Kristine Davis to "Throw Brassiere In The Ring" for Mayor

Touting her economic experience and knowledge by read books written by "Von Mises, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek," Ex-Madam and former Gubernatorial candidate, Kristine Davis is ready to take on Quinn and the other candidates in the mayoral race..

de Blasio Returns $15K Contributions From Homeless Shelter Operator

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has quietly decided to return thousands of dollars of campaign contributions from one of the city’s largest operators of homeless shelters, The NY Post reports. 

“I just made the decision that it was smart to give it back and move on,” de Blasio said. “Again, I’ve just made the decision to return the money and that’s all I have to say,” de Blasio responded when asked whether he knew Lapes’ background before accepting the contributions. 

Some Snippets of the Mayoral Election NY1/Marist POll

Christine Quinn's support among Liberal Democrats is the highest with 43%, with de Blasio in second place with only 13%. 

Quinn's lead is bigger among Conservative Democrats with 38%, compared to only 33% among moderates. John Liu is in 2nd place with 16% of Conservative Democrats. Hence, 47% are still uncertain and might change their vote before election day. 

Bill Thompson has the support of less than a quarter of his strongest base:  African American voters, trailing Quinn's 29% of support. Only 32% have indicated they might change their preference before election day.

New Marist Poll: Quinn and Lhota Vaguely Lead In Mayoral Primaries

Chris Quinn and Joe Lhota, respectively lead in their party's mayoral primaries  a new NY1/Marist poll shows. In the Democratic primary  Quinn garners 37% of registered Democratic voters followed by former Comptroller Bill Thompson at 13%, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at 12%, Comptroller John Liu at 9% and former Councilman Sal Albanese at 2%, with 26% of registered Democrats undecided. 

Poll Shows Thompson Lacking Minority Base Support

While conventional wisdom and political punditry would suggest that Bill Thompson is the favorite and destined to at least make it to the Democratic primary run-off, based on his appeal to black and minority voters, a poll analysis, shared with Chris Bragg for The Insider, indicates a drop so far in Mr. Thompson’s support among black and Latino voters compared to the same time in 2009. 

And a comparison between Thompson's current numbers and those of Fernando Ferrer at a similar point during his 2005 mayoral campaign shows Mr. Thompson a  50 points behind where Mr. Ferrer (who is Latino) was among Hispanics, and 13 points back among African-Americans.

Experts: Quinn's 40K Housing Units in Decade Plan 'A Drop in the Bucket'

Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s ambitious proposal to build 40,000 new units of middle-class housing over 10 years will likely have to be scaled back, one budget expert told Andrew Hawkins for The Insider. “All of these plans start out very ambitious and then they don’t reach the number of units that they aspire to,” said Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission. 

Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, called Ms. Quinn’s housing plan “a drop in the bucket”. 

“There are 3.4 million housing units in the city,” she said. “Forty thousand units is basically nothing.” 

“She’s obviously running a housing-centered campaign,” Ms. Gelinas said, noting that the speaker’s rivals, such as Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, will likely unveil housing agendas of their own. “De Blasio will try to out-house her.”

Number Cruncher: Could A Minority Candidate Come Close Winning Democratic Primary?

Can a long shot candidate, who's not even looked at, emerge as a top tier candidate, or even enter the run-off? The possibility and the chance of anyone hoping for this outcome are very low, yet given the demographics of the NYC population, we might wake up one day rubbing our eyes out of surprise.

Design Experts: Mayoral Candidates' Logos 'Abysmal' - Not Connecting With Voters

Design experts are not too convinced by the majority of the 2013 mayoral candidates' logos. Both, the Democrats and Republicans, logos rely on clichéd symbols, tired fonts and a sloppy appeal to voters, according to a panel of design and branding experts consulted by DNAinfo.com. 

Shots Fired! Mayoral Opponents React to Quinn's Middle Class SOTC Speech

Bill de Blasio (D)

“Strengthening and expanding the middle class requires more than lofty words and playing an assigned role in the annual kabuki theater that our city budget process has become,” Mr. de Blasio said, according to Politicker. “From paid sick leave to early childhood and after-school program expansion to small business advocacy, Speaker Quinn has partnered with Mayor Bloomberg in blocking programs that would make a real difference to the lives of working families. If the next four years at City Hall are simply a continuation of the last 12, we will have failed millions of forgotten New Yorkers who deserve a mayor who speaks for them.” 

Why do Bloomberg, Quinn & others think lower taxes 4 millionaires is more important than early ed 4 kids like Oscar? twitter.com/deBlasioNYC/st…

— Bill de Blasio (@deBlasioNYC) February 11, 2013

George McDonald (R)

Today Speaker Quinn failed to honor Mayor Koch's legacy of talking to NYers like adults.

— George McDonald (@McDonald4NYC) February 11, 2013

Her proposals are not to find ways to make New York more affordable by reducing costs, cutting taxes or creating efficiency.

— George McDonald (@McDonald4NYC) February 11, 2013

'Show Me The Money' Vs. 'Look Who's Talkin'.

