Jimmy McMillan. (Photo: David Shankbone/WikiCommons)

In what has to be the best endorsement of the mayor's race so far, Jimmy McMillan from The Rent is Too Damn High Party has earned a nod from none other than Papaya King.

The cheapo hot dog eatery not only plans to promote Mr. McMillan and his mutton chops in its stores, but has invited him to treat its new location on St. Mark's Place--which will be celebrating its grand opening tomorrow--as an "unofficial" campaign headquarters. It's also planning to  introduce a new specialty hot dog, "The Jimmy McMillan," in his honor.

"That's right, they invited me," a smitten Mr. McMillan told his fans in a YouTube video posted earlier today of the party. He could barely contain his amazement as he talked about the dog.

"I said, 'Wow! That's amazing! All these people gonna be eatin' me,'" he said to the camera. "Oh that's so hot! A hot dog with mustard and relish! That's better than Anthony Weiner!" he added, making a pun on one of his potential rival's names. “Hey--I didn't say that! I love you guys!"

In a letter to Mr. McMillan, Papaya King's Blake Gower stressed just how much the hot dog shop has in common with the perennial candidate and activist who shot to fame following his unforgettable appearance during the great 2010 New York gubernatorial debate, where his slogan, "The Rent is Too Damn High!" made waves.

"Today, you can get 2 franks and a famous papaya drink for $5; you can't even buy a latte at Starbucks for that price!  Food and drink is too damn expensive. We share similar values to your campaign and your message could not be clearer," Mr. Gower wrote in the letter, signed: "Stay fly, Jimmy.  Stay fly."

Mr. McMillan tweeted about the endorsement Friday with the words "Papaya King (Jimmy McMillan) hoy [sic] dog" and a link to the video, which appears to have been filmed this morning in Mr. McMillan's car. In case you want to stop by, the grand opening will take place tomorrow at 3 St. Mark's Place from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Here's the full video:

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. (Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is throwing her weight--and campaign resources--behind City Council candidate Antonio Reynoso in an effort to keep disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez from wining a seat on the council.

Ms. Quinn's campaign announced the launch of a "Women for Reynoso" campaign Friday, which will "rally women throughout New York in support of Antonio Reynoso and to make sure that Vito Lopez's career in government comes to an end."

"We must ensure that Vito Lopez never sets foot in City Hall," she said via a campaign spokesman. "I call on every elected official and every candidate running to rally behind Antonio to stop Vito Lopez."

According the spokesman, the campaign will focus on gathering volunteers to make calls and knock on doors as well as holding low-dollar events to raise money. It also plans to hold large rallies with prominent women in the district and city-wide.

It wasn't immediately clear who would foot the bill for the efforts. But the decision follows through on a threat Ms. Quinn made months ago to do everything in her power to make sure Mr. Lopez doesn't win.

On Thursday, Ms. Quinn told reporters she was "nauseated" by the allegations in the damning report released earlier this week that describes Mr. Lopez's repeated alleged inappropriate conduct with young female staffers, including frequent demands for massages, requests to wear revealing clothing, and invitations to spend the night in hotel rooms.

Mr. Quinn--and scores of others--called on Mr. Lopez to resign immediately and drop his council bid. Instead, on Friday morning, he announced that he plans to resign from the Assembly at the end of the current legislative session to launch his council bid.

"I expect to run a vigorous campaign on the issues facing the citizens of my community and hope to continue to serve them as a member of the City Council," he said in a statement. "I believe that the voters of the community should decide who should represent them."

Ms. Quinn's campaign is not the first launched to block Mr. Lopez. Only hours after the news broke that he had registered a campaign account, the New Kings Democrats launched a campaign, complete with urgent fliers urging residents to keep the City Council a "MOLESTER-FREE ZONE."

Mr. Reynoso did not immediately respond to Ms. Quinn's effort, but released a statement earlier urging Mr. Lopez to drop his bid.

