Mr. Garodnick had been eyeing a race for City Comptroller assuming that  John Liu ran for the mayor. The field had been pretty wide open, with Brooklyn City Councilmember Dominic Recchia the only other name coming up as a potential candidate.

But much has changed in the past few weeks. For one thing, in light of the string of fundraising scandal he is facing, Mr. Liu seems unlikely to run for mayor.  If he decides to seek re-election to the comptroller's job, he may even find himself in a tough race. Thus, the news this morning that Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer is taking a look at the race.

If Mr. Stringer decides to run for comptroller instead of mayor (which he has been aggressively laying the groundwork for most of the past year) he would immediately become the favorite, perhaps even with Mr. Liu in the race. But that said, there are some heavy hitters from the vote-rich borough of Queens on Mr. Garodnick's fundraising invitation, including Democratic Senate Campaign Committee head Michael Gianaris and Peter Vallone Jr.--the early frontrunner in the Queens BP race.

Click on the invite for full details.

Update:  A number of the "special guests" called to say that even though their names are on the invitation, they are not official supporters of Mr. Garodnick's unofficial comptroller campaign.