Is Nutter being set up to be mugged at the intersection of two Streets?

FOR MAYOR NUTTER, the road to re-election this year may be a two-way Street.

Former Mayor John F. Street visited the Philadelphia City Commission yesterday to switch his voter registration from Democrat to independent.

His brother, T. Milton Street Sr., is challenging Nutter in the May 17 Democratic primary.

To run for mayor as an independent in the Nov. 8 general election, a Democrat must "disaffiliate" from his political party by the deadline to register to vote in the primary election.

That deadline was yesterday.

John Street yesterday said the switch is "simply a means of keeping a variety of options available as a matter of good politics."

Street said that friends have been asking him to consider a run.

"My lack of interest in serving as mayor [again] or any public office is well-documented," Street said, via email. "However . . . ?"

Milton Street said that his brother told him about the change in registration, but not what it means.

"I'm sure he has a plan," he said. "He didn't share it with me."

Nutter yesterday said that he doesn't know what Street is up to with the registration change.

"It's a free country and people have to make decisions for themselves as to what they want to do," Nutter added.

Nutter ran as a reformer for mayor four years ago, attacking Street's record in office and pledging to change the way the city conducted business. Street has been Nutter's most vocal critic in the last year, suggesting that he is not seen in the African-American community as a "black mayor."

An independent candidate for mayor would need at least 1,845 signatures on nominating petitions by Aug. 1 to land a spot on the ballot. That number is 2 percent of the votes of the last citywide election winner - District Attorney Seth Williams, with 92,273 votes in 2009. The city charter prohibits a mayor from serving more than two terms consecutively but allows a mayor to run again after a four-year break to potentially serve two more terms.

Tom Knox, another former candidate for mayor, changed his registration from Democratic to independent on Thursday.

Knox, who finished second to Nutter in the 2007 Democratic primary, toyed this year with running as an independent for mayor in the general election.

Knox dropped that idea when he endorsed Nutter in February. Knox yesterday said that he changed his registration so he could run as an independent if Milton Street wins the primary.

"Just in the case of the long-shot that Milton Street beats Michael Nutter, I will then run," Knox said, adding that he still supports Nutter for a second term.

Milton Street took that as good news, a sign that Knox is worried that he could defeat Nutter.

Nutter said Knox told him of his plans to run if he loses.

"I'm looking forward to making sure that he won't have to do that and helping him change his registration back in the fall," he said.