Mayoral candidates Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson had a mini quarrel over Thompson’s pledge to grow the NYPD by more than 2,000 cops if he is elected mayor. Mr. de Blasio suggested Thompson ain't seeking to back up his campaign rhetoric by deeds, since the city can’t afford to increase police manpower from 34,800 to 37,000. The extra cops would cost the city about $200 million a year, a increase of about 5 percent in the NYPD budget.

de Blasio Says He's a 'All People' Progressive Candidate

"You are the most leftist candidate... sorry .. most progressive candidate in this race," radio host, Michael Fragin, described Mayoral candidate Bill de blasio, in a debut 'Meet The Mayoral Candidates' interview on the Spin Class / Jewish Political radio station.

After 2 decades of Republican control, 24 years after the last Democratic mayoral candidate was elected as mayor, De Blasio expressed confidence that a Democrat will become mayor of NYC come January 2014. "2013 is going to be a Democratic year," he said twice.

de Blasio's Campaign Contributions "Stinks To High Heaven,” Says Campaign Finance Watchdog

Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, has been taking donations to pay off 2009 campaign debts from donors who have already exceeded the maximum permissible amount to his current campaign for mayor, the NY Times reports.

Albanese Wants to Redeem New York from Bloomberg Kingdom

Sal Albanese, running for mayor in the Democratic primary, blamed Mayor Bloomberg and his recent budget proposal for the city’s financial shape. “You can't manage a city like a kingdom or its workforce like serfs,” Albanese told Paula Katinas from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 

Bill de Blasio Introduced at Belz Dinner as the "Next Mayor of NYC."

Following his 5 borough tour last week, and his visit to Borough park a day after announcing his candidacy for mayor of New York City, where he spoke about the holocaust and Iran's nuclear threat, Bill de Blasio continued making inroads among voters in the Jewish community of Brooklyn. In a brief appearance at the Yeshiva Machzikei Hadas Belz' annual dinner, the Public Advocate by the chairman of the event as "the next Mayor of NYC." The estimated crowd of 1500 participants enthusiastically applauded his presence. de Blasio was accompanied by his liaison to the Jewish Community, Pinny Ringel.

One of the Belzer community's activists, Mr. Eliezer Igel, echoed a teaching by a passage of the Torah, where Moses was reminded by his father-in-law as he entered a new role of leadership: 'don't forget your own children'. "Don't forget your own communities," the speaker turned to de Blasio,  "which are all standing behind you."

Powerful Labor Union Endorses Quinn As Most Liberal Democratic Candidate

One of the city’s largest and most powerful labor unions, The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), announced their endorsement of Christine C. Quinn, for mayor, David Chen reports in the NY Times.

Bill Thompson Totally Ready To Burst Out of Boring Brand

Bill Thompson is ready to get rid of his boring status, one that might of costed him the election in 2009, as he lost by a mere margin of 4.6 to Mayor Bloomberg. In an extensive profile of former City Comptroller, Bill Thompson for Politicker, Colin Campbell helped Thompson become creative about overcoming the notion that his candidacy is kind of sleepy or boring to a certian extent.

 

“If I had thrown an expletive in, maybe it would have gotten more attention. But then people would have to bleep it out,” he said while sipping on his coffee. "Then it would be, ‘Bill Thompson, he doesn’t have the temperament to be the mayor of the City of New York!’

Restless Weiner Waves Comeback Trial for Mayor or Comptroller

A reader in Forest Hills, Queens and an Upper West Side Democrat, both notified Liz Benjamin form Capital Tonight about receiving a polling call yesterday afternoon asking if they would be willing to consider scandal-scarred former Rep. Anthony Weiner for either Mayor of NYC or NYC comptroller this fall.

The Queens resident was asked about a possible matchup between Weiner and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer in the race for City Comptroller.

In 5 Borough Swing, Bill de Blasio Adores 'Pavement Pounding Approach'

Bill de Blasio’s path to Gracie Mansion kicked off in a 5 Borough swing, a sixty miles day long journey reaching out to disenfranchised residents in the outer boroughs. 

This 'pavement pounding approach', he told Politicker, will leave voters convinced he is better suited to address the needs of the entire city than his rivals. “If you’re going to change the status quo in this city, it’s going to take a forceful approach,” he told Hunter Walker and Ross Barkan accompanying him on his 1st day of campaigning. “I won’t speak to the details of my opponents, but I think the approach that I take is the one that actually helps to achieve some real change. … Some of my opponents believe in making that change, some don’t. Some are doing something about that, some aren’t. I think that what voters will see in this city that I back up my words with action.”

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.

de Blasio Officially Declares Candidacy for Mayor of NYC

Flanked by a diverse crowd, enthusiastic supporters and local Park Slope and Brooklyn residents, introduced by his by his wife Chirlane and son Dante in front of the family home, Bill de Blasio declared his candidacy for Mayor of New York City. 

Received by chants of 'Yes We Can', de Blasio promised to be a mayor "of and for our neighborhoods."