As candidates for public office wind their way through various organizations' endorsement screenings, they are often requested to fill out questionnaires detailing their specific stands on a given group's most important issues.

However, one Democratic club, New Kings Democrats, recently took things a bit further and presented candidates with surveys designed to showcase their creativity and wit, including questions on which actor or actress would play them in a movie and what items they'd want if stranded on a desert island.

Here are some of our favorite answers, courtesy of the New Kings Democrats and the candidates for public advocate:

If they were making a bio-pic about you, what would it be called and who would play you?

State Senator Dan Squadron:

"On a Clear Day, You can Maybe See a Few Feet In Front of You: The Albany Experience," starring Clive Owen. Narrated by Werner Herzog.

City Councilwoman Letitia James:

"Fierce" and Queen Latifah

Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani:

Reshma Shetty in "A Woman Who Doesn't Wait in Line"

If you were shipwrecked, what three items would you want to land onshore with you?

Mr. Squadron:

A helicopter. A pilot. Dark rum.

Ms. James:

Water, a good book and my Blackberry. Of course I'd have my lip balm for good measure.

Ms. Saujani:

Kindle, my dog Stanley, Bollywood tunes

Assembly candidate Jason Otaño:

Machete, Axe, Fishing pole

What song is currently playing in your head?

Mr. Squadron:

A mash-up of "No Surrender" and "Sure Shot"

Ms. James:

John Legend, "Tonight Best You Ever Had"

Ms. Saujani:

Alicia Keys, "Girl on Fire"

Mr. Otaño: "

Stuck in the Middle with You"--clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. here I am stuck in the middle with you.

(Photos: Getty/NYC Council)

The Barack Obama Democrat Club of Upper Manhattan. (Photo: www.obamadems.org)

Upper Manhattan's Barack Obama Democratic Club voted last night on its endorsements, and the list might surprise you. The home club of City Councilman Robert Jackson and City Council candidate Mark Levine, a long-time ally of State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, gave its nods to Public Advocate Bill de Blasio for mayor and City Councilwoman Letitia James for public advocate.

It also voted to endorse Mr. Jackson for Manhattan borough president and--unsurprisingly--Mr. Levine for the 7th District council seat, currently held by the term-limited Mr. Jackson.

The endorsements were all decisive, except for the mayor's race, which required an instant run-off vote. There, Mr. de Blasio beat out second-place finisher, City Comptroller John Liu, 39-18. Former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is expected to jump into the race any moment now, also garnered two votes (versus six for former City Comptroller Bill Thompson, the only African-American in the race, and eight for City Council Speaker and earl front-runner Christine Quinn.)

Mr. Levine, who has long been a player in Uptown politics, was previously endorsed by Mr. de Blasio, who has had a long-standing relationship with the club, whose members hail from the largely black and Hispanic neighborhoods of Washington Heights, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights and Inwood.

"When the vote was announced last night, Bill de Blasio said, 'T'his is a huge step forward.' The club membership clearly agrees," club spokesman Alex Luis Castex-Porter said. "Tonight we backed him, and many other qualified, progressive candidates. The Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan is looking forward to working with our endorsed candidates to ensure that New York City sees strong, progressive leadership in 2014."

Mr. Jackson is currently fighting a tough battle for borough president against several well-connected candidates, including former Lower Manhattan community board chair Julie Menin. Mr. Espaillat, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and other uptown leaders have endorsed Ms. Menin. (Mr. Jackson infuriated Mr. Espaillat last year when the councilman backed his challenger and long-time rival, ex-Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, who had made a failed play for Mr. Espaillat's senate seat.)

But despite what sources described as Ms. Menin's aggressive attempts to court members, the club chose to endorse Mr. Jackson by a margin of more than 2-1.

Political club endorsements are not crucial, but are often cited by campaigns as signs of growing momentum and often help candidates collect petition signatures and mobilize voters.

Councilwoman James speaking at a rally. (Photo: Facebook)

"It was very surreal," Brooklyn City Councilwoman Letitia James said, reflecting on the moment her predecessor was assassinated. "When I got the news that he had been shot, I said, 'I think I know who did it.'"

Othniel Askew wanted to run against Councilman James Davis. Instead, on a City Hall balcony in July of 2003, he drew a silver .40-caliber pistol and started shooting--killing Mr. Davis and setting events in motion that would place Ms. James in public office.

