Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlining his plans to make the city more resilient to future storms.

He may not be seeking a fourth term, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg will nonetheless have an outsized influence in the coming years on City Hall.

With just 203 days left of his administration, Mr. Bloomberg unveiled a far-ranging, 250-plus-point plan to harden the city against future storms like Hurricane Sandy, dumping a massive--and hugely expensive--$19.5 billion to-do list on his successor’s lap.

"This plan is incredibly ambitious--and much of the work will extend far beyond the next 203 days. But we refuse to pass responsibility for creating a plan into the next administration," Mr. Bloomberg said Tuesday as he unveiled the plan  in a former printing press in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that had been devastated by Sandy.

The plans includes new levees, barriers, removable flood walls surrounding vulnerable stretches of Manhattan, new dunes and bulkheads--as well as a proposal for an entirely new neighborhood, dubbed "Seaport City, which would be built on the east side of Manhattan and modeled after  Battery Park City.

"This is urgent work--and it must begin now. So we will use every one of the next 203 days to get as much work as possible underway, and to lock in commitments wherever we can," he said, later telling those gathered--twice: "It's up to you to hold the next administration accountable for getting it done."

Administration officials argued it was crucial to begin improvements as quickly as possible, and pointed to about 60 items they believe they can get done within the next six months, before they leave office. Those include securing an estimated $15 billion in funding (they say they already have $10 billion in place), getting started on design work and studies for some of the longer-term projects, and making changes to building codes and other regulations. They also expect to be able to complete construction on some projects, with beach reconstructions and dune building already underway.

Chris Ward, the former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and now chair of Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, said he thought the mayor had struck the right balance in terms of how much would be left up to whomever succeeds him at City Hall.

"I think the mayor, to his credit, is leaving his input in terms of where the city should go without saying it has to happen to be a great city. But here's something that we should clearly, clearly think about," said Mr. Ward. "I think you could only say that the mayor's over-reaching in the extent that he's putting a marker down that the next administration cannot ignore ... I think this is a call to the next administration and the next administrator after that."

"Whether they adopt his plan, that's one thing. But if they're not going to adopt his plan, they better have another alternative besides what he proposed,"he said.

Politicker reached out to the major candidates to hear their takes.

Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, often at odds with Mr. Bloomberg and his administration, offered some humble praise. "There is usually little reward in politics for thinking big thoughts about the distant future," he said in a statement. "I honor Mayor Bloomberg for leading this conversation."

Some, including former MTA Chair Joe Lhota, who is credited with getting the transit system back up and running post-storm, seemed to agree.

"I commend Mayor Bloomberg for putting in place a roadmap for dealing with the realities of climate change and the impact it will have on our communities. The mayor laid out an ambitious plan that will proactively protect the city in the event of future natural disasters," he said in a statement. "The plan contains several ambitious capital projects that will be started under this administration, and I will continue to implement as the next mayor."

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn also thanked the mayor.

“As I’ve said before, strengthening our City against future climate risks, such as the devastation we experienced after Sandy, is this is the single most important infrastructure challenge of our time," she said. "The neighborhoods hit by Sandy each have their own unique needs, that’s why it is so important that the Mayor’s report addresses these specific issues. We have seen the terrible consequences storm driven flooding can bring to too many parts of our city.  It's one of the reasons I have advocated so strongly for strengthening our coastal defenses, and I'm glad to see the Mayor facing this challenge head on.”

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio also responded positively.

“While my office has just begun to review the plan, I believe that it can be a foundation for the next administration’s efforts to prepare New York City for the inevitable impacts of climate change," he said in a statement. "The plan rightly focuses on bolstering our resilience through infrastructure improvements like flood walls, tidal basins, sand dunes, surge barriers and green infrastructure, and is right to take a multi-sector approach emphasizing residential homes, businesses, the electrical grid and health care assets."

But former Comptroller Bill Thompson focused his criticism on Mr. Bloomberg's handling of the storm.

"When I'm Mayor, communities in southeast Queens, the South Shore, City Island, and Coney Island will receive the same attention and resources as corporations on Wall Street or businesses on 5th Avenue," he said, noting that gas rationing lasted 15 days in the city--four days longer than in New Jersey and six days longer than in Long Island. "Families and businesses across the city waited in line for hours or walked for miles in the cold to get the essential fuel they needed. And then had to do it again the next day. And the next. That's unacceptable."

