Yesterday, Quinnipiac reported that 85% of registered Democrats don't know who they'll vote for come the Democratic Attorney General primary on September 14. The Observer reports some people think the poll was flawed—"Instead of giving respondants a list of names and asking them to pick one—which would have at the very least given a sense of who has the highest name i.d.—respondents were asked who they are voting for. Thus, 8 percent of respondent named somebody not running"—which poll director Maurice Carroll doesn't necessarily disagree with, "There is no great interest in this race right now. So there is absolutely no way to predict who is going to win." more ›

Last night was the second debate for what might be the sleeper race in the city-wide elections this fall, the four-way contest for public advocate. While the first debate wound up being a Mark Green pile on, this one saw mud being slung in every which direction after the recent momentum and attention gained by the biggest fund raiser and endorsement-getter, Bill de Blasio. The candidates showed they were hungry for the second highest elected position in the city, a job Councilman Simcha Fielder recently suggested should be done away with. more ›

Yesterday, the Daily News and Newsday offered editorials endorsing Hillary Clinton for Tuesday's NY State Democratic Primary. While the News calls both Clinton and Barack Obama are "compelling choices," disagrees with both candidates' strategies for ending the war in Iraq and finds Obama inspirational, the News ultimately finds Clinton to be the "stronger" of the two, because of her experience. There are concerns about Bill Clinton's recent involvement - and potential involvement if his wife is elected:

Based on her experience and her service on behalf of New York, The News backs Hillary Clinton in the full expectation that from here on out she and her husband will abide by standards of fairness - and, more important, that she intends to draw firm, clear lines should she make it to the White House.

C. Virginia Fields' campaign has been spinning ever since Fliergate. Yesterday, she held an emergency press conference, with real life Asians (as opposed to Photoshopped ones), telling reporters, "By and large, I knew all of [the people in the montage], except the two Asians in there, I don't know them." Fields' new campaign manager is Chinese - Chung Seto, whom Newsday says holds the "highest position" for an Asian in any campaign. Fields' solution to the problematic flier was to blame the company, Winning Direction, and say she'd "withdraw" the mailing, so if you see some people lurking around your mailbox, they might be Fields campaign operatives! One man who was in the flier picture, David Givens, was annoyed and told the Post, "If you're going to put my photo in campaign material, please tell me. I haven't endorsed her." Which brings us to the other Fields problem: She has a "casual" photograph of herself with some firefighters in both the flier and on her website, and it turns out that the Fire Department doesn't allow photographs of firefighters in political campaigns. The FDNY said that even though firefighters might appear in news conferences that are used by political candidates, Deputy Fire Commissioner Francis Gribbon tolds the NY Times, "We don't endorse political candidates or become involved in campaigns in any way. So we would not allow it." Unless it's a politician tugging at the September 11 heartstrings, because Gothamist feels like we've seen a lot of those. more ›

Stupid is as stupid does, and for Democratic primary mayoral frontrunner C. Virginia Fields, stupid is spelled s-t-r-a-t-e-g-i-s-t. Yesterday, when the NY Times noted that Geraldine Ferraro, the first ever female vice presidential candidate, was throwing her support behind Fernando Ferrer, one of the Democratic mayoral candidates, a strategist for Fields said, "I had to spend a few minutes remembering who she was." Ouch, that is embarrassing. So Fields immediately apologized to Ferraro, offering her "strongest and sincerest apologies to Geraldine Ferraro for the off-handed comments" made by Joseph Mercurio. Gothamist would think that Mercurio would be snarking, if not for Ferraro's obvious place in history as both groundbreaker and Pepsi spokesperson. Downgrade! Honestly, man, you're a strategist, you're talking to the NY Times... while being witty and "dismissive" (that's what the Times called his remark) might serve some times, taking the high road don't hurt either. more ›

With the election two hundred days away (or just about that, depending on how you count), the mayoral race is starting to get into get kicked into high gear. Former City Council Speaker Peter Vallone of Queens endorsed City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. NY1 points out the scary thing about the Vallone-Miller connection, aside from both having Speaker experience: "Miller finds himself in a similar position as Vallone did four years ago. In 2001, Vallone constantly trailed in the polls and eventually lost the Democratic Primary." Yikes! more ›

NY1 helpfully notes who is interested in running for public office. Interested in running for attorney general: Assemblymen Jeffrey Klein of the Bronx, Michael Gianaris of Queens and Richard Brodsky of Westchester. Interested in running for NYC mayor: Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and Congressman Anthony Weiner. And the Mayor, of course. more ›