Donnelly for Mayor

City Councilor Thomas Donnelly said yesterday he's pulled nomination papers for mayor, a big step toward him being in the race this fall.

At this point it's him, incumbent Mayor Dan Mylott, City Councilor Ted DeSalvatore, and long-time candidate Ronald Dionne.

Here's the question: Where does Donnelly fit into the race? As a long-time councilor, does he run as an establishment candidate? As a challenger, does he run as an agent of change? In the former, he tries to steal from Mylott's base. In the latter, he's fighting DeSalvatore for the change vote. Is there a middle ground, as an established change candidate?

It will be interesting to see, in that Donnelly is somewhere in between the pure change candidate and the incumbent.

It's an important question, because Donnelly's inclusion might play a big role in the preliminary election. If he's stealing establishment votes, maybe Mylott doesn't get through. If he splits the change vote, maybe DeSalvatore doesn't get through.

The three main candidates seem pretty even at this point. It will be interesting to see which one falls by the wayside in September, and how they move their support for the general election.