In Crowded Field, WSJ Barely Finds a Handful of Mayoral Candidates

Though most of the potential mayoral candidates havens officially declared their candidacy for mayor of NYC, the field has filled up on both sides of the aisle, with various candidates just waiting for the right timing to do so.

Following Bill de Blasio's official entry to the race on Sunday outside his home in Park Slope, the WSJ made note that the Democratic primary also included Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, facing Joe Lhota from the Republican side. In an updated version, the WSJ with the help of AP listed City Comptroller John Liu who is also running for mayor, as a potential 'Republican' candidate.

The confusion seems highly notable, as Azi Paybarah rightly wonders in a write up on Capital New York headlined: "Who's running for Mayor? Depends who you ask."

"As the campaigns officially get underway, with a surprisingly crowded field on both sides of the aisle, debate organizers and pollsters are facing the difficult task of determining just how many candidates are legitimately in the race," Paybarah writes.

The newly launched DecideNYC web site, which seeks to track candidates running for various offices in this year's races, also lists five Democrats as running for mayor.

WNYC public radio's "Mayoral Tracker" includes nine total candidates: Carrion is in, but Albanese is not. Among them are George McDonald, the founder of the Doe Fund, and John Catsimatidis.

The New York City Campaign Finance Board web site currently lists 12 candidates. It doesn't include Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

A New York Observer slide show of mayoral candidates listed 17 candidates.