"The person who assassinated him visited me the night before," Ms. James recalled, speaking with Politicker recently at a Manhattan campaign office. “Sat on my stoop and came into my home for two hours. He wanted to know whether or not I was going to run again, and if I was not, he wanted my support."

A special election opened up in the aftermath of the incumbent's death and Ms. James, who had run against Mr. Davis before, would indeed mount another bid. This time, she ran for the seat solely on the Working Families Party line--the first New York State official ever to do so successfully. The circle completed itself Thursday night when the labor-backed third party endorsed Ms. James again as she now campaigns for citywide for public advocate.

Her campaign has been humming along too. In addition to the WFP, she has scooped up union endorsements and support from clubs far outside her Brooklyn district. Last week, one of the Upper West Side's most prominent political clubs, the Three Parks Independent Democrats, offered its endorsement, giving her 72 votes, versus 20 for the man seen as her chief opponent, State Sen. Dan Squadron. Another group, the Broadway Democrats, soon followed.

Curtis Arluck, a district leader and Broadway Democrats member, pointed to Ms. James' experience--as well as a desire for diversity--as key to the endorsement. There are only three citywide positions in New York and, as several white candidates are jockeying for the mayoralty and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer runs unopposed for comptroller, the public advocate's office is viewed by some Democrats as an opportunity to have demographic diversity on their ticket.

"When you have two good candidates and one has more experience ... and is also African American and a woman, that's appealing," Mr. Arluck told Politicker.

Ms. James' own campaign pitch isn't too complicated either. "I believe that the narrative of my life--the story of who I am--just speaks to the mission of the office," she explained. "It fits hand in glove."

She proceeded to tick off functions of the office--emphasizing its role as an ombudsman and watchdog--adding phrases like "I've done that" at each point. She was particularly proud of her early criticism of the city's bungled CityTime project, which aimed to modernize government payroll systems but instead wasted hundreds of millions of dollars. Ms. James further claimed with near-certainty that she'll be able to increase the office's relatively underfunded budget, enabling her to create new divisions for low-wage workers and immigrants.

"Imagine taking the skills that I have and utilizing it on a citywide basis," she said. "I've demonstrated that time and time again and that's why I'm running."

Ms. James, whose voice booms like a preacher's at press conferences, has emerged as one of the loudest members of the City Council when it comes to issues she's focused on, including not only CityTime but cuts to social services, the police department's stop-and-frisk policy and the controversial Atlantic Yards development project, located in her Fort Greene-based district.

"She and I did not always share the same view on the Atlantic Yards project," Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who lives in the district and has not endorsed in the race, told Politicker. "But her concerns were always incredibly well articulated and with a passion and delivered with a sense of forcefulness."

Her detractors, to the extent they're audible, largely point to her campaign's relatively weak fund-raising and directly question her viability as a candidate. New quarterly filings will be made public later this week, but up until last March, Ms. James had raised about $500,000 with a high burn rate--$300,000 spent. Her top two opponents have done much better in the same period. Both Mr. Squadron and former Deputy Public Advocate Reshma Saujani raised roughly $1 million while spending close to $200,000. (Cathy Guerriero and Sidique Wai are also vying for the Democratic nomination.)

"The money will come in. I'm not really worried about the money," Ms. James insisted when we brought up her lagging numbers. "We will be competitive. My strongest point has never been fundraising. My strongest point has been advocacy and focusing on people and transforming the lives of others. And that's why you're looking at the next public advocate."

Partially because of her fund-raising, there are often rumors that Ms. James will drop down into another race. Recently, the Daily News reported that Ms. James was eying a possible run for Brooklyn borough president in the wake of revelations that the race's front-runner, State Sen. Eric Adams, may be under federal investigation. Ms. James flatly rejected the report.

Others have quietly speculated that she might run again for her current Council seat, and try to succeed Christine Quinn as the next City Council Speaker.

"Don't try to distract me," she said when asked about a possible speakership bid last month. "They want me to run for speaker, borough president. They want me to run for district attorney. It's wonderful that so many people are talking about me. As long as they keep talking about me, then I'm a winner ... Thank you for your vote of confidence, I'm running for public advocate."

Ms. James was similarly committed when we asked if she might follow the path of current Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and run for mayor after a term or two in office.

"I'm running for public advocate. I'm running for public advocate. I'm running for public advocate," she replied, repeating the trained response for emphasis. "I'm running for public advocate."

