The Oct. 30, 1975 front page of the New York Daily News.

Speaker of the House John Boehner is taking heat from all sides for delaying the decisive vote on the post-Hurricane Sandy federal aid package. Even his fellow Republicans have blasted Mr. Boehner. Many of the local Democrats who jumped into the fray used the motif of the famous 1975 Daily News cover that implied Gerald Ford told the city to "drop dead" when he vowed to veto federal aid to the five boroughs in their assessments of Mr. Boehner's conduct. Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson explicitly credited his source material in his shot at Mr. Boehner.

"The decision by House Speaker John Boehner to postpone a vote on Hurricane Sandy aid for the New York region is a travesty of epic proportions," Mr. Thompson said in a statement. "The move is reminiscent of the famous newspaper headline from the 1970’s when the federal government refused to help New York City in a time of need. 'Boehner to City: Drop Dead' is an appropriate headline for the Speaker’s actions."

City Council speaker and likely mayoral candidate Christine Quinn alluded to the headline a little less directly when she discussed Mr. Boehner's handling of the aid package on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight this evening.

"I mean it's really unbelievable how Speaker Boehner and his party could just walk away from all the New Yorkers, and people in New Jersey and people in Connecticut in need," said Ms. Quinn. "Quite frankly, Speaker Boehner told them to just drop dead and it's just outrageous."

Long Island Congressman Peter King, who also blasted Mr. Boehner earlier today, had a meeting with Mr. Boehner this afternoon in which he said the speaker promised a vote on the aid would be held by January 15. On CNN, Ms. Quinn responded that she can't be sure Mr. Boehner will stick to that commitment because he previously promised the vote would be held before the 112th Congress finished at the end of last year. She also urged Mr. Boehner to visit New York and "answer to" people who were affected by the storm in the time between now and the aid vote.

"I hope he does the right thing between now and January 15 as he allegedly has promised Peter King, but I'm not going to believe it till I see it because any assurances we've gotten until now have just been wiped away," Ms. Quinn said. "You know what? Speaker Boehner should do between now and when he says he's going to vote? He should come to New York and New Jersey, he should walk with me and others in Queens, he should go to Belle Harbor and Breezy Point, he should talk to those folks whose homes were burned to the ground."

The New York State Democratic Party also used the "drop dead" line, however their statement wasn't aimed at Mr. Boehner. Rather, it was directed at New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox, who expressed disappointment the package wasn't passed, while simultaneously suggesting Mr. Boehner's decision not to hold the vote may have been justified because the Sandy aid bill was "pork-laden."

"Mr. Cox’s defending of the inaction by congress is anti-New York and he has put his political allegiance to his own Republican party over his allegiance to the people of the state. Mr. Cox said the Republican House was justified in not voting because the bill had 'pork.' Not even the extremist Republicans have argued that," the statement began.

Before delivering the kicker, the statement from the state Democratic Party got in a jab at Mr. Cox's father-in-law, former President Richard Nixon.

"New York doesn’t have time for partisanship or Mr. Cox's Nixonian brand of politics. Mr. Cox should get on board with the relief effort or get out of the way. Either way, Mr. Cox’s message today to New Yorkers impacted Sandy was as clear as can be: ‘Ed Cox to NY: drop dead.’"

(Photo: Getty)

While President Barack Obama's campaign is touting Vice President Joe Biden's debate skills, promising a "forceful and compelling" performance, Mr. Obama's Republican rival is going in the opposite direction. In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night, Mitt Romney said his running mate, Paul Ryan, shouldn't be expected to dominate.

"I don't know how Paul will deal with this debate. Obviously the vice president has done, I don't know, 15 or 20 debates during his lifetime," Mr. Romney said when asked what viewers can expect, labeling the incumbent vice president an "experienced debater."

"This is, I think, Paul's first debate, I may be wrong," he added. "He may have done something in high school, I don't know. But it'll be a new experience for Paul."

Mr. Romney went on to argue Mr. Ryan will win on substance even if he isn't the best "presenter."

