Mayor Thomas M. Menino may have won another four more years in office, but whether he’ll stick around for the full term - or try to install a successor - is an open question in the minds of many City Hall savants.

“That’s what he’d like to do,” predicted Michael J. McCormack, a former city councilor and a longtime political observer. “He’d like to pass the baton off to someone else in either two or four years.”

Menino keeps up a furious pace. His days often begin before 5 a.m. and continue well into the evening. Even his allies wonder whether a 66-year-old mayor with Crohn’s disease and a bad knee can continue plowing through at such a fast clip. Menino would turn 71 at the end of his historic fifth term.

“I don’t think he’ll keep up the same pace,” said one Menino ally, who requested anonymity. “I think you’ll see him step it down a bit.”

Still, however, added the ally, “I’d be surprised to see him not serve out the next four years. He’s a guy that can’t let go.”

City Councilor John Tobin is working to ensure that no mayor can hand off the keys of power.

Current rules annoint the City council president as acting mayor if a vacancy occurs midterm. That’s how Menino initially came into office in 1993, serving four months as interim mayor before winning an election with the aid of a short-lived incumbency.

Tobin wants to prohibit such kingmaking by deputizing the city clerk as interim mayor. But he fears ambitious councilors will defeat the measure.

Said Tobin: “I think we’ll lose.”