What To Do When Cynthia Nixon Knocks On Your Door: Celebrities & The NYC Mayoral Race

March 29th, 2013 by Ben Miller

With the New York City mayoral race in full swing, it’s interesting to watch which candidates have lined up what celebrity endorsers. With her estimated million-vote swing to President Obama through her 2008 endorsement, Oprah reminded us about how powerful the right luminary – and the platform they can bring – can be to any candidate’s cause.

It’s been interesting to watch 30 Rock debonair and obstinate Words-With-Friends-er Alec Baldwin buff his usually bombastic political image with his attacks on presumed Democratic frontrunner Christine Quinn. Writing for the Huffington Post, Baldwin renamed her “Quinnberg” and accused her of being unqualified to lead New York.

Because the only thing New York City politics is truly missing is Hollywood drama.

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Meet The City Hall Contenders: NYU Local’s Q&A With Mayoral Candidate Sal Albanese

February 6th, 2013 by Ben Miller

After NYULocal introduced the mayoral candidates last week, longshot Democratic contender Sal Albanese volunteered to speak with us about his candidacy for City Hall and the current state of governance in New York City. Sal Albanese was a City Councilman from 1982-1997 and an NYU grad, having received his Masters’ in Health Science in 1976.

This kicks off our series of interviews with every mayoral vier we can get our hands on. He spoke freely and openly about a wide range of topics concerning Mayor Bloomberg’s time in office and his own experience as a public sector servant. Enjoy.

NYULocal: Why are you running for Mayor? Why now?  Read more…


Getting To Know The People Who Want To Be The Next Mayor Of New York

January 28th, 2013 by Ben Miller

Because there must never be an end to election season (ever), this week marks the kickoff of the campaign to be Mayor of New York City starting in 2014. Democratic and Republican primaries will be held in late summer with the general election face-off in November. Municipal elections tend to be dreary low-turnout affairs, but after 12 years of Michael Bloomberg – and 20 of a Republican or independent mayor in this deep-blue city – this election will set the tone for the future of New York City in a critical way.

Here’s a rundown of the candidates – from the left to the right, the accomplished to the utterly ridiculous. Polls show closely-matched races between the top-tier primary candidates, and all Democratic comers posting 40-50 point leads over their Republican competition. Let the games begin.

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No Jewish Mayoral Candidates? What Is This, Not New York City?

November 27th, 2012 by Eric Silver

Now that Barack and The Happy Warrior are back in office, New Yorkers are turning to the 2013 race for their political fix. But hold on one bagel-with-lox-and-shmeer second here, something’s wrong. To quote the New York Times, “Where are all the Jews?”

Now that Mannhatan Bourough President and Hebrew School graduate Scott Stringer is running for comproller, the NYC mayor race has no Jewish candidates.  A survey of the probable candidates — City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Comptroller John C. Liu, and former Comptroller Bill Thompson – has nary an awkard bar mitzvah party on their résumé. What?! This city is Annie Hall! It’s Second Avenue Deli and Katz’s and Russ and Daughters! It has so many Jews that Jesse Jackson made a slur about it a while ago! What’s going on?

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