And businessman John Catsimatidis showed the most outright skepticism of the plan itself.

"In 1938 the 'Great Hurricane' hit Long Island; 74 years later Superstorm Sandy devastated New York City," he stated. "Today, we need to plan for the future. The $19.5 billion price tag is a huge amount of money. As a businessman, I have to ask the question; will $1 billion, or $2 billion or $3 billion protect us from 90% or 95% of the damage as opposed to spending the full $19.5 billion price tag. That's the question we need to ask."

This post has been updated with Mr. Weiner's and Mr. Catsimatidis's responses.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

Politicos across the city are abuzz with excitement over The New York Times' front-page profile of Council Speaker Christine Quinn's "surprisingly volatile" temperament, but one of her top rivals in the mayoral race, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, isn't piling on. Indeed, when asked about the article today, Mr. de Blasio simply urged Ms. Quinn to put her forceful personality behind paid sick day legislation in the City Council.

"I dont worry so much about the fact that she raises her voice and gets angry at people," Mr. de Blasio said at a City Hall press conference on the paid sick day bill. "I worry that she doesn't speak up for average New Yorkers. I think it's one thing to say in a private conversation, she gets angry and upset with people, but I'd like to see her speak up when it matters on issues like this and we haven't seen that. Repeatedly, we've seen her look the other way on issues like paid sick days and living wage. That's what the public will ultimately judge, the substance, whether someone is on their side or not."

In The Times piece, Ms. Quinn is described as routinely issuing threats to other lawmakers with parlance like, “I’m going to cut his balls off.” Mr. de Blasio, an occasional Quinn antagonist, declined to mention if he's ever been the recipient of similarly colorful remarks, but did say he was always respectful of his staff and colleagues.

"I think I can be demanding of my staff. I think I'm respectful of my staff," Mr. de Blasio said. "I'm also respectful of other elected officials, other leaders, ... that's something you have to do, even if you disagree with them."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

The first act of last weekend's annual Inner Circle show featured a spoof of Back To The Future with Mayor Michael Bloomberg traveling back in time in an attempt to find a famous historical figure worthy of serving as his successor. At his press conference this afternoon announcing the LINK initiative to connect low-income New Yorkers with job opportunities, Politicker asked Mayor Bloomberg which historical figure he would choose if he could indeed travel back in time to pick someone to follow him in City Hall. Mayor Bloomberg declined to answer the question.

"No matter what I say there is no good answer to that without you making fun of me," said the mayor. "I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid, even though that's a stupid question."

Though he declined to identify a historical leader he thinks would be worthy to succeed him, Mayor Bloomberg did shed some light on how he views his mayoral predecessors and how he believes his successor should be evaluated.

"The way I would answer your question is  ... Giuliani, Dinkins and Koch, going back in time, have addressed--have had different problems to focus on and have addressed them in different ways. All of them have used the resources and liabilities that have come from the previous administrations and they built on that. I think after all of those [administrations] the city has been better off," Mayor Bloomberg said. "The city has come a long way and I'm just--I hopefully will leave enough things in place that whoever comes after, they'll do things differently, but they'll take that and build on that. And if they don't, you know, it's up to the public."

Mayor Bloomberg also explained why he doesn't believe different leaders should be measured against one another.

"I think these comparisons of one mayor to another or one leader to another really aren't scientific--don't make a lot of sense," he said. "Just because you have different situations with different opportunities."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

At his press conference this afternoon, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about his thoughts on the "Twitter universe" in light of a recent scandal involving an EMS lieutenant who was suspended after the New York Post revealed a series of racist statements he made on the social media site. Mayor Bloomberg described it as evidence people need to be far more careful about what they post online and suggested he'd even warned one of his fellow media moguls, Rupert Murdoch, to stay away from Twitter.

"Everything you send out is going to be retweeted, re-Facebooked, re this, re that and ... if you write it down, some day somebody's going to FOIL it or get it based on a judge's order," said Mayor Bloomberg. "You should write down, number one, only things you believe and, number two, then think about how it would look if somebody else sees it."

Mayor Bloomberg went on to say parents should explain the need to be discrete on social media to their children.

"There are just a lot of young kids who are doing things on their Twitter account, their Facebook account that later on is going to come back and bite them," Mayor Bloomberg said. "I know you want to share information and I know it's nice to be able to express yourself but you just have to have the maturity to understand."

