John "JC Pennies" Connolly was the top fundraiser of the at-large Boston City Council field, leaving him with nearly a quarter-million on hand heading into the final 5+ weeks of the campaign. But young Felix G. Arroyo continues to build up a serious stake. Ayanna Pressley dropped to fifth in cash-on-hand, after spending some dough on signs, pamphlets, and other snazzy material.

"Anonymous" asks via stealthy, identity-masking email:

What's your take on the at-large race? Clearly, Connolly has the money and Arroyo appears to be strong in that department as well. Flaherty is finally in full campaign mode...who tops the ticket? Who's the one left out? And do you think topping the ticket is really that important for Connolly or any of the other mayoral hopefuls?

As we turn the corner from Labor Day to the two-month home stretch of the Boston City Council campaign, John "JC Penny" Connolly remains way ahead of the at-large pack when it comes to banking coin. But he did not top the field for August -- young Felix Arroyo beat him, with help from a roughly $11,000 fundraiser in Puerto Rico.

Boston City Councilor John Connolly banks so much coin, I'm going to start calling him J.C. Pennies. Here is the reported cash-on-hand for the other six at-large candidates, at the end of July:

Felix Arroyo: $76,408

Stephen Murphy: $41,590

Ayanna Pressley: $39,838

Michael Flaherty: $18,851

Will Dorcena: $2697

Bundling a few questions on the topic -- "Jim-C" asks:

Predictions: Order of finish in Boston City Council At-Large race in November?

"BeantownBill" asks:

What impact will the 2011 Boston Elections have on the 2013 Mayor's Race? And when would you expect candidates to announce their intensions for Boston's Elections in 2013 including Mayor Menino?

Last night I was honored to moderate a Ward 5 Democrats forum for the candidates for the four at-large city council seats -- the first such forum of the year. Incumbents Felix Arroyo, John Connolly, and Stephen Murphy were there, joined by challengers William Dorcena, Michael Flaherty, and Sean Ryan. The only candidate not in attendance was incumbent Ayanna Pressley, who had to cancel to tend to her ill mother.

In this week's issue of the Boston Phoenix -- in print tomorrow, online now -- I look at the 2011 Boston City Council election, now that the field is pretty much set. What happens if they hold an election, and nobody notices?

Four years ago, when Boston last voted for City Council but not mayor, less than 14% of the Boston electorate bothered to show up.

Local political reporters rejoice: what could have been the sleepiest election season in ages will instead be a fun-filled bloodbath. That's right, Michael Flaherty has just announced that he is running for Boston City Council at-large.

I have been saying all year and longer that he was serious about it, but I was never really sure he would pull the trigger.

--Several friends of Talking Politics said recently that they were phone-polled about Scott Brown and potential 2012 Senate match-ups. Looks like that was the work of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which, according to Salon, learned that Scotto is as popular as white chowder in the Bay State. His approval rate is at a stunning 73%, and he tops 50% in head-to-heads with top Democrats.

Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy will support Ayanna Pressley in her bid for re-election this year, even -- or especially -- if Michael Flaherty runs for his seat back.

Murphy and Pressley, two of the four incumbent at-large councilors, had a conversation over the weekend in which Murphy pledged his support.

Ask Me Anything Day rolls on! "RMC Strategies" asks:

Could you handicap the top 4 folks in the US Senate dem primary (based on assumptions of who may be in) and the top 4 folks who would be NEXT mayor of Boston (outside of Menino)?

Well, the four who are making noise about running I would put in the following order of likelihood to win the nomination: Setti Warren, Kim Driscoll, Alan Khazei, Bob Massie -- with the caveat that I don't think there's a huge difference in the odds among all four.

"Jim C" asks:

Will Michael Flaherty jump back in and run for Councilor at Large? If he does will he win? Who would lose assuming all incumbents run? Political implications?

The conventional wisdom around town is that Flaherty -- former Boston City Councilor, and 2009 mayoral candidate -- is not going to run for his old seat back.

The excitement of Ask Me Anything Day begins! "JimC" asks:

What does Michael Flaherty do next? Politically?

I truly have no idea, and I suspect he doesn't either. I don't think he'll turn right around and run for DA against Dan Conley -- although if Conley isn't running for one reason or another, he might be tempted. I can't picture him jumping into one of the statewide races.

"NathanSpencer" asks, via Twitter appropriately:

"Are tools like Twitter and Facebook really helping candidates GOTV? Who is using it best?"

I've seen no evidence of it helping in any significant way with GOTV in any local elections, and have heard few if any convincing tales from elsewhere. I'd love to hear from anyone who has experience to the contrary, though.

Here's a great question, from "Sammy":

Who are your favorite political staffs to deal with, whether it be mayor's office, city council, state, etc?

Before I answer, I want to say that I've just realized that our snazzy new blog format is not showing that I am indenting the questions in these answer posts, like the one above.