(Photos: Getty)

The backroom 2016 dance between Governor Andrew Cuomo and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemingly increased over the weekend with a New York Times report on Mr. Cuomo's growing fixation and concern on whether Ms. Clinton will ultimately make another bid for the White House. For his part, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is most excited about the possibility of getting another Supreme Court Justice from the five boroughs.

"My great failing so far is I've managed to get us a Supreme Court justice from the Bronx, from Brooklyn, from Queens and Manhattan," Mr. Bloomberg said when we asked him about the potential 2016 Big Apple showdown at a press conference announcing a new early childhood education initiative. "But, as of today, there is no Supreme Court judge from Staten Island and, if we could do that, we would then have 5 out of 9 from New York and I think that's a great position for the city to be in."

"But we're still working on it," he added.

Of course, Mr. Bloomberg's logical pivot here might not be the soundest. After all, President Barack Obama, a Hawaii native who only spent his college years in the city, appointed Manhattan's Elena Kagan and the Bronx's Sonia Sotomayor to the nation's highest court.

On the other hand, it does make sense for a politician to deliberately avoid wading into the stand-off between Mr. Cuomo and Ms. Clinton, as well as the number of powerful and influential people who support both.