City Council Speaker's Race Start to Warm Up

Since the only thing happening in the Mayor's office is fussing over the inauguration party (let's hope a civilian isn't injured by the scrum of reporters this year!) and possibly needing to spin the "thuggish" remarks from last week's transit strike, all eyes are on the City Council which is about to select a new Speaker. The NY Times says that the two frontrunners are Bill DeBlasio and Christine Quinn, of Brooklyn and Manhattan respectively. They are both Democrats (surprise!) and seem to be pro-labor and pro-worker (Quinn gained notoriety this year for working against the West Side Stadium). The article gives a little bit of insight in the process and what needs to happen from council members from other boroughs, but Gothamist recommends again that you check out the Backroom Deal Breaker blog which is tracking the speaker's race. Just three days ago, the Post said Quinn was in the lead, and earlier, the League of Humane Voters released a scorecard on the seven candidates. Anyway, stay tuned until January 4, when a new Council member is selected to be the Mayor's adversary.