Though the mayor, who has a robust social media presence, said he expects children will make mistakes on Twitter, he expressed surprise the EMS lieutenant who got in hot water and other adults still don't realize the site has a public audience.

"It's kind of hard to understand how anybody like that would not think that some day somebody's going to take a look at what they do," said the mayor. "The bottom line is, it's very addictive, it's easy, you hit a button and nobody thinks that the rest of the world is looking."

The questions on the Twitter scandal came from New York Post reporter David Seifman. After getting the mayor's initial thoughts on the situation and the site in general, Mr. Seifman asked the mayor if he would ever enact a policy to prevent public employees from using social media inappropriately or would just leave it up to "common sense." Mayor Bloomberg said it would be difficult to institute any specific policy.

"There are all sorts of First Amendment issues. I've looked into it," Mayor Bloomberg said. "Companies face this all the time, just like governments do. It's embarrassing to a company to have somebody go out and insult or worse."

To demonstrate just how dangerous he believes Twitter can be for businesses, Mayor Bloomberg told Mr. Seifman he had warned his "boss" to stay off the site. Mayor Bloomberg's comment seemed to be an obvious allusion to Post owner Rupert Murdoch, whose frequent tweeting has not come without controversy.

"I've told your boss I think he should stop twittering," Mayor Bloomberg said to Mr. Seifman. "It's dangerous because people can take things out of--you know, 140 odd characters doesn't give you a chance to explain what you really mean. It's just a phrase that gets taken out of context."

Mayor Bloomberg was coy when another reporter followed up by asking him to confirm he was referring to Mr. Murdoch.

"I don't know who that would be," he said with a laugh.

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Over the weekend Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveiled a $12 million ad campaign dedicated to pushing senators to back legislation that would expand background checks against gun buyers. This ad blitz was the latest salvo in the expensive attack on illegal guns the billionaire mayor has focused on in recent months and it prompted National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to accuse him of trying to "buy America." At a press conference this afternoon where he was announcing a new program to help connect low-income city residents with job opportunities, many of the questions Mayor Bloomberg fielded from reporters were about his war of words with the NRA. Mayor Bloomberg first addressed the response he's received after announcing the ad campaign and said an "enormous number" of people have thanked him for the commercials.

"Nobody's going to walk up to me and say bad things, so I'm not so sure that I can actually represent, but I've just had lots and lots of phone calls, text messages, emails, people in the street ... that are just so thankful that somebody's willing to stand up and to counter the NRA," he said.

Mayor Bloomberg went on to question the logic behind the NRA criticizing the amount of money he's spent advocating for gun control.

"The NRA has spent $100 million and they object to my ten million ... or whatever the number is," said Mayor Bloomberg. "They've had it their own way they keep trying to say what's going on from their point of view."

He went on to say the NRA believed "there is no other point of view." Bringing up the approximately $2.5 million he recently spent to back a pro-gun control House candidate in Illinois, Mayor Bloomberg said he was merely trying to present an alternative perspective. The mayor's candidate, Robin Kelly, was victorious in a race his aides said they had been able to turn into a "referendum on guns."

"In Illinois, I spent a couple million bucks and gave another point of view on terms of how people had voted, and the pub listened and then the public decided," explained Mayor Bloomberg. "Nobody's buying votes. What you are doing is, you're getting access with this money to tell the public the facts. For example, Joe Smith voted for, or Joe Smith voted against this bill and this bill does x, y, z or doesn't do a, b, c. And then, let the public decide."

When he responded to the ad campaign, Mr. LaPierre cited the mayor's previous anti-obesity initiatives and described the gun control efforts as part of a pattern of Mayor Bloomberg trying to use money to "impose his will on the American public." Another reporter at this afternoon's press conference asked Mayor Bloomberg why he thought Mr. LaPierre was focusing on him personally rather than the content of his commercials.

"He doesn't have an argument," Mayor Bloomberg said of Mr. LaPierre. "Standing there and saying, 'Oh, I think we should leave guns in the hands of people that kill everybody and put our kids in danger,' is probably not a good strategy for him. So, he's got to find spomething else to talk about."

Politicker then asked Mayor Bloomberg what he thought about the fact NRA robocalls against gun control legislation have been received by residents of Newtown, Connecticut, which was the site of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. At this point, Mayor Bloomberg was in no mood to discuss the gun battle any further.

"Enough with the NRA," he said, attempting to move to another question.

