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You have to admit Sarah Thomson has spunk. At the age of 15, she ran away from home and got her first job. Twenty-seven years later, with no political experience except a failed run for election to Hamilton City Council, she has put down her pen as publisher of the Women's Post to run for mayor of Toronto. Wow.

Ms. Thomson, 42, is set to announce her candidacy today. It's an act of spectacular ambition. Or hubris. Or perhaps recklessness. Every Toronto mayor in memory has served on city council first. Ms. Thomson has never served in any elected office. What on earth makes her think she can win the mayor's chain, much less run a city of 2.6 million?

True, other outsiders are running for mayor. George Smitherman has never been elected to city office, and Rocco Rossi has never been elected to anything. But Mr. Smitherman was a Toronto MPP for more than 10 years and deputy premier for three. He was chief of staff to Barbara Hall when she was mayor. He ran her unsuccessful election campaign in 1997.

Mr. Rossi has years of experience in behind-the-scenes politics. He ran John Tory's campaign for mayor in 2003. He was national director of the Liberal Party of Canada. He knows how government works and has connections at many levels of political life.

Ms. Thomson? She has never been involved in any political campaign other than her own Hamilton run, not even as a volunteer. She signed up for the Conservative Party a couple of years ago, but only so she could get its campaign literature. She doesn't have definite ideas about provincial politics - "I haven't followed it very closely" - although she is watching the performance of the Conservatives' newish leader, Tim Hudak.

She has trouble recalling exactly who ran in the election for mayor of Toronto against David Miller in 2003, then remembers it was Mr. Tory, whom she has met. As for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, "I like some of the things he has done and don't like some things."

Now, you don't have to be a political junkie or a political insider to run for mayor, but most serious candidates have at least some background in the game of politics or the field of public affairs. Barbara Hall, for example, was an NDP candidate provincially before becoming a city councillor, then mayor. She climbed the ladder. Ms. Thomson wants to start on the top rung.

Confronted about her inexperience, she argues that her business skill is worth at least as much as the political kind. After running away from home, she pumped gas and did other odd jobs. She travelled across the country, sleeping on people's couches and selling flowers on the street. By 18, she had a job at a management company. She went on to run a home renovation company and start a local paper, the Hamilton Examiner, before founding the Women's Post for businesswomen.

It's easy to see why she's a hit in the business world. In person, she is peppy, direct and brimming with confidence. She says her experience of making a payroll would help her fix Toronto's budget mess. Business owners "understand what it means to be fiscally responsible." She says her 20 plus years of managing people would help her get the city's feuding councillors working together. Under Mayor David Miller, "They haven't had a strong leader who can unite them in a solid strategy." That leader, she says, is her.

If all you need to be mayor is enthusiasm and a business résumé, Sarah Thomson is a shoo-in.