

Status: A likely candidate.

Story: Diaz, another former city solicitor under Street, is raising money and has put up biographical videos on YouTube in English and Spanish.

Backstory: Is Diaz for real or is he a missile pointed at Trujillo's campaign?

Baggage: Diaz in April sent an email to about 70 people in the city's political community, declaring himself the best possible candidate and asking for advice and support. The email was regarded as the act of an amateur.

Former District Attorney Lynne Abraham

Status: Likely to declare anytime after today.

Story: Abraham, also a former judge, spent most of her career in public service. Clearly she misses it after taking a law-firm job.

Backstory: She had a longtime aide call reporters on the day Trujillo announced to say the former D.A. was also planning a campaign.

Baggage: Abraham is a hard worker who embraces the retail politics of campaigning. But she's been out of the news for a while. Has the city passed her by?

Sideshow

Former state Sen. T. Milton Street Sr.

Status: He says there is a 95 percent chance that he runs, if he survives a 100-mile, one-day bike ride he has planned for Nov. 22.

Story: Took one out of every four votes in the 2011 primary vs. Mayor Nutter, even though he had recently been released from federal prison after being convicted for failure to pay taxes on $3 million in income.

Backstory: The 2011 vote was more of a protest against Nutter than support for Street, the brother of the previous mayor.

Baggage: Street's platform remains the same, addressing poverty and violence. But his stage show as political huckster - he sang gospel tunes in 2007 while draping himself over a casket in front of City Hall - makes it hard to take him seriously.

Maybe, but unlikely

Managing Director Rich Negrin

Status: Unlikely to run.

Story: Ambitious and interested in the next big thing.

Backstory: He has his fans and they want him to run. He is listening, even as he leans against launching a campaign.

Baggage: Like Gillen, Negrin would be saddled with Nutter's track record in office.

REPUBLICANS

Doug Oliver

Status: Thinking about it.

Story: Oliver was a spokesman for Philadelphia Gas Works before joining Nutter's City Hall team in 2008. He's back at PGW and running with the Republicans now.

Backstory: Oliver switched his voter registration to Republican in 2012 and has met with state Rep. John Taylor and Joe DeFelice, the chairman and executive director of the Republican City Committee.

Baggage: Oliver was in charge of Nutter's public image as it went from line-around-City-Hall-just-to-shake-his-hand to boo-him-at-every-public-event.

Elmer Money

Status: Thinking about it.

Story: Money finished last in a nine-man 2011 Republican primary for City Council at-large.

Backstory: Money is the type of suicide-mission candidate who has exasperated the GOP faithful, someone willing to run but with no feasible plan to win.

Baggage: Elmer who?