Little Surprise, Nutter Gets Another Term
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter has been re-elected to a second four-year term in office.
Nutter, 54, has overwhelmingly defeated little-known Republican challenger Karen Brown, 52, a former math teacher and Democrat who switched parties to challenge Nutter.
The Associated Press declared Nutter the winner a mere 45 minutes after the polls closed at 8pm.
Brown's low-budget campaign gained little traction. She did capture the feelings of Nutter critics, noting that -- while murders were down 18 percent from 2007 -- Nutter had not come close to his goal of reducing them by 30 percent to 50 percent.
Brown complained late in the campaign that she was not getting the backing of her own party, citing a GOP sample ballot that listed several other city candidates but not her.
KYW's Steve Tawa reports that there's a new refrain from the mayor's administration.
Nutter's slogan four years ago was, "A new day, a new way." But Tuesday night, at his re-election headquarters in the ballroom of the Warwick Hotel, near Rittenhouse Square, the mayor told well-wishers, "We have much more work to do. We're not done yet."
At the front end of his first term, the mayor promised to make the city safer, smarter, and more sustainable. He says there has been a 20-percent drop in homicides, but year-to-date there have been 274 murders.
"We're not done when illegal guns are so easily gotten that you can actually rent a gun, do your cowardly act, and then return it," he told the crowd. "That's insane."
And he says they're "not done" when too many young people do not complete high school, let alone go on to higher education:
"If we educate our young people, then many of the problems that face the city -- crime and poverty and unemployment -- will actually begin to fade away."
The mayor noted that the graduation rate in Philadelphia now exceeds 60 percent, with nine straight years of test score gains.
Meanwhile, Democratic National Committee vice chair RT Rybak, the mayor of Minneapolis, released a statement saying, "Congratulations to Mayor Nutter on winning reelection — and thank you to Philadelphia for returning a strong national leader to office. The confidence of the people of Philadelphia in his leadership is matched by those of us who have worked closely with him on issues of importance to cities everywhere."
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
