The four candidates running for Albany mayor, from left, Dorcey Applyrs, Dan Cerutti, Corey Ellis and Carolyn McLaughlin, take part in a Democratic Party debate April 30 at CBS 6 in Niskayuna.

With five weeks to go, the Albany mayor’s race feels increasingly like Dan Cerutti’s to lose.

I don’t know if he’ll like reading that. The other candidates — Auditor Dorcey Applyrs, Common Council President Corey Ellis and county Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin — certainly won’t.

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But many observers now believe Cerutti is likely to get 35 to 40% of the June 24 Democratic primary vote, with Applyrs right behind him. Nearly everyone seems to think the race will be close, perhaps extraordinarily so.

“I don’t think about these things,” Cerutti said. “I just think about running through the tape.”

Of course, the dynamics of the race could change. Five weeks can be an eternity in politics, and low-turnout elections, as this one promises to be, are notoriously unpredictable.

This particular primary is likely to bring out about 10,000 voters, which suggests that Cerutti could win with as few as 3,500 votes.

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Think about that scenario. In a city of roughly 100,000 residents, fewer........

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