However, we pressed the point and Mayor Bloomberg said the NRA "ought to be ashamed" for making their robocalls in Newtown.

"You know, sometimes people just dont express--don't use good judgement. I guess the word shameless sort of comes up," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Of all the places you shouldn't be doing robocalls, I would think most people would say that's not a good place to do it. They ought to be ashamed."

Joe Biden at City Hall. (photo: nyc.gov)

As the U.S. Congress debates gun control legislation, two of the countries' leading advocates on the issue--Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Michael Bloomberg--held a City Hall press conference today to pressure federal lawmakers to have enough "courage" to vote in favor of the bill when it hits the floor. Standing behind victims' family members from last year's massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut elementary school, Mr. Biden and Mr. Bloomberg argued the measures being proposed are neither controversial or unconstitutional.

"There's not one single thing being proposed--not one, not one , not one, not one--that infringes on anyone's Second Amendment constitutional right. Not one," Mr. Biden said. "Three months ago, a deranged man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School with a weapon of war. That's what he walked in with--a weapon of war. That weapon of war has no place on American streets and taking it off American streets has no impact on one's constitutional right to own a weapon."

"There’s no doubt that requiring background checks for all gun sales saves lives and there’s no doubt that the American people support it," Mr. Bloomberg said. " The only question is whether Congress will have the courage to do the same thing or if they will allow more innocent people, including innocent children, to be gunned down. It has been 97 days since Newtown, in that time, we estimate that more than 3,000 Americans have been murdered with guns. Almost none of the victims generated national headlines, but each murder was a tragedy for the victim’s family and for the community. If Congress does nothing, another 12,000 people will be murdered with guns this year alone. We just cannot allow that to happen.”

The pair also praised each other's advocacy on the gun control issue.

"There's been no better person to be leading this effort in Washington than Vice President Biden," Mr. Bloomberg said, labeling Mr. Biden "a stand-up guy."

For his part, Mr. Biden extolled Mr. Bloomberg's organized lobbying efforts, declaring, "There has been no support that has been more consequential than the support coming from Mayor Bloomberg. It has been immense. It is organized, it is committed and it is consequential."

Jose Canseco (Photo: Getty)

After traveling to Albany last month to support State Senator Jeff Klein's push to ban the nutritional supplement DMAA, baseball great, reality television star, MMA fighter, admitted steroid user, author and social media enthusiast Jose Canseco's latest cause seems to be the number of deaths linked to sugary drinks. After Mr. Canseco took to Twitter this evening to urge the president to "declare war on sugar," Politicker asked whether he'd be interested in teaming up with a man who is perhaps the nation's most high-profile anti-sugar crusader--Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"maybe your next mayor isnt bloomberg a lame duck," Mr. Canseco tweeted, referring to the fact Mr. Bloomberg is in the last few months of his administration.

We informed Mr. Canseco that Mayor Bloomberg still has some time left in office and also seems poised to use his vast personal fortune to advocate for his pet causes once he leaves City Hall. Upon hearing this, the former Major League slugger said he would be interested in working with the mayor if he continues his anti-sugar efforts.

"I would partner with Mike if he keeps fighting sugar," tweeted Mr. Canseco.

We also reached out to the mayor's office to see whether they would be interested in having Mr. Canseco serve as a spokesman for their public health initiatives. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

John Liu standing in front of City Hall today.

Comptroller John Liu officially kicked off his campaign for mayor at a raucous rally on the steps of City Hall attended by several hundred people where he vowed to "be a mayor not of the one percent, but of the 100 percent." Along with promising to enact populist reforms on housing, education, law enforcement and the business community, Mr. Liu dismissed the ongoing corruption case against two of his associates as a politically motivated "witch hunt" that would not stop him from winning the election.

"When you go after powerful people and rich corporations, they're going to come after you," Mr. Liu declared in a fiery speech. "They certainly have made my life challenging, but let me be clear, we are not backing down!"

Following Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson and Bill de Blasio, Mr. Liu was the last of the four major Democratic frontrunners to officially announce his candidacy for mayor. The main kickoff event at City Hall was the centerpiece of a fourteen hour launch day that took him across all five boroughs and it drew, by far, the largest crowd any of the candidates have managed to turn out for their launches. So many people showed up to see Mr. Liu that a large overflow waited outside the gates in City Hall Park and those at the center of the action stood shoulder-to-shoulder with periodic disputes breaking out in the crush of the crowd.

