NYC'13: Congrats to Mayor de Blasio

[bedstuy]

NYC politics always has been and will continue to be a joke.  I'm going to have to decide whether to vote for Thompson out of neighborhood pride or De Blasio because his son has a massive afro.  I wonder if Jimmy McMillan or Charles Barron will try third party campaigns, that could be interesting. 

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In huge news, Jimmy McMillan will be running as the Rent Is Too Damn High candidate.

I hereby endorse Jimmy McMillan. He's the most serious candidate of the bunch

I agree.

Quinn is seriously terrible though, she's an authoritarian liberal of the worst kind, and probably even worse than Bloomberg.  Hates unions, supports privatized education, racial profiling, civil liberties violations, soda bans, raising the smoking age (quite unconstitutional and absurdly controlling).

The G&L victory fund should really be ashamed of backing her so strongly, would think even as an LGBT political action group they would have enough of a head on their shoulders to realize a bad candidate when they see one, regardless of orientation.

The LGBT community itself seems to realize Quinn isn't that great, and her voters are probably going to be Republican leaning anyway.

Same with the Emily's list type of groups.. she's female but her policies are plain wrong.

I wouldn't say she hates unions.  The truth is that a lot of the unions in New York state are terrible and they're obviously self-interested.  A politician needs to clash with unions sometimes or else they're a complete hack. 

It will be interesting to see who the unions endorse in this race.  Some of the major unions have been known to endorse crazy people just for spite.  It's quite a political culture we have here in New York. 

[bedstuy]

Maybe Quinn can get the City to give every city employee $1000 or an ipad or something a few days before the election.  That would smooth things over.

The sad part is that happens sometimes.   

[bedstuy]

I have no idea who is going to win this primary race.  I really don't trust the polling and I think this is a very dynamic race.  However, I think in a crowded field a lot of it comes down to coalitions.  I'm not an expert on city politics but, my guesses would be:

Blacks: Thompson
Asians: Liu
Orthodox Jews: Thompson
Whites: Quinn / Weiner
Gays: Quinn
Liberals: De Blasio
Women: Quinn
Labor: Thompson/ De Blasio

The one I'm more unsure about is the latino vote.

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Harry Belafonte and Congresswoman Yvette Clark endorse de Blasio: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/harry-belafonte-endorses-public-advocate-bill-de-blasio-mayor-article-1.1412254

Yes!!

Why is this a good thing?  Harry Belafonte is nuts and Yvette Clark famously thought the Dutch controlled New York City and practiced slavery in 1898. 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUgElgM9brg#at=29

I have lost so much respect for this guy.

Actually, the other person seems like more of an asshole than Weiner does in this one particular case.

I agree.  NYC has different rules of politeness than America.  That's totally fine.

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Wow, this is pretty exciting! The most competent (and most liberal) candidate takes the lead!

Can someone rank DiBlasio, Weiner, Thompson, and Quinn on a spectrum from most liberal to most centrist/moderate? Feel free to include Liu if you know enough about his ideology to do so.

My unscientific guesstimate:

1. de Blasio (He's reasonably far-left by mainstream American standards on most of the issues as far as I can tell; I especially like his animal rights positions.)

2. Liu (He's been a fierce critic of Bloomberg, don't know as much about him as the others though.)

3. Weiner (He used to be pretty liberal but does he still have political positions? He's always talking about or arguing over sexting/penis pictures when I see him now.)

4. Thompson (He's about as liberal as Weiner I guess. You could probably even flip them, whatever.)

5. Quinn (She's essentially a Bloomberg crony. She's a corporate Democrat and easily the worst of the bunch.)

Actually Liu is the worst of the bunch, on account of being a corrupt liar.  Liu and Weiner are the two candidates here that I would not vote for, no matter what.

Liu is terrible and corrupt.  But, he has been using a populist/liberal sales pitch in this primary race.

[bedstuy]

Wow, this is pretty exciting! The most competent (and most liberal) candidate takes the lead!

Can someone rank DiBlasio, Weiner, Thompson, and Quinn on a spectrum from most liberal to most centrist/moderate? Feel free to include Liu if you know enough about his ideology to do so.

My unscientific guesstimate:

1. de Blasio (He's reasonably far-left by mainstream American standards on most of the issues as far as I can tell; I especially like his animal rights positions.)

2. Liu (He's been a fierce critic of Bloomberg, don't know as much about him as the others though.)

3. Weiner (He used to be pretty liberal but does he still have political positions? He's always talking about or arguing over sexting/penis pictures when I see him now.)

4. Thompson (He's about as liberal as Weiner I guess. You could probably even flip them, whatever.)

5. Quinn (She's essentially a Bloomberg crony. She's a corporate Democrat and easily the worst of the bunch.)

On second thought, I would say Liu is the most far left candidate in the race.  At least, he seems to be getting the support of the far left elements in the city.  Charles Barron endorsed him and many of the anti-white/Nation of Islam types that supported Barron in my neighborhood support Liu. 

[bedstuy]

I was flipping between the debate and Yankee game, so maybe I'm not the best judge.  But, Quinn seemed to win this debate in my eyes, although Thompson and De Blasio did fine as well.

[bedstuy]

What does anyone see in Christine Quinn?

