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

De Blasio's election should have come as no surprise to anyone. A progressive Democratic agenda resonated, like it has in a growing number of cities in the last couple years (Marty Walsh in Boston, Betsy Hodges in Minneapolis and Ed Murray in Seattle). De Blasio's "Tale of Two Cities" message struck a strong chord. He spoke about things like pre-kindergarten, raising the minimum wage, increasing affordable housing and providing better support for existing public schools. Another big factor was the growth and outreach of the Working Families Party, which has become an important political force here. Of course, Bloomberg helped him, too, by coming across as a paternalistic, out-of-touch billionaire the last couple years.

And while the NY Post and others like to get hysterical about hansom cabs and snow days, de Blasio already has two big accomplishments to show for his first four months: Funding for full-day, pre-kindergarten and a nine-year contract with teachers.

 

I always enjoy reading Randian SportsJournalists.com, where it seems the only way liberals manage to win elections is by low turnout, fraud, flattering leftist media brainwashing the electorate, and occasional witchcraft.

 

I always enjoy reading Frankenian* SportsJournalists.com, where it seems that liberals being elected by liberals is evidence that the thwarting of the coming Progressive Age can only be the result of corporatist shenanigans.

*You can substitute Warrenian or Deanian if you like ...

 

Corporatist shenanigans are certainly helping to galvanize the progressives.

 

I can tell ... Why, in New York with this mayoral bit, they went completely against type. I mean, New Yorkers? Electing an avowed lefty? What'll this world come to?

 

Who said that?

 

Ex-Marine, tough-on-crime David Dinkins was the last "lefty" to hold the office. Twenty-one years ago.

 

New Yorkers never can make up their minds. One minute they're electing a de Blasio, the next minute they're going all Ayn Rand plutocrat type. I mean, this last guy, he was a billionaire ... can't get less lefty than that.

 

The second-floor skulkers of 8th Avenue between, oh, 40th and 50th, are abuzz too.

 

Dinkins broke the rules. He had been both City Clerk, and Manhattan borough president. Both of these jobs were basically reserved for African-Americans. He wasn't supposed run for Mayor. The Dems in New York City hadn't allowed an African-American to hold the office of the Mayor.

But, with Koch in scandal, and running for a fourth term, Dinkins did run and beat him in a Dem Primary.

But, Dinkins did have some natural constituencies, right?

He was African-American, and could count on the support of other African-Americans. And, because it was an historic run, it energized many in the African-American community.

And, because he held a borough wide office, he had support in specific areas, notably Harlem.

Each borough has it's own political machines and county chairmen. Manhattan political leders like Charlie Rangel and Percy Sutton strongly backed Dinkins, and put there people to work for him.

de Blasio never held a borough wide office. He was one of 51 City Council members before winning the largely ceremonial Public Office job, where he served one term.

His political claim to fame was running Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign.

 

By the time that Koch was running in 1989, his popularity had fallen off and his views had turned pretty conservative on most issues.

To say that Democrats "hadn't allowed" an African-American to run is silly. There weren't many minorities who ran (I can only recall Percy Sutton and Herman Badillo) but the primary races were often pretty crazy and wide open affairs.

As to de Blasio, the Public Advocate's position is what you make of it. It gave him better name recognition than he would have had otherwise.