Mr. Liu arrived accompanied by several relatives and City Council members Peter Koo and Charles Barron. After his wife and son gave brief introductions, Mr. Liu launched into a speech that started with his family's journey to New York City. If elected, Mr. Liu would be the first Asian mayor of the five boroughs. He told the crowd his family was drawn to New York from Taiwan because of the city's "sacred promise" of "opportunities." He highlighted this by sharing an anecdoate he's often fond of repeating, the fact he and all his brothers were named after the Kennedys.

"My parents truly believed in that promise, that an immigrant family named Liu could work their way up to become like the family named Kennedy," said Mr. Liu. "That's why they named me John and you could ask my brothers Robert and Edward."

Mr. Liu went on to share another one of his oft-repeated tales, a story of his mother working in a "sweatshop" that she has described as untrue.

"My parents kept their part of the promise, my dad taking a job far beneath what he had had in Taiwan and my mom spending years in a sweatshop many days that I had to join her in," Mr. Liu said. "And New York keept its promise to us, because, if we didn't quite rival the Kennedys in prominence, a New York City public school kid like me could … make it all the way up to New York City comptroller."

Mr. Liu presented these bits family history to illustrate his argument that, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city no longer offers residents the chance to succeed he and his family once experienced.

"I don't need to tell you that economic justice and equal opportunity have gone the way of checkered cabs and 50 cent slices," said Mr. Liu. "In New York City these last twelve years, the rich keep getting filthy rich and far too many New Yorkers can't even think to get ahead because they're struggling just to get by."

He vowed to bring upward mobility back to the five boroughs again by fighting for "senior citizens," "working mothers," "immigrant breadwinners," "small business owners," and "struggling teachers and students."

"Mayor Bloomberg and his enablers have made it harder for them while making it so easy for the wealthiest new yorkers to leave the rest of us behind," Mr. Liu declared.

While all of the four Democrats who are leading the pack of mayoral contenders have struck a populist tone, Mr. Liu described himself the only one who has personally experienced economic hardship.

"The difference between them and I is, I've lived, said Mr. Liu. "I know what it's like to work your heart out and barely keep your head above water."

Mr. Liu also rattled off a list of achievements from his time in the comptrollers office including uncovering "waste, fraud and abuse" in the "mayor's pet projects like CityTime and the 911 call system." He said these projects saved "billions for the people of this city earned him the powerful enemies he accused of coming after him.

"They're more concerned about their bottom line than the poverty line!" shouted Mr. Liu.

Though Mr. Liu obviously wants to dismiss the case against his donor, Oliver Pan, and former treasurer, Jenny Hou, for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to fuel illegal donations to his campaign war chest, his speech clearly didn't eliminate the controversy the allegations have caused around his campaign. When Mr. Liu took questions from reporters after his speech, nearly every question was about the case. Mr. Liu himself has not been charged in the case and he argued anyone who wants to accuse him of wrongdoing needs to "put up or shut up."

"This so called investigation has been going on for four years now. They've interviewed thousands of my supporters, reviewed a million documents even wiretapped my cell phone for a year-and-a-half," Mr. Liu said. "When is this going to end? It's time to put up or shut up, that's what it is. We've got a campaign to run and an election to win. We've got changes to make in the City of New York. We'll let the people decide."

Since Mr. Liu had alluded to the investigation being fueled by enemies he has made while working for the people of New York, Politicker asked him to elaborate about who he believes is "after" him. Mr. Liu wasn't willing to get any more specific.

"Hey, listen, you know, there are--it's a political town, there are lots of vested interests," said Mr. Liu. "Vested interests that I'm sure would not like to see change. So, we'll be working on it and talking about it a lot more as the months come by."

Another reporter asked Mr. Liu whether he might change his tune if Mr. Pan and Ms. Hou are found guilty after the trial against them begins next month. Mr. Liu said he doesn't plan on slowing down at all.

"We're going full steam ahead in this campaign. We've got a lot of support all across the city," he said. "People have said there's a witch hunt, the problem is there's no witch. So, we're going full steam ahead. We're going to win this election."

