Take a looksie at what website has been snatched up: SamForMayor.com.

Ok, ok. So nothing loads. but if you do a little whois search, it comes up registered to P.O. Box 821650, Vancouver, WA, 98682, registered on August 6. There’s an anonymous email address, and the phone number goes to an automatic message that directs all questions to the email address or the P.O. box.

Of course, it could mean anything. Maybe someone named Sam is planning to run for mayor in Skamania. Maybe someone has purchased the domain in the hopes that Sam Adams will run for mayor, and then will try to sell it to him (but then why would it be anonymous and hidden?). Maybe it was purchased by a political opponent who wants to embarrass him.

Or maybe it was purchased by Adams, on the chance that he’ll run. Given that we’re only a couple of weeks away from Potter making a decision about his future, the timing is certainly curious. Plus, Adams has shown a knack for grabbing URLs, with his own CommissionerSam.com site running outside of city servers, plus project-specific sites like PortlandCreates.com and CreativeCapacity.org. I put in a call to political consultants Winning Mark, who will likely help with any campaign Adams runs. The company’s Jeff Lennan said they didn’t buy the domain, and that this was the first he’d heard of it.

The news could be a relief to Charles Lewis, who’s banking his candidacy for city council on the belief that Adams is mayor-bound.

But it’ll also be good news to Portland Public Schools Development Director John Branam, who told me this morning that he’s considering a run for city council—but only if Adams leaves his current seat. Branam says he’ll be making his decision in the next three weeks, and that if he does run, he’ll “absolutely, no doubt about it,” use the city’s public campaign fund. “It’s a great system that allows candidates to focus primarily on the issues,” he says.

Branam grew up in Corvallis, went east to get a degree in political science, spent two years in South Africa with the Peace Corps, got his law degree from University of Oregon, and has been at PPS for the past two years.

Interesting side note: His father was a city council member in Corvallis—one of two African American council members in a city with a very small African American population.

Of course, his candidacy depends on Adams’ decision, which in turn depends on Potter’s. If there’s an open seat, it’s bound to be a huge field of candidates.