"I think, frankly, Paul has the facts on his side, he has policy on his side, and we also have results on our side," he said. "I think you'll find in the final analysis that people make their assessments on these debates not so much on theatrics or the smoothness of the presenter, but instead on whether they believe the policies being described, the pathway being described, will make their life better or not."

Mr. Ryan and Mr. Biden face off tomorrow night.

View Wolf Blitzer's full interview with Mr. Romney below:

Christine Quinn (Illustration by, Dale Stephanos)

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn had been to the Democratic National Convention three times before, but this year’s event was different. These days, Ms. Quinn is widely seen as the front-runner in next year’s race to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In May, just 10 days after President Barack Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, instantly making it one of the hottest topics of this election cycle, Ms. Quinn married her longtime partner Kim Catullo in a wedding that received almost Kardashian-esque coverage from New York’s political press corps and made her one of the highest-profile married, openly gay politicians in the country.

With her newfound notoriety, it would seem, the stars are aligning for Ms. Quinn to follow Mr. Bloomberg’s footsteps as the most prominent mayor in the country. However, she will first have to cut her path to City Hall through a crowded field of opponents and a Council that may include members eager to exact revenge on the outgoing speaker, while also battling the persistent impression she is a political stand-in, a Medvedev to Mr. Bloomberg’s Putin.

That said, she hasn’t formally announced her plans. When we asked whether she has her eye on City Hall, Ms. Quinn shook her head and repeated this reporter’s name at least eight times like a disappointed parent.

“You know, I am very lucky to have an amazing job as speaker of the City Council, in a way kind of beyond my wildest dreams. I’m here at the Democratic Convention as a delegate, so we’ll deal with 2013 later on,” she said, seated at a patio table at CNN’s pop-up DNC grill.

Still, Ms. Quinn’s growing star power bodes well for her probable mayoral run. She led in early fund-raising, and the most recent Quinnipiac University polling shows she has nearly three times as much support as any of her likely rivals.

Ms. Quinn’s rise in New York politics has been fueled by what those who have worked with her describe as remarkable intellect and a reputation for burying herself in information. Along with what she calls her “geeky” disposition, Ms. Quinn’s political stamina seems to come from a genuine desire to make a positive contribution.

For Ms. Quinn, politics is often personal. As a gay woman, she has devoted much of her time and energy to same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues. At the convention, she made plans to visit Delaware to aid the push for marriage equality in that state and to fund-raise on behalf of the effort to legalize gay marriage in Maryland.

Ms. Quinn said she was “very” involved in the push for gay marriage in New York and had “lots of conversations” about the “strategy around getting it done” with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. When President Obama announced his support for the issue, Ms. Quinn discussed the news on Piers Morgan Tonight.

As an adult, Ms. Quinn said she “struggled” with telling her father about her sexuality. (Her mother died when she was a teenager.) In her mid-twenties, she made a trip to his apartment to break the news.

“My father’s first reaction, no, I wouldn’t call it supportive,” she recalled. “He said, ‘You should never say that again,’ when I told him that I was a lesbian. And I said, ‘You know, look, I did what I had to do. I told you. You can do whatever you want with the information.’ It was chilly for a few months, then things came around.”

Ms. Quinn’s father went on to walk her down the aisle at her wedding to Ms. Catullo. She said the experience convinced her others could change their opinions on gay marriage.

“Was it what he thought one of his child’s lives would be? No. But did he evolve? Did he get over it? Yes. Is that to me evidence that everyone can? Yes.”

Same-sex marriage isn’t the only national issue with which Ms. Quinn has personal experience. “You know, I lost my mother when I was 16 and she was 56, to breast cancer,” she said. “So, breast cancer and women’s health is an incredibly important issue to me.”

In her time at the convention, she met with representatives of Planned Parenthood and the pro-choice organization NARAL about using legislation she backed in the City Council regulating pro-life “crisis pregnancy centers” as a model for elsewhere around the country. She also made arrangements to travel to Chicago for “anti-gun violence work.”

In one of two national cable news appearances during the DNC, Ms. Quinn went on MSNBC to discuss women’s issues. On Hardball, Chris Matthews emphasized his guest’s status as a cable newcomer. “The great Christine Quinn, New York City Council speaker, who I believe is running for mayor of the great City of New York,” Mr. Matthews said. “So the new kid on the block ... you get to speak first here, Christine.”