"By virtue of his repeated sexual misconduct and criminal activity, Vito Lopez clearly does not deserve to hold public office," he said in the statement. "The bottom line is this: a publicly condemned criminal does not deserve the public trust, nor the privilege of representing Brooklyn and Queens in the City Council or the State Assembly. He must drop his campaign immediately, and begin looking for ways to right the wrongs he has inflicted on the people of this city."

Vito Lopez. (Photo: NYS Assembly)

Describing his conduct as "nauseating," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn again called on disgraced Assemblyman Vito Lopez to resign from office, but held her fire when it came to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

A day after the release of a scathing report detailing Mr. Lopez's alleged sexual harassment of numerous young female staffers, Ms. Quinn said Mr. Lopez had no business serving in elected office--much less running for the City Council--and urged New Yorkers to do anything they can to keep him out of City Hall.

“I think what we are finding out now in very specific--and quite frankly nauseating detail--is shocking and Assemblymember Lopez should resign from his position as an Assemblymember immediately. He should drop his run for the City Council. And if he doesn’t do that, everyone in New York City needs to get behind his opponent, Antonio Reynoso, get together and make sure that Antonio gets elected,” she told reporters at an unrelated press conference at City Hall.

“To allow Vito Lopez, after what he did in the State Capitol, to be allowed into this building, to potentially, in the name of representing New Yorkers, conduct himself in such a horrible way would be an outrage,” she added. “It is incumbent upon all of us in New York to join together behind Antonio and make sure Vito does not get into this building."

Ms. Quinn had vowed to do anything in her power to keep Mr. Lopez out of office even before the report. Mr. Lopez has rejected the "salacious and sensational" claims as "fallacious"

Still, Mr. Quinn declined to call for action against Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who, the report alleged, had tried to shield Mr. Lopez by dragging his feet in first reporting the harassment and keeping the claims secret from the press.

Clearly, she said, Mr. Silver had "made mistakes” in his handling the complaints. But she said he had already promised swift reforms.

“He has made a commitment to move forward and reform the process in Albany,” she said. “He needs to move quickly to address those and to take real steps to put reforms in place so those kind of mistakes can never happen again.”

She also declined to weigh in on specific reforms--or calls for the Assembly to expel Mr. Lopez from his seat.

“I don’t know what the powers are that they have,” she said, but added that, had the same allegations been made against a City Councilman, he would be gone.

As for City Councilman Daniel Halloran, who was arrested as part of an alleged bribery scheme, she said the case is still under investigation, tying the council’s hands.

(Photo: Getty)

Two weeks ago, Democratic State Sen. Malcolm Smith was arrested and charged with trying to bribe his way into the Republican mayoral primary, prompting cries for reform from both ends of the political spectrum. Today, Governor Andrew Cuomo rolled out a series of proposals that he hopes will address many of these concerns.

"You've heard the expression pay to play, this is pay to run," Mr. Cuomo said at a press conference announcing the measures. "The allegations that the minor parties basically, on occasion, have used campaign contributions to determine who gets the line and it's almost that the line goes to the highest bidder."

Specifically, Mr. Cuomo proposed an end to the Wilson-Pakula Act, a 1947 law which mandates that a candidate must obtain the permission of party leaders to compete in that party's primary if he or she is currently enrolled in a different party. Instead, Mr. Cuomo said candidates would simply collect signatures to petition for a ballot line regardless of their enrollment.

In another attempt to reduce the power of the political parties, Mr. Cuomo said he wants to alter enrollment deadlines to make it easier for candidates to change their affiliation. Currently, if a voter or candidate currently decides to change their affiliation, it's is not valid until the next general election year. Under Mr. Cuomo's proposal, a voter’s party registration change would take effect in just three months, perhaps eliminating the need for Mr. Smith to deal with allegedly corrupt party bosses to begin with.

Echoing others who have called the State Board of Elections a "toothless tiger," Mr. Cuomo also said he would seek to create an independent enforcement unit at the B.O.E. that would be authorized to investigate possible violations of election laws.

Last week Mr. Cuomo additionally proposed a number of other legislative changes to toughen the state's bribery laws and make it easier for district attorneys to prosecute political corruption.