Additional reporting by Jill Colvin.

The Working Families Party logo. (Photo: Facebook)

Last night, the labor-backed Working Families Party announced their support in a host of races across the city, beginning with Tish James for public advocate and working their way down to open-seat council campaigns.

The endorsement for Ms. James, a Brooklyn councilwoman, is particularly notable because, with a less sizable campaign war chest than her top rivals, Ms. James' strategy relies on unifying union forces. There are two other citywide races this year, but without a strong labor consensus for mayor and a virtually uncontested race for comptroller, the public advocate competition is relatively unique.

“Tish is always the first one to stand with David and stare down Goliath. For a decade, she's been a leader on every fight that matters to progressives in New York," WFP's executive director Dan Cantor gushed in a statement. "Whether it’s paid sick days, defending our public schools or cracking down on corporate looters, Tish has been out front.”

At a glance, several other candidates also stand out. Carlos Menchaca, for instance, is the only endorsee who's working to unseat a Democratic incumbent--Brooklyn's Sara Gonzalez. Additionally, Igor Oberman, Laurie Cumbo, Austin Shafran and Marc Landis are fighting for votes in very crowded primaries and are surely quite happy with the WFP's seal of approval.

The WFP is still neutral in a few races, especially those with more moderate or establishment-friendly incumbents, but as of last night, the party has weighed in on the vast majority of them.

View the list below, the latest endorsements are bolded:

Public Advocate: Letitia James
Comptroller: Scott Stringer

City Council District 2: Rosie Mendez
City Council District 3: Corey Johnson
City Council District 4: Dan Garodnick
City Council District 5: Micah Kellner
City Council District 6: Marc Landis
City Council District 7: Mark Levine
City Council District 8: Melissa Mark-Viverito
City Council District 10: Ydanis Rodriguez
City Council District 11: Andy Cohen
City Council District 12: Andy King
City Council District 14: Fernando Cabrera
City Council District 15: Ritchie Torres
City Council District 16: Vanessa Gibson
City Council District 18: Annabel Palma
City Council District 19: Austin Shafran
City Council District 21: Julissa Ferreras
City Council District 22: Costa Constantinides
City Council District 23: Mark Weprin
City Council District 24: Rory Lancman
City Council District 25: Danny Dromm
City Council District 26: Jimmy Van Bramer
City Council District 27: Daneek Miller
City Council District 30: Elizabeth Crowley
City Council District 31: Donovan Richards
City Council District 33: Steve Levin
City Council District 34: Antonio Reynoso
City Council District 35: Laurie Cumbo
City Council District 36: Kirsten Foy
City Council District 37: Kim Council
City Council District 38: Carlos Menchaca
City Council District 39: Brad Lander
City Council District 40: Mathieu Eugene
City Council District 41: Darlene Mealy
City Council District 43: Vincent Gentile
City Council District 45: Jumaane Williams
City Council District 46: Alan Maisel
City Council District 48: Igor Oberman
City Council District 49: Debi Rose

(Photo: Facebook)

A crowded field of candidates are vying to replace Councilwoman Tish James, each hoping to leverage every electoral advantage for her Fort Greene-based seat. Accordingly, one contender, Laurie Cumbo, the former head of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, rolled out the support of the small-but-powerful Hotel Trades Council earlier today.

“We are thrilled to announce our support for Laurie Cumbo today,” Josh Gold, the union's political director, said in a statement. “Laurie knows first hand the struggles of New York's working families, and we cannot think of a more qualified representative of the 35th. Our 32,000 members are ready to start work on her campaign and I am looking forward to working with her in the City Council.”

Ms. Cumbo is the latest in a small string of endorsements from the hotel worker's union as it seeks to leverage its organizing muscle into a City Council and mayoralty favorable to its interests.

Other candidates for Ms. James' seat include District Leader Jesse Hamilton, former District Leader Ola Alabi, Ede Fox, a former chief of staff for Councilman Jumaane Williams, and Jelani Mashariki, the founder of Black Veterans for Social Justice. For her part, Ms. Alabi was endorsed by the Correction Officers Benevolent Association and the Heat & Frost Insulators of Local 12.

Ms. James is vacating her seat to run citywide for public advocate.

Update (11:53 a.m.): Added additional information about Ms. Alabi's support.

Councilwoman James addresses the crowd.