Christine Quinn in the Bronx with supporters and her father, Larry.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn launched her campaign yesterday with a nod to her roots by kicking off a five borough "walk and talk" tour at the intersection of Broadway and Isham Street in Inwood a stone's throw from a church with ties to her family. Ms. Quinn used the tale of her grandparents' journey from New York to Ireland to emphasize the main theme of her campaign--fighting for the middle class. Along with articulating her message, the five borough tour allowed Ms. Quinn to directly address the central questions and controversies surrounding her campaign, namely, her seemingly close ties to the current occupant of City Hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"It's very exciting to get to be here right across the street from the church where my parents were married, and my sister was baptized and my grandfather was buried, from right near where my mother grew up to announce that today I am officially running to be the mayor of the great City of New York," declared Ms. Quinn in the first of the day's five speeches. "This is a city where, 100 years ago, all four of my grandparents, really just kids basically, got on ships and went across oceans ... They had heard that magical things could happen here, that if you came here you could get work, you could get decent housing, you could be free and you could get out of poverty. And that's what this city did for them and for my family it gave us a gateway into the middle class. ... That's the ultimate truth about New York, that it needs to remain and become even more that place of opportunity, a place that's a beacon for the middle class and people who are fighting so hard to get into that middle class."

In addition to describing her vision for providing "middle class and working class people" with "decent housing," "affordable childcare," "great public schools,"  "safe streets" and "good jobs," Ms. Quinn focused on another core element of her pitch to voters--her experience. According to the polls, Ms. Quinn is the overwhelming frontrunner in the race. She's also the highest ranked elected official among the major Democratic candidates. These factors have led her rivals to spend a good deal of time and energy alluding to controversial aspects of her career, namely the perception she's too close to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and that she is responsible for stopping the Paid Sick Days legislation. Ms. Quinn not-so-subtly dismissed the critiques from her rivals by repeatedly casting the mayoral campaign as a choice between her  proven record and "fingerpointing."

"If you look at my record, it's not one of criticism and fingerpointing, it's one of action, results and delivering," Ms. Quinn said. "Our job is to get things done to keep this city moving forward."

After her first speech, Ms. Quinn took a few questions from reporters. Politicker asked about her strong showing in the polls, which have her with almost enough of a lead to avoid a runoff race against the other candidates in the Democratic primary.

"I hadn't noticed," quipped Ms. Quinn before downplaying the numbers. "Look, it's March, we're at the beginning of this race and we're walking, and talking and running to win. And that means working every single day, taking nothing for granted. ... We won't know who won until election day and those are the only numbers that really matter."

She also touched on the attacks from her opponents when she was asked about Bill de Blasio's particularly relentless drumming on the Paid Sick Days issue.

"Again I hadn't noticed ... but thank you for telling me," Ms. Quinn said of Mr. de Blasio's salvos. "I support the goal of having Paid Sick Leave, but I don't want to impose it at a time that could have a very negative effect on small businesses who are still being impacted by the recession, who are being impacted by the effects of Hurricane Sandy still economically." 

Ms. Quinn's relationship with Mayor Bloomberg came up at multiple points during the day with both reporters and a heckler in Queens asking about backing the overturning of term limits that enabled his third term. Ms. Quinn characterized her choice as letting voters decide whether or not they wanted to keep their elected officials in the wake of the recent economic crisis. On the mayor, she suggested they simply haven't butted heads because of her aversion to "fingerpointing."

"I really don't want to waste a lot of time talking about everything that's wrong, talking about how you can't fix it, talking about how terrible everything is," said Ms. Quinn adopting a mocking tone. "I want to get things done, I want to fix things."

Ms. Quinn's campaign is a historic one. If elected she would be both the first female and the first openly gay mayor in New York City. The historic nature of her candidacy drew some supporters to accompany the tour including a female former NYPD detective who brought two young girls and encouraged them to pose for a picture with Ms. Quinn at her second stop in the Bronx.

"This is women's history," she said as Ms. Quinn gave the children a hug. "This is history kids."

Though her status as a pioneer was palpable on the tour with Ms. Quinn's wife, Kim Catullo, accompanying her along the way, her sexuality and marriage was not shown in the video that officially launched the campaign yesterday morning. While in the Bronx, she took a question from a reporter about why these details were absent from the clip.

"The campaign video was about telling New Yorkers more about me and I think it would be hard to imagine that New Yorkers don't know that I'm a lesbian and don't know I got married. You know, it was on the cover of the New York Times and the cover of the New York Post. So, we were trying to get new information and more information out," Ms. Quinn said. "I think it would be insane for any New Yorker to think I'm not incredibly proud as the first lesbian, openly LGBT speaker of the New York City Council."

