Diana Taylor is best known to New Yorkers as Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend, but she's raising her public profile as a political contender. She recently confirmed that, yes, she was considering running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this fall, but decided not to, because "My significant other is the mayor of New York City, so that would be really complicated." And now, she tells NBC New York, "I think I could have" won over Gillibrand. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg, who flirted with running for president in 2008 (but didn't) and may still harbor some White House hopes, is headed to New Hampshire for a speech next week. But it's not a political pit stop—Politico's Maggie Haberman first reported on the mayor's trip to Dartmouth College, where "He'll be giving the first-ever 'presidential lecture' - as in, president of the school -" on Friday. more ›

Back in March, Diana Taylor's name was added to the long list of possible Republicans challengers to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. With her credentials as a one-time Pataki administration staffer and former NY State banking official—not to mention being Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend—she reportedly met with Republican Senators about the idea. Now the NY Times confirms that she "was not only intrigued by the idea, but also eager to delve into the details of a potential campaign and future career in the Senate." more ›

With Tennessean Harold Ford Jr. out of the picture, there’s plenty of room for other unusual characters to join the race for NY’s Senate. Joseph DioGuardi—dad to “American Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi—will announce his bid for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s seat on Tuesday, reports the Daily News. Just yesterday sources suggested that Mayor Bloomberg’s longtime lady friend Diana Taylor would vie for the same Republican nomination. more ›

Add another name to the list of unexpected candidates considering running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Mayor Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor has reportedly been meeting with Republicans to discuss a possible campaign. The race has already seen a short-lived Democratic campaign by former Congressman and pundit Harold Ford Jr. and an already-canceled Republican run by Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman—not to mention a still pending Republican campaign by former Bush adviser Dan Senor, husband of CNN anchor Campbell Brown. So what's the deal with the city's unofficial First Lady? more ›

Hey, check out who is looking terrific--it's Silda Wall Spitzer! more ›

Even thought Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign tries to insist that the story is old news and a hit job, the Rudy-NYPD security detail Travelgate situation keeps getting messier. Why? Because even if one agrees that a security detail for Giuliani while he was visiting his then-mistress (and now current wife) Judi Nathan in the Hamptons is a legitimate use of taxpayer money (even if it was randomly billed to various city agencies - which the... more ›

New York City is in the middle of Fashion Week, and last night was Ralph Lauren's 40th anniversary as a designer. And, as Style.com reports, he "staged an extraordinarily lavish runway show and black-tie after-party in the Central Park Conservancy" last night. It was such a big deal that Mayor Bloomberg and his lady friend Diana Taylor stepped out! New York magazine's Show & Talk blog wrote this:

Ralph himself seemed blasé. Standing by an unruly, high-spurting fountain (it was spraying guests), he dismissed the idea that he picks special models as openers: His entire shows, he told us, are filled with “the most beautiful models in the world.” Would he be seeing any other shows this week? “No. No one invited me.” (Good thing he threw a party for himself.) But no one beat Matthew Broderick in the “oh-whatever” department: “I don’t know anything about this stuff,” he said, going on to say that even so, he saw the Valentino show in Italy during his summer vacation. How did it compare Mr. Lauren's event? Valentino “was by the Coliseum, which is pretty exciting. This is Central Park.” Touché.

We've said before that Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend (or companion, which is what the NY Times refers to her as) Diana Taylor seems like a classy lady, unlike some other mayor's girlfriends. But we don't know much about her, except that she went to Dartmouth (Mayor Bloomberg accompanied her on an alumni weekend there), she worked in senior management at Keyspan, she was the state's superintendent of banking under Pataki, she was shortlisted by President Bush to run the FDIC but then her nomination got nixed, and she was recently named to the Hudson River Park Trust. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A fatal car accident in Manhattan at 55th and 12th Avenue, a water rescue on West 50th and a three-alarm fire at a Bronx post office
• Cute animal maternal instincts alerts: A Central Park turtle tried to lay her eggs at Wollman Rink and there's a cute shot of a hawk and her baby hawk at City Birder
• The Post lists NYC's most 50 powerful women: Mayor Bloomberg's squeeze Diana Taylor is #7, Ivanka Trump is #23, and the Post's Cindy Adams and Liz Smith are also on the list
• The Times looks at the struggles of the former child soldier from the Ivory Coast; for instance, after detaining him for months, immigration authorities released him on the random and unknown streets of Lower Manhattan at 10PM
• A Rap-A-Thon was held this past weekend in Harlem, and profanity was not allowed
• Queens want to attract more tourist dollars (our number one idea: Talk to the MTA about more consistent subway service)
• Chuck Hagel says he'd like Mayor Bloomberg to be his running mate on a presidential ticket
• The child stabbed with a stick by another child is still in a coma; his father says, "God is going to give him life again. That is what I need - I believe it."
• After screwing up evidence, the NYPD is finally looking for ways to better organize its evidence-tracking system by issuing RFPs to various vendors

