Former NYC mayor Ed Koch is pissed that President Obama suggested this spring that a Palestinian state should be created from the 1967 borders. So much so that he's written, "If President Obama does not change his position, I cannot vote for his reelection." Nevermind that what the president actually meant was that negotiations would start from those borders and work outward, Koch wants to "put a shot across Obama's bow," and is doing so by endorsing GOP candidate Bob Turner over Democrat David Weprin for the special election in former Congressman Anthony Weiner's Ninth District. Orthodox Jew and New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is not happy about this, calling Koch's behavior "totally inappropriate." more ›

Everyone's favorite Bronxchester, soon-to-be former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., makes the news twice today. Once because he has finally been charged with stealing from his nonprofit (as expected) and twice because his tone-deafness seems to know no bounds. more ›

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer recommended using the jobless to help the homeless yesterday. But he should take a page out of Brooklyn Democratic party boss Vito Lopez's book, skip the desperate jobless middlemen, and go straight for the cheapest labor: junkies! According to the Post, Assemblyman Lopez used dozens of addicts who lived at El Regreso, a rehabilitation center funded by Lopez, to work 16-hour shifts going door-to-door to help get Lopez re-elected as district leader last month. more ›

Has God turned against Pedro Espada, Jr., too? While the embattled State Senator from Bronxchester spent Saturday trying to win constituents' hearts and minds by giving away free lunch outside a church in Norwood, the church's pastor, Father George Stewart, was warning his flock to be aware of the rascally Espada. Besides the civil and criminal probes into Espada's management of his taxpayer-funded health clinics, he also once said he "despised the Catholic Church." more ›

In April, Attorney General Cuomo filed a civil suit against Bronxchester Senator Pedro Espada Jr., accusing him of siphoning $14 million from his non-profit health clinic (which receives millions in taxpayer money) for himself and his family. The lawsuit was filed one day before a team of agents from the FBI, IRS and Cuomo's office raided his Soundview Healthcare Network—investigators were reportedly looking for evidence to support charges of money laundering, mail fraud and tax fraud. And it looks like they found plenty to go on, because the Post reports they're poised to hit Espada with serious criminal charges that could potentially put him behind bars for a decade. more ›

Outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) officially kicked off his "protest" run for governor yesterday, by announcing the formation of the Freedom Party, an all-black party. Noting how Cuomo picked a white running mate and how the other state office nominees are white, the Daily News reports that Barron said, "Don't call us racists when we point out racism. This was supposed to be the post-racial society. Somebody should have told that to the New York State Democratic Party." more ›

Real estate billionaire and Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman has reportedly been contacting state Republican leaders in an effort to win their backing as he plots a possible Senate campaign. Zuckerman, 72, is not registered with a party in New York, and he would need the approval of the state's GOP committee in order to run on the Republican line against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. more ›

Former Tennessee lawmaker and possible Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. claims his rival is using "underhanded tactics" to keep his name off the ballot. According to the New York newcomer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been trying to convince county Democratic Party chairs to endorse her before the May nominating convention, making it difficult for Ford to become an official Democratic candidate without initiating "a cumbersome and costly" petition drive. more ›

Just one week after a bizarre Q and A in which he revealed he has only been to Staten Island by helicopter and has only been a full-time New York resident for a year, former Tennessee congressman and likely Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. sat down with the Daily News — and refused to talk about the issues. In an interview "granted under the condition that the questions be limited to his rationale for running, and not issues," Ford blasted Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand as "weak in many places across the city and the state." more ›

Howard Dean was six-term governor of Vermont, ran for President in 2004, and served as the head of the Democratic National Committee from February 2005 to January 2009. During this period he became known for the "50-State Strategy," that the party should spend money in all states rather than merely battleground states (the latter position favored by now-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel). He will be speaking at the 92nd Street Y on Thursday, September 24th, discussing his new book Howard Dean's Prescription For Real Health Care Reform. The book is as he advertises it, a thin (133 pages), lucid explanation of the health care issues most relevant to the legislation currently before Congress. Dean himself is a medical doctor, and is now one of the most vocal and insistent advocates for health care legislation, news and information about which can be found at his website www.standwithdrdean.com. more ›

And then there were none left to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in a Democratic primary. There must be some fierce, behind-the-scenes fangs hiding under that Tracy Flick smile of Gillibrand's because it seems like every Democrat poised to step in her way eventually bows out. Yesterday Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney became the last to wave the white flag, leaving Gilly the path of least resistance previously paved by Stringer, Israel, McCarthy and even Caroline Kennedy, whose initial withdrawal from consideration for the seat first opened the door for Gillibrand. Politicker says that Maloney recognized how much of a long-shot she was to beat the well-connected, upstate fundraising powerhouse and feared losing her entire political career, which could eventually see her as chair of the Financial Services Committee she currently sits on. Both Maloney and Gillibrand passed along praise of one another after the announcement and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "We've got a fabulous candidate now keeping her House seat and a fabulous candidate we hope keeping her Senate seat." more ›

