By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Mayor Nutter says he’ll be watching closely as his New York City counterpart, Michael Bloomberg, continues his battle to keep a ban on super-sized sodas alive (see related story).

Mayor Nutter tried twice without success in his first term to impose a tax on all sodas and sugary drinks, and he supports Mayor Bloomberg’s alternative approach of banning large sodas in New York theaters and restaurants:

“You cannot escape the fact that the empty calories in soda are a contributing factor to the issue of obesity which Mayor Bloomberg and myself and many others are very focused on,” Nutter said.

Nutter rules out, for now, any revival here of his soda tax. But he’s watching the New York City battle with avid interest:

“In many instances, obesity is literally killing people and damaging the quality of their life. So we’ll watch it with great interest. I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”