Likely City Council candidate Yetta  Kurland: "Well it's not like I could let her go alone." (Photo: @YettaKurland)

Simcha Felder's ad in Wednesday's weekend-edition of Hamodia states he is "the only candidate who shares our values," and "firmly opposes any redefinition of marriage." The full-page ad also claims, "SIMCHA consults with Das Torah when making decisions that impact our community." His Republican opponent for the State Senate, incumbent David Storobin, is unmentioned.

"You know I'm very supportive of Israel and I'm also very supportive of President Obama. The fact that Bibi Netanyahu and Obama don't like one other has nothing to do with it," former Mayor Ed Koch announced during last night's Inside City Hall "Wise Guys" discussion of the final presidential debate.

Comptroller John Liu went on the same program, where, among other things, he discussed the federal government's never-ending investigation into his campaign fundraising and balancing it with his role as a public official. "It's not very difficult to balance, I'm focused on the job that the people of New York City elected me to do, and I'm very proud of my record as comptroller. I look forward to opportunities that may lay in the near horizon," Mr. Liu explained. "At the same time, the investigation, I'm shocked that they've been investigating my campaign fundraising for more than three years at this point! To learn that they were tapping ten phone lines over a period of eighteen months, I've been told that it is completely unprecedented. The point here is that I've got nothing to hide."

One fun moment from Monday's Brooklyn GOP gathering was when Chairman Craig Eaton described meeting Mitt Romney at the Al Smith Dinner. According to Mr. Eaton's telling of the story, President Barack Obama, overhearing the two Republicans talking, interrupted to say, "There're no Republicans in Brooklyn!" Mr. Eaton said he responded, "Mr. President, we have more than a 115,000 Republicans in Brooklyn, and they're all going to vote for President Romney!" Mr. Obama apparently put his hand down for a handshake but turned it into a "big hug" between the two instead.

Maverick former Assemblyman Michael Benjamin also added this about the meeting and the 2013 mayoral election:

"The GOP mayoral candidate will not be ideologically driven or 'conservative.' For the GOP party leaders, it's about access to power, patronage and contracts. For the voters, it's about a livable city, a school system that educates instead of indoctrinating secular humanism, effective law enforcement, and holding the line on spending for needed city services, not wasteful spending that benefits insiders at taxpayer expense.

We don't want nice guys or Jesuits (sorry, Malcolm). We need a mayor who can manage the greatest city in the world, not a nanny, an overlord or a worldly best friend."

Tell us how you really feel about The New York Times endorsing your Democratic opponent Mark Murphy, Congressman Michael Grimm. In a NY1 report yesterday, Mr. Grimm responded, "The New York Times would have endorsed a Democrat ham sandwich, in this instance they would have had more credibility by doing so.” In a separate NY1 segment last night, Council Speaker Christine Quinn can be spotted campaigning with Mr. Murphy at the ferry terminal.

Crain's Insider has a good briefing on the 2005 race to lead the City Council between Ms. Quinn and now-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a political contest that might play out on the citywide scale as they both campaign for mayor in 2013.