Charlie Rangel might have apologized for sticking his foot in his mouth last week while joking about the accidental police shooting in East Harlem, but that hasn't caused the congressman to lay low when it comes to speaking his mind to the press. Last night he was a guest on Dominic Carter's on NY1 and Rangel further inserted himself into the political chess game that seems to be going on between Governor Paterson and Andrew Cuomo over just who will end up representing Democrats in the 2010 gubernatorial election. Rangel said, "You cannot support the governor, prepare for reelection and at the same time say that you're keeping your options open for a primary. I think that there might be an inclination for racial polarization in a primary in the state of New York." Those last words sound pointed toward Cuomo, who was accused of just that sort of polarizing behavior in 2002 when he kept alive a bid to challenge Carl McCall for the party's nomination longer than many Democrats would have liked. more ›

Andrew Cuomo thinks that primaries are a fundamental part of the Democratic Party, telling a Democratic conference over the weekend, "We’re a party of primaries, which I think winds up being good for us, because I think the conversation and the discussion within the party can be very productive." So if he loves primaries so much, why doesn't Cuomo marry one...or at least commit to running in one next year against Paterson? Despite all the talk that he's the real man to beat next year, he still won't bite. When asked if it was discussed, Cuomo said that the short answer was "no" and the long answer was "nooooo." While Cuomo insists he still only plans to run for AG reelection, he calls next year "a long way away." Adding to the speculation over the weekend, Senator Gillibrand said that she doesn't believe that there will be a primary between the two men either—perhaps she knows of a certain phone call from the prez coming Paterson's way that we don't. more ›

After the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee decided to give Florida's and Michigan's delegates half votes, a dedicated Hillary Clinton supporter who had traveled from Manhattan to the meeting on Saturday vented to those gathering at the Marriott. And did she vent! more ›

Fresh off her big night of wins in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton spoke on CBS's Early Show and mentioned the words "dream ticket" in relation to the heated Democratic presidential race. Harry Smith told Clinton, "We talked to a lot of people in Ohio who said there really isn't that significant a difference between you two, and they'd like to see you both on the ticket." After remarking how "incredibly close" the race is, she said pairing up "may be where this is headed, but we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket, and I think that the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me." more ›

The Wisconsin, Washington and Hawaii primaries have been going on today, and while John McCain is expected to further solidify his presumptive nomination, the Democratic race is tight as ever, with a Gallup pole now showing Clinton closing the gap on Obama after his string of eight straight victories. more ›

After Hillary Clinton's started airing a commercial in Wisconsin questioning why Barack Obama declined to appear in another debate, Obama came back with his own ad. The voiceover says:

After eighteen debates, with two more coming, Hillary says Barack Obama is ducking debates? It's the same old politics, the phony charges, and false attacks. On health care, even Bill Clinton's own labor secretary [Robert Reich] even says Obama covers "more people" than Hillary and does more to cut costs, saving $2500 for the typical family. Obama's housing plan it stems foreclosures and cracks down on crooked lenders. That's change we can believe in.

The prominent Democratic party donor and California fugitive Norman Hsu's connection to New York City's New School is examined in the NY Times today. Hsu donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to national Democrats like Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to governors like Eliot Spitzer of NY and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and NYC politicians like City Council members Christine Quinn and John Liu and City Comptroller William Thompson. Hsu, who had been wanted by California authorities since 1992 for defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme, was going to surrender himself last Wednesday, but ended up on a train to Denver. more ›

The Kid From Brooklyn sees famine, war, and despair in the world's future. " I've got foresight," he says, but even he could never have predicted his own popularity. Michael Caracciolo started his website TheKidFromBrooklyn.com to entertain friends and family, uploading videos of himself ranting wildly about whatever he happened to feel passionately about that moment, whether it be border control, the President, or even Starbucks. It's led to television appearances, a memoir about his childhood in Brooklyn called "Go F Yourself" due out in December from Kensington Books, and even stand up performances, including one at The Gotham Comedy Club on August 29th. Gothamist sat down with The Big Man to get a taste of what he's all about. more ›