I actually don't understand the hate here towards Christine Quinn.  She has been a hard-working, effective and independent city council President.  She's willing to take unpopular stands.  She has consistently taken progressive stands on issues, if not 100% of the time or in the context of the NYC political spectrum.  I just don't think her style of leadership, being excessively confrontational, is really suited to being mayor.  But, I still think I may vote for her. 

[bedstuy]

What does anyone see in Christine Quinn?

I actually don't understand the hate here towards Christine Quinn... She's willing to take unpopular stands. 

They probably don't like her because of her unpopular stands. Most politicians loose because their stands are unpopular. This is how elections work.

Also, Quinn is unpopular for allowing Bloomberg to get a 3rd term. And in case you haven't noticed, Bloomberg isn't exactly popular on this forum. Quinn would be the closest thing to Bloomberg's 4th term.

I like politicians who use their own best judgment and think long-term about the interests of their constituents.  Sometimes that means you take a position that doesn't poll well or play politically.  Sometimes there are interest groups that will try to pry out benefits from the public and opposing them will hurt you politically.  That's what I mean.

Also, people who hate Michael Bloomberg should educate themselves on what his actual record in NYC has been.  The Soda ban and keeping Ray Kelly NYPD commission are not the entirety of his actions as mayor. 

[bedstuy]

What the hell happened?

Don't trust these polls.  Also, Stringer went up with TV ads more recently while Spitzer had been up for a few weeks,

[bedstuy]

Good call, Lief.

So either Quinnipiac is way off or it's over.

I'm willing to bet every one of my Star Wars trading cards that Quinnipiac is way off. I'd be surprised if Thompson doesn't end up closer to the high 20s and they go to a run-off.

I wonder why polling of NYC is generally so bad and seems to always under-estimate the black candidate.

[bedstuy]

lol, Fox News is terrified of de Blasio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS7rH50gm-M

awesome.

And, the guy they have on talks about the most recent Batman movie like it was a historical event.  Good grief.

[bedstuy]

The Quinnipiac poll also shows Stringer up 47-45 over Spitzer.

Really hope Spitzer pulls this one out.  Stringer is absolutely terrible.

[bedstuy]

The Quinnipiac poll also shows Stringer up 47-45 over Spitzer.

Really hope Spitzer pulls this one out.  Stringer is absolutely terrible.

I'm honestly still undecided on the Comptroller's race, largely due to not paying much attention to it (and a general impression that there's not much daylight between the two).  What makes Stringer so bad?

Think about what the comptroller does: Manages the city pension funds, audits city agencies and signs off on contracts.

Stringer is a pandering machine politician with no experience in finance.  He's never had a real job and he's just risen up the ranks by being a hack.  He owes favors to half the borough of Manhattan.

Spitzer, on the other hand, is extremely intelligent, willing to go after special interests and has relevant experience.  Spitzer actually knows about capital markets and ran the AG's office extremely well, which probably has more responsibility than the comptroller.

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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. 

[bedstuy]

Cuomo had some harsh words for Bloomberg and lauded De Blasio and his family.

It'd be nice if Cuomo was backing the progressive candidate, even if they do have roots back in HUD together.

Why would he do that?  Cuomo probably wants Lhota to win.

[bedstuy]

I am very skeptical of the idea that De Blasio can hit 40%. 

I think it would require Quinn totally falling apart and minorities voting for De Blasio in surprising numbers.  But, at this point, nothing would really surprise me that much. 

[bedstuy]

Cuomo had some harsh words for Bloomberg and lauded De Blasio and his family.

It'd be nice if Cuomo was backing the progressive candidate, even if they do have roots back in HUD together.

Why would he do that?  Cuomo probably wants Lhota to win.

Huh?

You know the local game much better than I. What's your theory?

Cuomo is crafty and doesn't seem to care about principle.  He knows that Democrats will vote for him no matter what.  So, his best strategy is to give Republicans what they want and appease the suburban swing voter at the expense of Democrats in New York City.  If there's a way to take money from homeless teens in the Bronx and turn it into a property tax cut for a middle class person in Long Island, he wants to do it. 

De Blasio might get in the way of that strategy with his liberal views.  He may whine about poor people or suggest raising taxes on the rich.  Cuomo doesn't want any part of that.

[bedstuy]

There are clearly some errors on this NYT map.  Stringer won 90% of my precinct...

[bedstuy]

Bill Thompson doing so well with white ethnics is weird.

Union votes?

[bedstuy]

Bill Thompson doing so well with white ethnics is weird.

Union votes?

A bit, yeah? Police and fire were out for Thompson. Many of the more law and order types liked his middle of road approach on the stop and frisk.

Also, the teacher's union went for Thompson.  A lot of those middle class types live in places like Staten Island, Breezy Point and eastern Queens.

[bedstuy]

Charles Hynes lost the Democratic primary for Brooklyn DA!  Great news!

[bedstuy]

Charles Hynes lost the Democratic primary for Brooklyn DA!  Great news!

I'm not familiar with NY politics, so what did he do?

Charles Hynes is completely ineffective and his office is a mess (also, he's 78, time to retire dude).   He also has an unwritten deal with the Hasidic community not to prosecute crimes within their community.  The Kings County DA has routinely ignored a child sexual abuse problem in the Hasidic community.  It's really terrible.