As if it isn't infuriating enough that our superior city, which really ought to secede already, has to be lumped in with the rest of benighted "Amurca," now politicians across the land are using New York as a cudgel with which to beat their opponents. The Times finds that more than $100 million has been spent on more than 100 campaign ads featuring Wall Street as a major theme. (Here's a video sample.) And the Times fears that Wall Street's "taint is also spreading to the city itself!" What ever will we do to escape this dreadful taint?! more ›

Mayor Bloomberg's expansive and record-spending campaign for a third term must be doing its job effectively with the latest poll showing his lead expanding—but damn it if it isn't driving New Yorkers c-razy! The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that 78 percent of New Yorkers have seen the mayor's ads (20% more than last month!), but almost half find them to be "annoying," more than those who see them as "informative." Today's Times has a front page article about Bloomberg's reelection bid being "most meticulous campaign in New York City’s history." The paper goes inside headquarters to find workers "condensing and cataloging (voters) into tiny data points" with workers on hand who speak Farsi and Tagalog among the many languages they cover. Also: "His field team is so persistent that, when volunteers call to solicit voters’ support, some report that they have already been called by the campaign — three times." Despite a Quinnipiac pollster saying "Mayor Mike might be wasting his money on that zillion-dollar TV buy," Bloomberg stretched his lead over Bill Thompson to 50-35%, a five point gain from last month. Maybe people secretly love picturing a Mr. Feeny-like Bloomberg as he's depicted in the spot after the jump. more ›