Mayor Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor is known as the "de facto" First Lady of the city. She was recently the State Banking Superintendent, with previous stints as a VP at Keyspan and CFO of LIPA, and will be working at Wolfensohn & Company, an investment firm, in a few days. Her fashion sense has been praised in Vogue, yet she stands by her man when he wears shorts and white socks. In other words, she flies under the radar. more ›

Wouldn't it be funny, Mayor Bloomberg and his girlfriend Diana Taylor, and Ice-T and wife Coco, enjoying a meal out? Alas, it's just a fantasy inspired by the Mayor's and the rapper-actor's appearance announcing that VH1 Save the Music and Time Warner Cable had donated $1 million of musical instruments to NYC public schools. Studies have shown that music education can positively impact children's lives, which raised some questions about the Mayor's musical abilities:

Reporter: Did you ever try to play a musical instrument, which one was it, and what was your success? more ›

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If there's a city parade, you bet it's an opportunity for politicians to get out to press the flesh. And yesterday's West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn was no different, with the primary showdown over the Congressional seat being vacated by Major Owens coming up next week. As it happens, the crowd in the Wyckoff Gardens Houses weren't too happy to hear Mayor Bloomberg and candidate-City Councilman David Yassky announce that $600,000 worth of security cameras would be installed. Someone ended up throwing a frosted doughnut near the Mayor, causing his girlfriend Diana Taylor to take "cover beneath a concrete overhang," as the Times puts it. Which only made the Mayor joke, "Well, just another reason why we need cameras." Newsday reports that another man was loudly murmuring in the back of the crowd, prompting the mayor to say, "If we could have some quiet back there, sir, it would be appreciated, thank you; we can't hear." Of course, the NYPD investigated the tasty treat toss, but came to the conclusion, "Nothing was ascertained with certainty, but there is no indication it was directed at the mayor. It may have just been tossed out the window or dropped." more ›

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. more ›

This past weekend saw a tradition that involves the Mayor dressing up in chainmail and belittling his various policies and efforts: The annual press corps spoofing of the city government. Last year, the Mayor skipped the follies because of Pope John Paul's death, but this year, he donned an outfit from Monty Python's Spamalot to sing "Spendalot," an ode to his super expensive campaign, and according to Newsday, he was "shimmying and kicking like a bad Rockette dancer." Boy, Gothamist isn't sure if we're glad or sad that we didn't see it! We do appreciate the fact that the Mayor didn't go in drag, because we still have nightmares from Rudy Giuliani's trowel-like application of foundation. The Politicker gives some extra details that weren't in the papers including how Bloomberg's girlfriend Diana Taylor and Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris sang Landslide and the Mayor made fun of NY1 and the NY Sun. more ›

2:04 AM - The media is being told they have to wait a while before the TWU will talk. So with that, Gothamist is going to bed to get ready in case there is a strike - we're going attempt to check out the Brooklyn Bridge in the morning, which is supposed to be really cold tomorrow morning. Dress warm and dream of the strike being resolved by the time you wake up. Thanks for waiting with us - we'll be all over this in a few hours as well! more ›

Mayor Bloomberg is pulling out all the stops to appeal to the minorities, and today's rumor that he's hired Brian Ellner to join his campaign proves that he wants to show he's a Democrat in Republican's clothing. And suddenly, the Mayor's Republican supporters reach for their Zantac. But this could be the start of a brilliant new ad: Mayor Bloomberg stepping out with his girlfriend Diana Taylor and Ellner with his partner Simon. more ›

We also want to add that the event for secret society Kappa Beta Phi sounds like drama camp (as in, it's very gay): "One year, the performances were inspired by 'Cabaret,' and the male bankers were required to dress in a skirt and halter and sing 'Wilkommen' to the roaring crowd." more ›

With rain postponing yesterday's Game 4 of the Yankees-Red Sox ALCS, the Yankees and Red Sox mull the nutty antics from Saturday, as fines were levied against Yankees Karim Garcia and Don Zimmer and Red Sox Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez. Both front offices of the teams did their share of fingerpointing. Even Mayor Bloomberg got into the act, saying Martinez should have been arrested for pushing Zimmer: "." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg liked Old School? We knew there was a reason Gothamist had a soft spot in our hearts for our tiny, billionaire mayor, in spite of some silly decisions and awkward public demeanor. The Post looks at the Mayor's private schedule which reveals various appointments and plans. For instance, he spent an hour with Anna Wintour when Vogue was profiling his girlfriend, Diana Taylor, and he scheduled a re-shoot of photographs with city employees when the first set turned out fuzzy which Gothamist doesn't think is an especially revealing notice, but whatever. Anyway, back to blissfully silly Old School: His press secretary tells the Post, Bloomberg "really liked it," and the psychologist the Post called upon to analyze the Mayor's behavior posits, "Perhaps there's a bit of reminiscing about his younger days?" more ›