As the camera panned to Ms. Quinn, she smiled and raised her eyebrows as Mr. Matthews referenced her mayoral prospects. She went on to offer impassioned support for the Democratic Party platform.

As warm as the national spotlight has been, however, Ms. Quinn may need to tidy up things on the home front before measuring the drapes at Gracie Mansion.

Since she was elected Speaker in 2006, Ms. Quinn has quite literally set the agenda for the New York City Council. She presides over meetings; proposed legislation is submitted through her office, and she oversees the Council’s discretionary funds. It’s a powerful role and a challenging one.

Councilman James Oddo, who as leader of the small Republican minority is part of the Council leadership with Ms. Quinn, said the members of the legislative body are difficult to manage, particularly as a mayoral election approaches.

“If council member X does something ridiculous, and we’ve seen ample examples of that, it gets put on your doorstep, particularly when you’re running or perceived to be running for higher office,” Mr. Oddo explained. “You’ve got 50 other people who are ambitious and have their own agendas and their own plans for the future. And you have to try to corral that.”

Mr. Oddo describes himself as an “unabashed fan” of Ms. Quinn. Though they “don’t agree on everything,” he said he admires her work ethic, preparation, intellect and humor, and the “love” she has for politics and policy.

Mr. Oddo characterized Ms. Quinn’s approach to government as involving long hours and a mastery of minutiae. “I respect her sort of obsessive-compulsive approach to city government,” said the councilman. “There’ll be times when I’d look, I’d skew a glance at her and give her the ‘What the F’ look. Like, how did you remember that?”

Still, according to some accounts, the tight control she has exerted over the body may have caused a buildup of pressure that’s set to explode just as she’s poised to make a run for mayor.

Multiple council members declined to speak for this story, but we talked with a council member and a council staffer who agreed to discuss Ms. Quinn as long as we didn’t identify them.

The staffer said Ms. Quinn has ruled by fear, withholding “member items” (the discretionary funding given to the pet projects of council members) from those who have crossed her. They also accused her of stalling bills and legislation she doesn’t approve of, specifically the Paid Sick Days Act, which was proposed in 2009 but has since languished without a vote in the Council despite being sponsored by 37 members.

“Because she holds the purse strings,” the staffer said, “the people that speak out, the people that challenge the majority thinking, those people typically wind up with less.”

The council member we spoke with agreed that Ms. Quinn has made members “fear” her and speculated this was why we were having trouble finding more of them willing to talk on record.

“Can you like someone and fear them at the same time?” the council member asked. We wondered whether Ms. Quinn, who first joined the Council in 1999, had managed to do both.

“No,” the council member said. “I don’t know if any of them like her.”

Indeed, the staffer we spoke with warned that some of Ms. Quinn’s dissenters who are tired of being “bullied” may see her mayoral bid as making her vulnerable.

“Certain members have talked amongst themselves about how they don’t use their power and how that may need to change in the lead-up to the mayoral,” the staffer said ominously.

Nonetheless, the source conceded Ms. Quinn might be able to ward off “retribution” by promising “something in return, should she be elected.”

The council member we spoke with was more doubtful, however. “As she runs next year, I’d imagine she’s going to try to grow her support,” they said. “I don’t know if it’s by making nice with those colleagues. I don’t know if that’s what she’s capable of doing.”

A spokesman for Ms. Quinn dismissed concerns of dissent in the Council.

“The Council has always been a place for lively debates over interesting ideas among members who represent diverse communities,” the spokesman said. “We fully expect to see vigorous debates next year as we do every year.”

Although Ms. Quinn also has a reputation for being too cooperative with Mayor Bloomberg, Al Hagan, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, described watching Ms. Quinn strongly oppose the mayor’s efforts to close firehouses.

“No firehouses were closed while she was on watch as the speaker, despite the fact that every year City Hall was calling for really massive closings,” he said. “I chuckle all the time when I read things that say she’s the mayor’s surrogate. I don’t see it that way at all.”

