It's the Question that crops up at nearly every press conference as Mayor Thomas Menino eases back into his regular schedule: Is he running for a sixth term?

On Tuesday, after the mayor stood with shoe company executives who plan to move into Lovejoy Wharf in 2015, a reporter asked The Question. It prompted Menino spokeswoman, standing next to him, to quip "Bingo," perhaps for those playing along back at City Hall.

But it is the Question on people's minds, particularly among the local political junkies, who are also juggling lists of who's running for John Kerry's Senate seat this year and for governor in 2014.

So a version of the Question was put to several elected officials at the federal, state and local level. Should Menino run again?

Congressman Stephen Lynch (D-South Boston), who represents Dorchester's coast and is weighing a Senate run: "He looks good. He looks good. I know he’s got a little weakness in his legs because he’s been on bed rest for a while, but he looks good. I support him 100 percent. I think he should run. I think he’s important to our city. And I think he has his best days in front of him. I think it’s important that we retain his leadership."

State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry, a member of the House speaker's leadership team and married to Reporter managing editor Bill Forry: “He has the energy, I think, to run again. And he’s done a great job. And as a leader of the city, who’s done it for 20 years, it’s time to reflect as well."

District 3 City Councillor Frank Baker, who tangled with the mayor's campaign apparatus in 2011: “The mayor should do what’s best for the city."

More is available here.

CORRECTION: Post originally had Converse presser happening on a Monday. It occurred on a Tuesday.