Powell, a writer, activist and former star of MTV's "The Real World ran in 2008 and got 32 percent  of the vote. He tried again in 2010 and did somewhat worse.

Earlier this week, Assembly Member Hakeem Jeffries announced that he was opening up an exploratory committee to run against Towns. Barron challenged Towns in 2006 and got 39% of the vote in a three-way race. If he were to run again in 2012, he would like siphon votes away from Jeffries and could insure another term for Towns.  Insiders in the area say that he would be far moren of a threat than Powell, who is widely perceived as getting mostly an anti-Towns vote in his first two runs for office.

"If he told me he wanted to try it one more time I would give him that opportunity," Barron said. "There is no rush for me. I will be out [of office] in 2013, there is another congressional election in 2014."

Barron also said that if Powell doesn't run, his 2006 performance would make him the leading candidate in the race, including over the incumbent.