Here comes a new mayoral challenger!

It’s only 2006, and the mayor’s race is already heating up. As PW’s own Steve Volk detailed this week, there are plenty of challengers: Chaka Fattah, Jonathan Saidel, John Dougherty, Michael Nutter, Dwight Evans, Tom Knox. And, heck, even though he wasn’t mentioned in the article, we all know Sam Katz is going to run again by the end of it (and lose).

We know about those people. But apparently PW missed the boat on the one darkhorse mayoral candidate: Gov. Ed Rendell. Indeed, the Northeast Times — who, I’ll admit, I’m relying on heavily for content today — has editoralized about Ed Rendell and why he should run for mayor.

Their reasons for asking Rendell (who’s doing his best Fonz impression in the photo above) to run for mayor are a little strange. The editorial begins with the anniversary Blizzard of ‘96, which dropped over 30 inches on Philadelphia. And, as a young boy in the Northeast at the time, it was awesome — mainly because the plows never got to the NE, and we had off school for what seemed like months.

Then, the editorial spends the rest of its time attacking Rendell’s time as governor, calling him “politically weak,” and blaming him for the pay-raise fiasco. Also, it blasts him for slot parlors not being built yet.

So, really, it seems like more of a “Swann/Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for Governor” editorial rather than a “Rendell for Mayor” editorial, which at least makes some sense.

But, has anyone considered this: Is it against the law for Rendell to be governor of Pennsylvania and mayor of Philadelphia at the same time? Hrmm. I mean, there’s no law against being governor and a post-game Eagles analyst at the same time.

Rendell for Mayor [Northeast Times]
And They’re Off! [PW]