Yesterday, vandals burned close to a dozen mezuzahs--religious artifacts affixed to doors--in front of Jewish homes in Williamsburg, drawing widespread outrage both in the local community and among candidates for higher office. This morning, several such pols were among the officials at a press conference blasting the perpetrators.

"Today all of us are Jewish and all of us celebrate this wonderful community,"  Councilwoman Tish James, a candidate for public advocate, proclaimed. "But I've come here today to say that the individual or individuals that is responsible for this most heinous crime will be prosecuted ... You will be caught and it is in your best interest to turn yourself in. In fact, I urge you to turn yourself in before anyone in this community gets their hand on you. It's in your best interest."

Several elected official behind Ms. James, including Council Speaker Chris Quinn, visibly reacted to the "get their hands on you" reference to vigilantism, but they still took their own turns to condemn the muzuzah burning, which occurred on Holocaust Remembrance Day, as a hate crime.

"Make no mistake, that was a coordinated hate crime perpetrated on Holocaust Remembrance Day--clearly an act designed to spread fear into the hearts of New Yorkers, in particular the Jewish community," Ms. Quinn firmly stated. "So I'm out here to send a very strong message to the coward or cowards who have perpetrated this crime: your actions do not reflect the belief or feelings of New Yorkers. Our city's greatest strength is our diversity and we will not tolerate acts of hate."

Several of Ms. Quinn's rivals in this year's mayoral race also issued statements on the controversy. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was first out of the gate yesterday, followed by former Comptroller Bill Thompson today.

“Nothing but hatred can explain why someone would burn mezuzahs on Yom Hashoah, the day we remember the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust,” Mr. de Blasio said. “This is a sickening act of prejudice that strikes at the very core of who we are as a city.”

View Ms. James' comments below, video courtesy of Shimon Gifter:

Councilwoman Tish James (Photo: Facebook)

Councilwoman Tish James, who's currently running for public advocate, will be doing some cable news punditry this weekend. Tomorrow morning, Ms. James will appear on MSNBC's Up With Chris Hayes to discuss her agenda and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's soda ban.

"I’ve been proud to champion progressive causes in the New York City Council, fighting for good jobs, affordable housing, improving our schools and making sure every single New Yorker has a voice in government," Ms. James said in a statement announcing her appearance. "I will never pass up an opportunity to advocate for social and economic justice in our city and beyond."

Ms. James' apparent ability to reach a national media audience may help her make up for the fact that in previous financial filing periods, she has lagged behind her main rivals, Reshma Saujani and State Senator Daniel Squadron, in terms of fundraising. She also secured a union boost this week from 32BJ SEIU's endorsement.

Senator Squadron (Photo: NYS Senate)

State Senator Daniel Squadron announced today that he's raised more than $2 million in his race for public advocate. Mr. Squadron, who's facing three other candidates in a Democratic primary, hauled in a total of $2,150,000 in donations and expected public matching funds. He raised $183,000 in the last two months and has spent only $190,000 overall.

"New York families need a fighter who is ready and able to stand up for them and deliver results," Mr. Squadron said in a statement. "I'm incredibly honored by the support we’ve received from all five boroughs, and I'm excited that our grassroots campaign will have the resources we need to build our effort across the city."

Mr. Squadron is the first public advocate candidate to release information about what's in his war chest. The Campaign Finance Board will announce all filings on March 15. Spokespersons for Councilwoman Tish James and former Deputy Public Advocate Reshma Saujani, Mr. Squadron's main rivals, said they did not have updated fundraising information available. As of this writing, dark horse candidate Cathy Guerriero, a Columbia professor, did not return a request for comment.

The public advocate position is open this year because Bill de Blasio, who currently holds the office, is running for mayor.

Councilwoman Tish James (Photo: Facebook)

Councilwoman and candidate for Public Advocate Tish James wants an apology from the Fox News host who suggested rapes do not occur on college campuses during an appearance on the roundtable show The Five.

"Questioning whether rapes happen on college campuses is deeply offensive to all, especially those who have suffered irreparable harm as a result of these vicious crimes," Ms. James said in a statement. "Furthermore, when the very existence of rape is challenged in a public forum, such as a widely-viewed cable news channel, it discourages the reporting of an already under-reported crime."

Bob Beckel, one of the quintet of co-hosts on The Five, sparked a major controversy with his remarks, which he made during a discussion of a Colorado bill that would allow women to carry concealed weapons on college campuses to prevent sexual assaults.

