Wild card in mayor’s race to end speculation

Tom Knox is expected to announce today whether he’s running for mayor as a Democrat in May’s primary, as an independent in the November general election or not at all.

Pundits predicted he’ll take the state Sen. Anthony Williams route of announcing he’s heard from many who wanted him to run, but decided against doing so. When asked for comment for print, one said, “Don’t get burned. He’s not going to run.”

Knox didn’t respond to a call seeking comment, but KnoxForPhilly.com was up-and-running yesterday, the only message being, “It works!”

In the 2007 Democratic mayoral primary, Knox finished second behind Nutter by 12 percent of the vote. Knox. a self-made millionaire dropped out of the 2010 gubernatorial primary for “family reasons” which went unexplained.

Among questions asked in a Franklin & Marshall College’s poll this month, 400 residents were asked their opinion of Knox. Sixteen percent responded favorable, 11 unfavorable, and 13 were undecided; 57 percent said they had not heard of him. Running as an independent in the November general election, the poll had him trailing Nutter 46-28, with 26 percent undecided.