Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens) will be formally announcing his bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg this Sunday. Theories about likely candidates abound (e.g. Councilman John Liu, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly), but Avella is jumping to the head of the line by explicitly announcing his desire to be Mayor this Sunday at 1 p.m. on the steps of City Hall.

Avella is the chairman of the Council's Zoning and Franchise Committee and began his political career working as an aide to Councilman Peter Vallone Sr.--whose son is a current, vocal Councilman. As a Councilman for Queens, which has New York's largest concentration of Chinese-American residents, Avella has called for the boycott of the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympics and spoken out in favor of Tibetan protesters. He's also been critical of chain stores in the city and proposed a ban on the use of carriage horses.

As a sign of the times, there's a YouTube clip of Avella announcing his run for Mayor, even before he's done so on the steps of City Hall. Like in the movie Network, Avella's "mad as hell" and wants to be our Mayor.