"When was the last time you heard about a rape on campus?" Mr. Beckel asked.

The other co-hosts immediately challenged Mr. Beckel's remark and, in the end, the panel concluded women should indeed be armed on campus. However, Ms. James still wants to see an apology from Mr. Beckel and the network.

"Bob Beckel and Fox News should immediately apologize for Mr. Beckel’s outrageous and offensive comments," said Ms. James. "They have no place on the public airwaves or anywhere else in our society."

It was the multicultural American Dream, the only hope of ambitious Russian immigrants and the possible death knell of Orthodox Jewish communities, all at once, at least according to some of those testifying at the redistricting hearing last night in Brooklyn.

It was not the controversial draft map that placed potential Council candidate Vito Lopez in a neighboring district--the aspect of this year's redrawing of the City Council lines to reflect the new Census numbers that has attracted the most media coverage--that sparked the controversy last night. Rather, two versions of Councilman Michael Nelson’s 48th District offered alternating realities for competing demographic groups, dominating the public hearing in front of most members of the Districting Commission.

Along with the term-limited Mr. Nelson, Orthodox Jewish leaders packed the hearing to affirm their opposition to proposed council lines that they said would split their Midwood area stronghold into two districts, Mr. Nelson’s and the neighboring 45^th, represented by Councilman Jumaane Williams. The proposed district also ropes in Russian-populated apartment complexes in Coney Island and Brighton Beach like Luna Park, Trump and Sea Breeze. Everyone testifying at the hearings agreed that Mr. Nelson’s district would become more Russian, which was thrilling for Russian media mogul Gregory Davidzon.

“Almost everybody who spoke today asked to keep communities together. African-American, Orthodox Jew, Chinese people and everybody has to be together,” Mr. Davidzon said. “You created a district with all Russians together. What’s wrong with this?”

Much is at stake for both factions. If the district lines are indeed altered significantly from Mr. Nelson’s current district, the probability of the emergent Russian community electing their first member of the City Council increases. After the revised district lines became public on Nov. 16, Brooklyn Councilman David Greenfield tweeted that, “First thing that jumps out in S. Brooklyn is creation of Super-Russian-American 48^th Council District.”

If the lines are adopted, the clout the Orthodox Jews have in their district with Mr. Nelson could be less likely to be replicated with the new council member. Orthodox Jews fear funding for crucial community programs will dry up and the district could lose some of its conservatism as less religious communities are added. Mr. Nelson and his allies sought to defend the current district as a multicultural bastion.

“The new lines that are proposed will disenfranchise our wonderful community,” said Josh Mehlman, an Orthodox Jewish civic leader. “Many people will not sit back and just allow it to be divided up. If this goes forward unchanged it will certainly backfire and cause problems that may be unforeseen. The Orthodox community has grown exponentially and this attempt to divide us is unconstitutional in our opinion and will certainly be a detriment to our community.”

If the proposed district is adopted, there will be ripple effects in the neighboring 47^th District being vacated by Councilman Domenic Recchia Jr. While John Lisyanskiy, a candidate of Russian descent, has already leaped into the race to replace Mr. Recchia, other candidates are holding off making their official declarations until the lines are finalized.

A possible candidate much further north, former district leader Lincoln Restler, saw his chances of victory take a hit when the commission unveiled a seemingly slight alteration to Councilman Stephen Levin’s Brownstone Brooklyn 33rd District that joined a Satmar community in northern Bedford-Stuyvesant with the influential Satmars of south Williamsburg, expanding a voting bloc supportive of Mr. Levin. Opinions among Orthodox Jews themselves were decidedly mixed; one Satmar said he didn’t want to live “in a Jewish ghetto,” preferring two council members for his community, while another praised the commission for uniting a “community of interest.”

Mr. Levin argued that the move was intended to increase the percentage of African-Americans in Councilwoman Tish James’s 35^th District. More speakers at the hearing were in Mr. Restler’s corner than Mr. Levin’s, including the term-limited Ms. James.

“Establishing a separate council district that would primarily affect the Orthodox population actually divides these residents from their longstanding neighbors,” Ms. James said. “Many leaders from the Orthodox community have shared their concerns about this Bed-Stuy area being rolled into a new councilmanic district, as they seek to have multiple legislative representatives.”