Reporters were not the only ones Ms. Quinn spoke to during her trip around the city. With a pack of sign-wielding supporters, family members and her press corps in tow, Ms. Quinn shook hands and introducing herself to voters. Apart from the lone heckler and a few passerby who grumbled as Ms. Quinn and her entourage passed, the reception she received was overwhelmingly enthusiastic during her first three stops in Inwood, the Bronx and Queens.

The relatively high name recognition that's fueling Ms. Quinn's status as a frontrunner was also on display. Before Ms. Quinn arrived in the Bronx, a cook named Ernest Aragonez was standing with two friends outside a bodega. He said he hadn't made up his mind about who to vote for and seemed to no little about the candidates, but he had a distinct impression of Ms. Quinn.

"Who's the other one? Casmiaditis? How do you pronounce that? That's the other one, John Casmiaditis," Mr. Aragonez said when we asked him who was running, mispronouncing the name of Republican candidate John Catsimatidis.

He said he didn't know any of the candidates besides Ms. Quinn and Mr. Catsimatidis, but he had heard  "enough to know that Christine Quinn is pretty good."

When Ms. Quinn arrived and began making brief remarks in the Bronx, Mr. Aragonez interrupted her.

"Christine Quinn for mayor! Very good!" he shouted.

"Thank you very much," Ms. .Quinn responded. "I'm bringing you to all my press conferences. You're a good amen chorus, as they say."

Mr. Aragonez wasn't the only one present who didn't have extensive knowledge of the other candidates. Dana Snyder, a volunteer with reddish hair who carried one of Ms. Quinn's signs said she supported the candidate because she "speaks her mind" and is "particularly left of center." She didn't know about anyone else in the mayor's race.

"I don't really know very much to be honest. I really only know about Quinn. I'm only a temporary New York resident, so I can't actually vote," Ms. Snyder said explaining that she's a Maryland native who's currently studying at Barnard.

They may not have known much about the other mayoral options, but the people Ms. Quinn encountered in the Bronx were certainly enthusiastic about her candidacy. As she walked down the street a BX5 bus stopped next to her and the driver opened his doors to shout, "Hi Christine! How you doing?"

She jumped on board to give him a quick hug and then hopped back down saying she didn't want to delay the bus.

"That's all right," the driver said. "I'll be late for you."

A Spanish translator walked alongside Ms. Quinn and helped introduce her to the Latino locals in the Bronx. It was clear her approach to the Latino community would not match Mayor Bloomberg, who often holds forth in heavily accented Spanish. She told us she would not be following his example.

"It's funny, I can hear my mother yelling at me in high school to have paid better attention in Spanish," said Ms. Quinn. "It wasn't my forte, but I'm trying, little by little I'm trying."

Another difference between Ms. Quinn and the infamously health conscious Mayor Bloomberg was apparent when she met Angel, a churro vendor who told her she had his vote. Ms. Quinn instructed a staffer to buy a bag of his churros for the volunteers.

"We're going to get some for the truck," she said, adding, "I don't want any that are sugar free."

(Photo: Getty)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be one of the world's biggest proponents of government action to promote public health, but Hizzoner has his limits. In his weekly radio appearance on John Gambling's radio show, the mayor was asked whether he would consider ordering mandatory gym memberships and he admitted that's taking things too far.

"Well, you have to be practical about what legally you can do and what people will do," said Mr. Bloomberg. "The nice thing about the soda thing is it's really just a suggestion. So, if you want to buy 32 ounces,  you just have to carry it back to your seat in two cups. And maybe that would convince you to only take one, but if you want two you can do it. I think government's job ... is to give you advice, not to force you do things."

Mr. Bloomberg did note, however, that the government does force behavior under certain circumstances. Nevertheless, he said forcing physical exercise "probably" crosses the line of acceptability.

"Although there are some things we try and force you to do," he continued. "If there's asbestos in the classroom or your  office building, we force you out. If you want to drink and drive, we try and stop you--although sometimes not as successfully as you'd like. ... I think some of these other things--calorie counts we've done in chain restaurants so you can see what you're eating--[are okay]. But when it comes to forcing you, ... the only thing the government can do practically--and I think should do--is education. Exercise is great for you, but how do you convince people to do it? And should you force them to do it? Probably not."