As expected, Mary Mulhern has eschewed seeking an appointment to the Tampa City Council and instead will run for a permanent seat on that board. She announced yesterday that she will run against Shawn Harrison for a citywide seat. Harrison represents the New Tampa district on the council.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, both are friends of mine. I represented Harrison back when I was a political consultant; and Mulhern is the former arts critic at Creative Loafing, my place o' employment.
This is going to be a tough contest if things break just right for Mulhern. First and foremost, I believe she needs a head-to-head contest with Harrison, who is practically the incumbent in this race. Former state Rep. Bob Henriquez has been rumored for months to be jumping into this race, but Mulhern may have short-circuited those plans, and the word on the street in West Tampa is that Henriquez is re-thinking his political future.
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.