Mr. Oddo thinks Ms. Quinn prefers to have her fights with Mr. Bloomberg in private. “Every now and then you have to very publicly kick them in the groin,” he said. “She has chosen not to do that. I’m aware of some of those private moments where she has gone headlong into the administration that never necessarily made the newspapers.”

On those occasions, Mr. Oddo said there’s no questioning Ms. Quinn’s intensity. “When she is unhappy, she thunders, and I love it.”

For her part, Ms. Quinn implied she was the one pulling the strings in her relationship with City Hall.

“I think he has a close relationship with me,” Ms. Quinn said of Mr. Bloomberg when asked about the perception she’s too cozy with the mayor. “I made a decision that Michael Bloomberg and I would work together. I made a decision we would get as much done as we could for the people of the City of New York, and I made a decision that when we couldn’t come to agreement, we would disagree agreeably.”

She pointed out she has opposed Mayor Bloomberg on several “issues around social services,” including his food stamp fingerprinting plan and his homeless shelter policy.

“We’re actually suing the mayor over the homeless housing thing,” she said, “and somebody said to me, ‘What does this mean about your and the mayor’s relationship?’ I said, ‘Nothing! We’re not dating, get over it!’”

Either way, as she luxuriates in her newfound attention, balancing the various interests that have defined her career thus far will be crucial. Perhaps once again Ms. Quinn’s personal life will prove instructive. Since being set up with Ms. Catullo on a blind date the week after September 11th, Ms. Quinn has had to learn to find a balance between her workaholic tendencies and her life with a woman who was initially wary about dating a politician. For example, Ms. Quinn said, she stopped checking her BlackBerry at night because Ms. Catullo “would scream” about it.

Ms. Quinn wouldn’t tell us where the pair went on their honeymoon this summer, but she assured us that she was able to put work aside during the trip, for the most part.

“I BlackBerryed very little,” she said, “and I think my staff would even confirm that I was remarkably off the grid, which is not, like, my strength.”

hwalker@observer.com

Piers Morgan manning his Twitter feed at the RNC.

TAMPA, FL -- Sarah Palin took to Facebook yesterday to accuse Fox News of canceling all of her scheduled appearances on the network during the Republican National Convention, but CNN host Piers Morgan said he'd be glad to have her on his show during the RNC festivities. However, Mr. Morgan said Ms. Palin, who has a contract with Fox News through January, has yet to take him up on his invitation.

"I'm serious, if she's fallen out with Fox, I'd love to get her on. It's the one reason we haven't had her since I've been on air, because of her contract with Fox," Mr. Morgan told Politicker at the CNN Grill at the RNC last night. "Clearly, if she's had an issue with them and can now do us, I'd love to interview her."

Mr. Morgan made his initial entreaties to Ms. Palin on Twitter last night and said he is "pushing hard" to make an interview with the former vice presidential candidate happen.

"I see a chink in the armor," said Mr. Morgan with a laugh.

Mayor Bloomberg (Photo: Getty)

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told CNN host Fareed Zakaria he doesn't believe undocumented immigrants pose a crime risk in an interview for the upcoming television special Global Lessons: The GPS Road Map for Making Immigration Work.

"Undocumented have very low crime rate. Why? Because they're scared to death they're going to get arrested and deported," Mr. Bloomberg said of New York's undocumented immigrants.

New York has an estimated half a million undocumented immigrants. Political leaders in border states have complained illegal immigration has led to a spike in crime.

"We've been inundated with criminal activity. It's just -- it's been outrageous," Arizona Governor Jan Brewer told Fox News in 2010.

Mr. Bloomberg has advocated immigration reform including more visa programs for highly skilled workers, guest-worker programs and green cards for graduates with advanced degrees. In his interview with Mr. Zakaria, Mr. Bloomberg also said about 75 percent of undocumented immigrants in New York pay taxes.

"Undocumented are not unemployed, they take jobs. They may be kicking the cash economy off the books, but they work," said Mr. Bloomberg. "Employers withhold and then the government says, 'Well, this guy didn't earn enough, we have to send a refund. To where? The documentation doesnt exist or is fraudulent."

