NYC'13: Congrats to Mayor de Blasio

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Christine Quinn seems like she has serious anger-management issues from what I've read to the extent that I don't think she has the right temperament to be a good Mayor, if nothing else (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/nyregion/in-private-quinn-displays-a-volatile-side.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0).  She seems like a glorified bully and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she's bipolar.  I don't know much about her issue positions, but it sounds like she's a Bloomberg ally. 

I never liked Anthony Weiner and occasionally forgot that he wasn't the host of some Ed Schultz-type show.  Anyway, I don't think I need to elaborate on why he'd be an awful Mayor, so I'll just leave you with this song about him by The Capitol Steps.
http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/weiner-itsybitsy.mp3

Liu has serious corruption issues and I don't think he has any path to the runoff (let alone victory).  Lhota seems like generic rich Republican dude and would get destroyed by any of the Democrats.  I'm not a fan of Kelly's record regarding civil-liberties, but we'll see if he even runs (he might, but I'll believe it when I see it).  My feelings about Thompson could best be described as "meh."  I guess that leaves Bill De Blasio.  I like that he beat Green and he's been good on campaign finance reform, but De Blasio is still only ever so slightly less "meh" than Thompson. 

As I was writing this post, I realized just how awful the field is for NYC Mayor.  The worst candidates are glorified bullies who seem to lack any self-control (Quinn, Weiner).  The best candidates (Thompson, De Blasio) almost make me wonder if "blah people" is a term for extremely boring candidates and not a clumsy attempt to cover up a blatantly racist statement.  I'm ending this post because thinking about this race is too painful.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Is there any polling on the Public Advocate race?  

It would be hilarious/a potential train wreck if Letitia James won; if only because the Public Advocate becomes Mayor in the event of the Mayor's death, God forbid.  

Not that I have seen.

I strongly support Daniel Squadron, by the way.

Most recent polling I can find for Likely Voters:

Letitia James - 16%
Catherine Guerriero - 12%
Daniel Squadron - 12%
Reshma Saujani - 3%
Sidique Wai - 2%
Other - 6%
Undecided - 49%

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJPoll0816.pdf

The only political mailer our household has received this season is for Reshma Saujani, actually.  She seems good but I'm super familiar with Squadron and basically agree with him on everything.

Letitia James is local, but she has campaign finance problems and is generally not that great.

Saujani is a pretty blatant wall street shill, don't be fooled by her mailers.  When she tried to primary Maloney, her campaign consisted almost entirely of promises to be a better friend to hedge fund managers and calling for greater deregulation of the banking industry.  Not surprisingly she lost badly, but (IIRC) raised quite a bit of money.  As powerless as Public Advocate may be, the mere optics of having someone like Saujani in the position is reason enough to vote against her, IMO at least.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Exit Poll

de Blasio wins among males, females, blacks, whites and Hispanics, gays and practically every subgroup except moderates and black males, who went to Thompson and other races (largely Asians), which went to Liu.  He won all 4 borough groupings, breaking 40% in all but the Bronx - Staten Island was lumped in with Queens for some reason (probably too few polled in Staten Island to be statistically meaningful).

Suck it Staten Island!