(Photo: Getty)

In his first television appearance since a social media-induced scandal torpedoed his political career two years ago, a contrite Anthony Weiner began to describe what life may be like under a theoretical Weiner Administration.

In particular, during the taped NY1 interview with Errol Louis, Mr. Weiner staked out several policy positions and offered criticism of the Democratic campaign primary thus far, edging closer to a mayoral bid that, based on the tone of the interview, appeared more likely.

"I got to do it soon. I mean, I'm starting the process and people are inviting me to come things and to talk to them about issues and I'm going to look for opportunities to talk about things as I move forward," Mr. Weiner said, responding to a question about when he would officially launch a mayoral campaign. "I'll tell you one thing for sure,  I want to be a part of the ideas primary, that's for sure. That primary I want to do very well in."

Mr. Weiner has emphasized his interest in "the ideas primary" in other ways recently too.  Earlier today, Mr. Weiner produced a policy booklet, for instance.  In his interview tonight, Mr. Weiner delved deeper into hot-button policy issues, including stop-and-frisk and a proposed inspector general for the city's police department. Interestingly, while critiquing how stop-and-frisk is executed, Mr. Weiner expressed his general support for the controversial anti-crime policy, placing him to the right of many of his potential competitors.

"I don't think it's smart to stop the police from having the ability to do that," Mr. Weiner explained. "But I will say this, if you are having so many 250's, so many stop-and-frisks going on in your precincts and the number of actual arrests and actual convictions is a tiny fraction of them, you're not a good cop, you're not a good commander, you're not a good supervisor. You're just not doing a good job. I don't know you can see the statistics that have been released now after court fights that show the relatively tiny number of people who actually turned out to have done something of any race, but particularly people of color, and consider those cops that did that job a good one."

Calling for more "transparency" in the police department, Mr. Weiner also criticized one of his hypothetical rivals, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, for her proposal to create an inspector general for the police department.

"I don't believe it's a good idea on the policy side," Mr. Weiner said. "I think it does something no one running for mayor I think should want. It blurs the lines of authority. If I run for mayor and if I become the mayor, I want people looking at me and saying, 'you know what, you're in charge, you did this, you're accountable, both on the good side and the bad side.' And I think inspector generals are vestiges of a time in New York politics when we were creating authorities and boards and agencies, anything we could to buffer the tough decisions from the boss. I don't like that ethos, I don't like that thinking."

Sounding like a potential candidate, Mr. Weiner despaired at both the policy discussions breaking out in the Democratic primary and the media coverage that has accompanied those discussions.

"The public debate has been a little disheartening at times, I think sometimes we get caught up in one or two issues and anything else that goes on seems to be too much for the coverage," he argued. "As a consumer--which I've had a chance to be, just a pure consumer of news for a while and information--I wish there were more ideas and books out there floating around, more decision-makers out there to look at that."

(Photo: Facebook)

The February 19 special election to replace Councilman James Sanders continues to heat up, and one of the candidates, Donovan Richards, scored the influential endorsement of the labor-backed Working Families Party.

“A district that’s still badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy needs a champion for working families like Donovan Richards,” said Bill Lipton, the WFP's deputy director in a statement, referencing the extensive devastation that occurred along the southeastern Queens coastline. “Donovan has fought gun violence and protected libraries, schools and hospitals from cuts and closure. He’ll be a tremendous addition to the City Council.”

Mr. Richards, the chief of staff to Mr. Sanders when he was in the Council, might be considered the front-runner in the crowded field that also includes former State Senate staffer Selvena Brooks, attorney Jacques Leandre, Community Board 8 District Manager Marie Adam-Ovide and Pesach Osina, who works in Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder's office, as well as community activists Mike Duncan and Earnest Flowers.

In addition to at least one of the WFP's member unions, Mr. Richards also has Mr. Sanders's endorsement, all of which will probably boost him in what is almost certainly destined to be a low-turnout affair. The district was vacated when Mr. Sanders won election to the State Senate last fall.

