Following any major election, candidates are faced with the concrete reality that after months of intense campaigning, only one has secured a job, while the other, presumably, has not.
In the wake of the Philadelphia mayoral election, John Street, the victor by more than 17 percentage points, will go on to serve his second term in City Hall. His opponent, Republican Sam Katz, finds his future up in the air.
Katz, the former chairman of Greater Philadelphia First -- an organization composed of area business executives and nonprofit leaders designed to improve the city and its suburbs -- has announced that he will take some time off after the exhaustive campaign to reflect on the outcome and be with his family.
He has not completely ruled out another bid for elected office -- he has now run unsuccessfully for mayor three times, and once unsuccessfully for Pennsylvania governor -- though has not said when, or even if, he would ever run again.
The one thing he has said, however, on numerous occasions, is that being mayor of Philadelphia is the only job he ever wanted, and he admits that this has not changed despite the overwhelming results against him.
No matter what course the former businessman decides to take, he is one of the city's more prominent public figures, and will likely continue to play an active role.
"He will be a major figure, in the sense that he's in a position to be an important figure in an advisory capacity, in campaign strategy and fundraising," political analyst Terry Madonna said.
Katz has already demonstrated his desire to continue the dialogue about the future of the city that he says began during the campaign season.
In an open letter to his supporters on his Web site, Katz writes, "I ask that you remember the theme of [my] campaign, 'One Team, One Philadelphia,' as we continue to reach out and include all of the citizens of our city in a conversation about our future."
As for right now, though, Katz is planning a trip to Argentina with two of his children, and has not yet announced what he will do after the holidays.
"There's no reason for a quick decision on what he's going to do and how he's going to stay involved," said Katz's son Phil, a part time College of General Studies student taking the semester off from Washington University in St. Louis to run the campaign's student outreach effort. "Probably by January he'll know what he will do."
And though Katz has lost several elections, that is no reason to rule him out of politics forever, analysts say.
He will likely take "a year or two and regroup and see what else holds his interest," Madonna said. "He does seem to have the virus, the political virus, and unfortunately for many people there is no known cure for it."
"He's run three other times, and after each time he said he wasn't going to run again, so I'm not going to put anything past him," his son said. "It's pretty admirable [for him] to say... 'I still want this job.'"
If Katz were to run successfully, he would not be the first to follow a similar path to elected office. In fact, in Pennsylvania alone, both Governor Ed Rendell and U.S. Senator Arlen Specter had lost races before they were eventually elected.
"He's not just going to wilt the vine here," Madonna said.
"There are lots of politicians who have suffered quite a few defeats and come back," said Political Science Professor Jack Nagel on the possibility of Katz running again. "I wouldn't say never."
"He's bright, he's energetic [and] he understands politics," Madonna said. "He got caught running in an election that's very, very hard for a Republican."