Reach out and touch someone - and get fired for it, possibly even if you didn't do the reaching out and touching. The nutty voicemail message left for Bernard Spitzer, father of Governor Spitzer, is reassuring everyone that it's just politics as usual in Albany. The elder Spitzer's lawyers believe that the call was made by GOP consultant Roger Stone, who was recently hired at $20,000/month by NY State Republican (he was consulting with Spitzer's rival, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno). more ›

You may have many opinions of Senator Charles Schumer. A man who gives weekly press conferences by way of making the rounds on Sunday morning news shows, someone who will "put a bullet betweens the president's eyes," the senior Senator of New York, orchestrator of the Senate's shift back to the Democrats, husband of a recent Department of Transportation commissioner, imaginer of middle class couple the Baileys, cereal hog. But defender of hedge funds' and private equity firms' desire to keep their low tax rate? Who knew? more ›

While former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is interested in running for President, what with visiting NH this past weekend, it's unclear how the GOP feels about him. The Post reports that the NY State GOP has Giuliani's big 2008 rival, Senator John McCain, to appear at a fund-raiser in Manhattan. One Giuliani supporter says, "It's a slight," but the NYS GOP claims that the party just needs a lot of money (it's broke) and all the starpower it can line up, which is pretty believable. more ›

Governor Spitzer has nominated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones to a position on the NY State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. You may remember Jones's name from such incidents as the Transit Strike of 2005. Jones is the one who fined the TWU $2.5 million and sentenced TWU president Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail. more ›

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The polls in New York close in a half hour, so the media won't be reporting returns until then. But it's still exciting and heartbreaking to watch the other states' elections returns. For starters, Bob Casey ousting Rick Santorum for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania? That's exciting. Heartbreaking would be reports of bugs and intimidation at the polls. more ›

If it's October and it's a midterm election year and it's your second (and final) mayoral term and you're very rich and may be considering higher office, what do you do? Well, if you're Mayor Bloomberg, you stump for other candidates! The NY Sun notes that Hizzoner has "intensified" his very helpful fund-raising, even appearing in TV commercials. Who would have thought three years ago that Bloomberg would be helping out Connecticut Representative Christopher Shays, given that Shays very publicly said he didn't want to go to Times Square because of terrorist threats. (If he had said he just wanted to avoid the insane crowds, that would have been acceptable, but no, he had to bring up the T-word and get into a tiff with Bloomberg!) more ›

READINGS: Nostalgics from the Clinton era, unite! Head down to the 17th St. Barnes & Noble tonight to hear the dulcet (okay, maybe not) voices of Paul Begala and James Carville, together in their new book, Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future. According to the Washington Post, "the book is most convincing when it is most elitist -- a kind of 'why can't anyone play this game' attack on the Democratic Party's inability to find strategists as talented as they are." Sounds Clintonian, and the reading should be fun. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras more ›

While the Senate race this fall is kind of boring, in that Senator Hillary Clinton is pretty much assured re-election, one thing that is exciting is the insanity of the Republican party. The two Republican candidates, John Spencer and K.T. McFarland, debated on NY1 last night and it was balls out nuts. Spencer won the Republican party's nomination, but McFarland is hoping to sway some people during the primary (September 12) with digs like this:

"You brought up your wife, and I must tell you that that’s not a personal issue. That’s a professional issue. Because when you were mayor of Yonkers, you had an affair with your secretary while you were married to somebody else. You tripled her salary and made her your chief of staff. You were living with her. You doubled your own personal income. You got financial gain from that. And you had two children... If you'd worked for the federal government and you'd behaved that way, you would have been subject to indictment."

">NY1/Newsday poll he's doing very, very well. Not only does the poll have Bloomie trouncing Ferrer by a 32-point margin (along with having an approval rating of 67%) but it even has him kicking ass in hypothetical match-ups against Giuliani, Dinkins, Koch and Commissioner Ray Kelly. All of this pro-Bloomberg news apparently has both campaigns worried. The Bloomberg camp is worried nobody will vote assuming his win assured, while the Ferrer camp is worried that nobody will vote assuming his loss is assured. more ›

Fernando Ferrer's overstatement about his NYC public education (a master's at Baruch, after years of Catholic schooling) has lead to Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to issue press releases and certain tabloids, as Gawker points out, to enjoy creating insane covers and some serious questioning about blogging as candidates. It turns out that Mayor Mike doesn't write his own posts either! Shocking! Ferrer was asked about the offending post while with Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, who said, "What is this obsession with blogs? Does anybody care about education in this city?" Then someone (NY State Senator Schneiderman, according to the Politicker) said to Dean, "You started it!" Gothamist would like Dean to tell us how Ferrer will win Murray Hill (YAY!!!) and Richmond Hill and the Rockaways and... more ›