Mr. Bloomberg also told Mr. Zakaria he doesn't think undocumented immigrants put a strain on public schools or hospitals because they tend to leave their children in their home countries and are generally young and healthy.

Watch Mr. Bloomberg's interview with Mr. Zakaria here. Global Lessons: The GPS Road Map for Making Immigration Work airs on CNN Sunday at 8 and 10 p.m.

(Photo: YouTube)

Congressman Pete King, the head of the House's Homeland Security Committee, has been generating some media buzz recently with his forceful rejection of a Democratic amendment which would restricting federal funding from police forces declared to be discriminatory by the Attorney General. While the amendment wouldn't directly impact the NYPD, the subtext of the legislation was clearly intended to send a message regarding the Muslim-surveillance controversy unearthed by The Associated Press earlier this year. And on a recent CNN discussion, Mr. King pushed back hard when The New Yorker's Ryan Liza tried to give credit to The AP's report.

"First off, there is no profiling, that's the absolute nonsense that people like you and others are propagating," Mr. King stated flatly when the topic was broached.

"I'm not propagating anything I'm just telling you that there's been some very legitimate questions raised about what the NYPD is doing!" Mr. Lizza shouted back.

"I'm telling you that there is no profiling, so I want you take that back!," Mr. King countered. "There is no profiling, you have no evidence of profiling at all. They use terms like profiling [and] spying -- casually and cavalierly -- and you don't know what you're talking about. ... You're passing it on as if it's legitimate."

Mr. Lizza started to insist that his questions were legitimate, only to have Mr. King overtake the discussion again.

"They are not legitimate, they're illegitimate," he again stressed. "They're irresponsible charges to make."

As the show's host  began to switch the discussion to the Secret Service's prostitution scandal, Mr. King made one last point about Mr. Lizza, saying, “He can say whatever he wants, he's wrong."

Watch below:

Among the former governor's last expenditures were over $100,000 in charitable contributions made on July 10 -- the last day of this filing period.

The breakdown: $25,000 went to Harvard Law Fund; $25,000 to Horace Mann School; $25,000 went to Skadden Fellowship, and $50,000 to President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Spitzer's charitable streak comes after his CNN show was canceled, taking away the major vehicle he had for a potential 2013 return to politics. As the head of a huge real estate empire, his philanthropic endeavors could continue.

[h/t Bill Mahoney]

With CNN dropping Spitzer's talk show -- In The Arena nee Parker Spitzer -- the combative, wonky talk show host has lost the vehicle that allowed him to publicly flirt with running for mayor in 2013.

Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf -- who cut a few all the ads for Spitzer during his 1998 run for attorney general -- emailed me to say: "Former attorney general, resigned governor, former cable show host is just so former. The closest he'll  get to being elected mayor 2013 is voting."

The Spitzer 2013 talk  was just a bait to get more people to tune in and watch the show, but it was real enough for reporters to write about it, and for Dick Grasso, whom Spitzer dethroned from the New York Stock Exchange, to threaten the city with his own mayoral candidacy.

All of which is to say, there's still an opening for a business-friendly, non-Democratic Party establishment candidate to emerge.

CNN had hoped a Crossfire-like exchange between the former New York governor and conservative columnist Kathleen Parker would help restore its prime-time ratings, but it didn't happen. So they tried shedding Parker and the forced camaraderie, but apparently that didn't help.

The change takes effect on August 8, and CNN said it was still exploring its options with Spitzer, but he makes it sound like his time there is over.

"We engaged serious people in conversations about national and global issues in a way that was informative and challenging," he told TVNewser through a spokesperson. "I believe that we provided diverse and valuable perspectives during the show’s tenure. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at CNN.”

One day after Andrew Cuomo said he won't push for a vote on legalizing same-sex marriage until he has enough votes to pass it, the Human Rights Campaign releases another video from a supporter, who says, "let's make marriage equality the law in New York, and let's do it now."

Today's HRC video features former CNN anchor Larry King who has gotten married, and divorced, eight times.

Video after the jump.

"Some of us can get married again and again," King says in the video. "Others can't get married at all."