President Barack Obama stood on the stage at Alice Tully Hall tonight dressed in a dark black suit with a dark tie and looking very much like a performer—a conductor, perhaps, of a swing band.

The seats in the audience were empty, but onstage with Mr. Obama were about 120 guests seated at a dozen or so round tables, each paying $20,000 for the privilege.

The event was a fundraiser with NBA stars, and when he spoke, Mr. Obama joked that usually at these kinds of events he was the center of attention, but at this one most people there hoped to get an autograph with some of the NBA greats in attendance, including Patrick Ewing, Bill Bradley, Walt Frazier and the host of the evening, Michael Jordan. Read More

The gigantic municipal labor union DC37 came out with its endorsements today, and the list contains a few surprises.

As already noted here, the 121,000-member union endorsed Olanike Alabi in her race against Walter Mosley, who is backed by the man they are vying to replace, Hakeem Jeffries. And the gr0up is also backing Guillermo Linares, who is trying to oust incumbent Adriano Espaillat. And in Queens, the union went with Jerry Iannece, who is running to replace Rory Lancman, and Ron Kim, who is running to replace Grace Meng. Otherwise, the union sticks with incumbents, even some with  spotty records like Naomi Rivera and William Boyland. Read More

Eliot Spitzer hosted former Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith on his Current TV show last night to talk about what it would take to get Todd Akin to give up his Senate campaign.

“I sympathize with him when he critiques the self-importance of the party leadership that thinks they can either anoint candidates or in this case force them out, which is fundamentally anti-democratic in most instances,” Mr. Spitzer said, adding, “He is speaking to the sense that those who believe they are more important than they really are should not dictate the terms of democracy, and his own political career speaks to that, so he may be saying the more you push me, the more I am going to say no.” Read More

Congressional candidate Rob Zerban and his staff had decided to take a break from the grueling campaign season one Friday night earlier this month and check out The Campaign, the Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis comedy about a Congressional race in North Carolina.

Once the movie was over, Mr. Zerban and his aides started checking their BlackBerrys and  found out their own Congressional campaign was about to get a lot more interesting.

That’s because the man Mr. Zerban had been running hard against for the past 16 months in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District, incumbent Paul Ryan, had been selected by Mitt Romney to be his running mate, and quickly announced that he would be running for both offices simultaneously.

“I was a little stunned,” said Mr. Zerban by phone today.  ”I couldn’t believe it. As much as I though this is what he wanted, I couldn’t believe they would go so far and nominate such an extreme ticket, where they would be highlighting what Republicans really stand for.” Read More

Debra Cooper, a State committeewoman on the Upper West Side, will file to run for the City Council seat later this afternoon.

“I’m ready to take the next step in serving the Upper West Side,” said Ms. Cooper. “I am ready to be a strong voice on the City Council, listening to the concerns and fighting for the values, needs and priorities of the Upper West Side.”

The seat is currently held by Gale Brewer, who will be termed out next year. Currently, four other candidates have been running for the seat– Helen Rosenthal, Marc Landis, Mel Wymore and Ken Biberaj, although Ms. Cooper’s campaign noted that there is a history there of electing progressive women. Prior to Ms. Brewer, the seat was held by Ronnie Eldridge and Ruth Messinger. Read More

Former Mayor Ed Koch sent out one of his semi-regular commentaries today and it was something of a unusual one for the former New York City mayor.

In it, he defended Vladimir Putin for sending three members of the radical art collective Pussy Riot to prison for staging a musical demonstration in a Russian Orthodox Cathedral, and compared it with his own actions against the AIDS activist group ACT-UP in the 1980′s.

Writes Mr. Koch:

The Western cultural elite is rallying to the defense of the disrupters in the cathedral. Some approve of the verbal attack on Putin. Others support the denunciation of the Russian Orthodox church leadership and the church disruption because of the church leadership support of Putin. All cited characterize the issue as one of free speech. I do not.

I would assume that many Pussy Riot supporters would take a different position, and rightly so, if here in the U.S. a black church were invaded and three men or women engaged in comparable conduct insulting holy places within the church and the pastor.　I recall when I was Mayor in 1989 and the AIDS activist group Act Up, unjustifiably angry with John Cardinal O’Connor, invaded St. Patrick’s Cathedral and interrupted the Mass, throwing the Communion wafers – which for Catholics are the actual Body of Christ – to the floor.　 Some were arrested.　 So far as I can recall, no one was punished.　 I think the decision of the Russian court to punish a hate crime was just and to be applauded, rather than condemned and ridiculed.　 One can argue concerning the degree of punishment, whether fines rather than jail time should have been imposed, but that is a function of the Russian penalty procedures.　 Read More

That’s what a source titled an email to us with the flyer attached below.

The reference is to Republican  Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden, who lost the AFL endorsement today to Democratic upstart Andrew Gounardes. The flyer was, according to our source, circulating widely at the AFL-CIO convention today.

Mr. Golden has been a top Democratic target for years, but has always managed to get elected over the past decade, in part by playing well with labor unions. Read More

A labor source who attended the AFL-CIO convention at the midtown Sheraton called with the following update:

Apparently, the gathering of thousands of mostly public employees declined to endorse a number of freshman Democratic assemblymembers for their vote in favor of a Tier VI pension plan. Among those Democrats who didn’t get the labor group’s backing were Phillip Goldfeder, Michael Simanowitz, Ed Braunstein and Aravella Simotas in Queens, and Dan Quart and Robert Rodriguez in Manhattan.

“It was a matter of the newer members who voted for Tier VI without yet doing anything positive for labor,” explained our source, noting that many senior lawmakers also voted for the measure, but they at least had a long track record of good relationships with labor unions. Read More

In a statement, New York Republican US Senate nominee Wendy Long compared Todd Akin’s remarks about “legitimate rape” to Joe Biden’s remarks earlier this month about Mitt Romney wanting to put Americans “back in chains” and called both a distraction.

“All rape is real rape,” Ms. Long wrote on Facebook. “And Republicans don’t want people ‘back in chains.’ The real issue is jobs and New York’s private sector isn’t creating them. Congressman Akin and Vice President Biden have done a disservice to out of work struggling Americans by distracting from a serious discussion on jobs and the economy.” Read More

Todd Akin went from a little-known Senate candidate in Missouri to a national celebrity overnight with his remarks yesterday that women can’t get pregnant from “legitimate” rape. 

But Mr. Akin is no stranger to controversial remarks. Here is a brief rundown:

1. “Liberals Hate God”

Prior to this most recent imbroglio, Todd Akin was primarily known for his belief that liberals carry deep in their heart a hatred of God. The controversy began when NBC inadvertently omitted the words “under God” and invisible in a pre-taped  segment during the U.S. Open golf tournament. Read More