“I was 40 years old. I had a life... I didn’t want to do that."

Ragu, the turnout as others have written, by recent standards, it was average.

People always bitch about the snow plowing (especially this year when we had multiple events) and the schools stayed open to give kids a place to go if their parent(s) had to work.

 

Some is perception more than reality but shows what happens when a politician
does not get favorable press coverage. Leaves a strong impression that
he may be failing.

 

You said "nobody likes him" and YF said he "has no constituency."

You both then proceeded to talk about people who like him (NYC Democrats) and how they presumably don't *actually* like him even though they voted for him, and how that bloc of voters doesn't represent a "constituency."

 

Fine. It is my contention that NO ONE gets elected mayor of the largest city in America without largely earning it through substance and voter connection.

 

Right, but the name recognition only matters until the famous people self-destruct. He was left standing when Weiner & Quinn fell apart. He's not the first politician to get into office, and the story will still be written based on how he performs in office. But let's not turn him into Reagan over Mondale just because the numbers over Lhotta show a blowout.

 

Barack Hussein Obama would still be organizing communities if Jack Ryan had never gone to that sex club.

 

And if the media had not given him favorable treatment he would have never
gotten a 2nd term

 

If there was a Bull de Blasio constituency, it would have showed up in the early polls. He did hold a citywide office, and had no support in early polls.

Weiner obviously imploded. Quinn imploded.

de Blasio, through the ads featuring his son, did "connect" with people on some level, and the fact that he ran the furthest to the left helped him.

Originally, no one thought running to the left was the way to win. Quinn hitched her wagon to Bloomberg's engine. She went along with him on term limits. She didn't challenge him on many issues.

The city was doing well, and most people figured you had to follow Giuliani & Bloomberg's tough on crime, pro-business approach.

de Blasio didn't do that. He ran hard to the left, and recycled John Edwards campaign theme. And, it worked. After 20 years, the folks who hadn't benefited from the City's economic good fortune, and who were turned off by aggressive policing, were ready for a change, and ended up gravitating to de Blasio.

But, no one fell in love with him. (As opposed to a candidate like Barack Obama for instance.)

 

Does it matter if they "fell in love" with him? They voted for him. That love carried the day.

 

Wait, wait, wait.

You're telling me he ran a campaign that resonated with voters and persuaded them to choose him instead of someone else?

That is bizarre. I have never heard of anything like that.