(Photo: Getty)

"Okay, the race for the White House is over and it's time to look at the New York City mayoral race, where the possibly decisive Democratic primary could be as early as June. The morning line? City Council Speaker Christine Quinn leaves the other Democratic contenders in the dust," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement with his latest survey.

The numbers indeed show Ms. Quinn far ahead, with 32% support among registered Democrats, even as she faces off against two citywide elected officials, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, and 2009's nominee, Bill Thompson. Mr. Thompson barely edged out Mr. de Blasio for the silver medal, 10 to 9 percent, with Mr. Liu standing at 5 percent.

(The survey was conducted before Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer dropped out of the race, but he took only 4 percent).

It's not exactly surprising that Ms. Quinn is ahead; she's led all recent polling, including last month's NY1/Marist survey.

However, it's important to keep in mind that multi-candidate primary races are incredibly fluid, as voters are far more likely to change their mind in a primary than the typical Republican vs. Democrat affair. Also, as the poll included all registered Democrats, it undoubtedly captured a wider audience than the more motivated electorate that will actually turn out come Election Day. Nevertheless, it's much better to be ahead than behind, and Ms. Quinn's rivals have a lot of work to do.

Two potential Republican candidates were also tested, M.T.A. Chairman Joe Lhota and former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión, and they distantly trailed in a question pitting them against a generic Democrat.

View below:

(Photo: YouTube)

A number of key New York congressional seats were at stake election day last week. When all the votes were counted, though there were over a half-dozen competitive races only three districts changed partisan hands. One of those belonged to Hudson Valley Rep. Nan Hayworth, a freshman Republican who came in on the Tea Party wave two years ago and narrowly lost her seat this time around to Democratic attorney Sean Patrick Maloney. On Friday, Ms. Hayworth went on Richard French Live to look back on her unsuccessful election, as well as the broader national race.

"Look, Hurricane Sandy did have an effect on the public discourse," she contended. "There are issues of momentum that affected races like mine. The President had a substantial percentage margin over Governor Romney and we had known if there were a really large margin for the president, above say 5 points, that that would be very hard for us to overcome structurally in the new district that I was running in."

Another problem, Ms. Hayorth said, was the press' framing of the campaign. “I'm not blaming the media, but the media did tend to take up the president's message more vigorously than Governor Romney's message," she argued. "But then again, it's incumbent upon those of us who are in this contest to recognize those factors and apply resources accordingly."

Overall, the congresswoman sounded fairly remorseful about returning to private life.

"I loved this job and I cherished it and it was a great honor," she said. "So my most fervent wish was that I could continue to serve, or I wouldn't have run. But I'm confident I'll find other ways to be useful. It's a tough life."

Watch below:

The State Assembly map in NYC for net year.

With last night's elections, a number of seats changed hands between the Democratic and Republican parties across New York State, and indeed the entire country. But in the five boroughs of New York City, it was a one-way street.

At the congressional level, for example, the city lost half its Republican representation with the exit of Queens' Bob Turner, who unsuccessfully ran for his party's nomination for the U.S. Senate. GOP Councilman Dan Halloran had his sights on the remnants of Mr. Turner's district in northeastern part of the borough, but the area's solidly Democratic tendencies allowed Assemblywoman Grace Meng to easily leap over Mr. Halloran and secure a new gig in Washington D.C.

While in the State Legislature, Republicans had specifically targeted Democratic Senator Joe Addabbo, reshaping his district to contain every single conservative-minded voter in eastern Queens. In addition, they deployed their top recruit in rising GOP star Eric Ulrich, who enjoyed a fundraising advantage throughout the race. Nevertheless, Mr. Addabbo held on, landing the coveted endorsement of Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as a big push from organized labor. Hurricane Sandy, which devastated many of the conservative areas drawn into Mr. Addabbo's district, didn't help Mr. Ulrich's electoral fortunes either, but it's not clear it was decisive in the outcome.

While in Brooklyn, Republicans had another loss when incumbent David Storobin couldn't muster up enough votes against Democratic former Councilman Simcha Felder. Mr. Felder, cozy with the Republican conference before the election, still might end up on the Republican team, but his victory demonstrated the increasingly Republican tendencies of the city's Orthodox Jewish population aren't enough when a socially conservative Democrat is on the ticket and backed by the community's political institutions. Senator Marty Golden, occupying a neighboring district, won with a comfortable margin last night and will now be the only Republican state legislator calling a borough other than Staten Island his home.

(At the City Council level, there are two Queens lawmakers outside of Staten Island, Mr. Ulrich and Mr. Halloran, mentioned above.)

In the State Assembly, it's a similar story but with districts gerrymandered to favor Democrats. Outside of a couple dozen blocks in Bay Ridge represented by Staten Island's Nicole Malliotakis, no part of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx or Manhattan has GOP representation in the state's lower chamber. Even in conservative areas, Republican candidates failed to make a dent. Democratic Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz, for example, represents the heart of a conservative Russian community in southeastern Brooklyn, but managed an easy win thanks to his primary challenger, Ben Akselrod, staying on the Independence Party's line and grabbing almost 20 percent of the vote in the general election.

In some ways, Staten Island isn't even as much of a Republican stronghold it once was. In the heavily conservative South Shore, Assemblyman-Elect Joe Borelli will hold onto a Republican seat and State Senator Andy Lanza won't be going anywhere anytime soon, but Democrats have a decent presence themselves in other local officials. Indeed, in a bit of a shocker, President Barack Obama apparently managed to edge out Mitt Romney on the island, a benchmark he couldn't cross with his stronger performance in the 2008 presidential race.

The Grand Old Party did have one marquee victory, however, in the re-election of Staten Island's Congressman Michael Grimm, who managed to grab a number of Mr. Obama's supporters as he faced off against Democrat Mark Murphy. Although a federal investigation and other controversies dogged the incumbent, the electorate wasn't willing to embrace the negative headlines without solid evidence of wrongdoing present. Mr. Grimm's biography as veteran and former F.B.I. agent, and his status as one of the most active freshman legislators in the House of Representatives, certainly didn't hurt either.

This all isn't to say the Republicans aren't poised to make gains in 2013's City Council races and another round of congressional and state races in 2014; there are undoubtedly a number of potential pickup opportunities. Just a simple note that, after yesterday, the GOP's political landscape tilted even further towards the city's smallest borough.

(Photo: Getty)

No surprises here. President Barack Obama and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand both emerged victorious in New York State tonight.

Although countless voters remain in line at New York City precincts, which are required to remain open for all voters who showed up before 9 p.m., the Empire State's overall preference for Democrats was still enough to overwhelm any ambiguity as to the ultimate victor.

Ms. Gillibrand, who dominated in pre-election polling and had a mammoth campaign war chest, was not expected to face a serious threat today. Her opponent, Republican attorney Wendy Long, waged an aggressive and energetic campaign, but, thanks to a lack in resources, never quite caught on. This victory will be Ms. Gillibrand's second in four years. In 2010, she won the 2-year remainder of then-Senator Hillary Clinton's term after the incumbent left to join the Obama administration.

Attention now will be paid to the downballot races, especially for the U.S. House where the redistricting process left an unusually large swath of competitive campaigns. In the New York City metropolitan area, these include the races of Long Island's Democratic incumbent, Tim Bishop, and GOP Representatives Michael Grimm and Nan Hayworth in Staten Island and the Hudson Valley respectively. Control of the New York State Senate could also potentially be in the air if Democratic candidates overperform expectations in a number of key races as well.

Nationwide, the Democratic Party has done well in U.S. Senate races so far. Connecticut's Chris Murphy, Massachusetts' Elizabeth Warren, Pennsylvania's Bob Casey and Florida's Bill Nelson have all been projected to win. In Indiana, Democrat Joe Donelly is currently leading Richard Mourdock, and, in Maine, Independent Angus King, who's expected to side with the Democrats, is the projected winner.