Christine Quinn making her campaign announcement. (Photo: YouTube)

In a move that will come as a shock to no one, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn officially announced she's running for mayor this morning via a video released online.

"I'm running for mayor 'cause I love this city," Ms. Quinn says in the clip.

Ms. Quinn's video, which is just over five minutes long, gives voters a chance to learn about her background growing up in a "typical, middle-class household" with Irish immigrant roots, a father who was in a union and a mother who died from breast cancer when her daughter was 16 years old. Overall the video has an intimate feel, with a soft soundtrack and Ms. Quinn at times laughing and letting her voice quaver with emotion.

Along with the details about her early family life, the video described Ms. Quinn's political experience. It notes her background as a tenant organizer, LGBT activist and in the City Council, with a focus on her backing of the living wage bill and pushes to expand the city's public kindergarten program.

"I'm about keeping New York City a place for the middle class to live and grow," Ms. Quinn says in the clip. "I'm not about talking, and fingerpointing and complaining. I'm about getting things done."

Ms. Quinn finished the video with a promise to launch a "walk and talk tour" that will take her through "every neighborhood in this city." That tour will begin today and, like her rival Bill de Blasio, Ms. Quinn will be making stops in all five boroughs in her first day on the campaign trail. With Ms. Quinn officially in the mayor's race along with Bill Thompson and Mr. de Blasio, Comptroller John Liu remains the final major Democratic candidate who's expected to enter the fray and hasn't officially declared his intention to run.

Watch Ms. Quinn's announcement video below.

Lena Dunham. (Photo: Twitter)

Girls star Lena Dunham has already shown an interest in local politics, but now, the actress-slash-auteur-slash-author is getting involved in the presidential election. Ms. Dunham taped a video for the Obama campaign filled with plenty of sexual innuendo and her reasons for supporting President Barack Obama.

Ms. Dunham's video, which is entitled "Your First Time," was released this evening and features her staring into the camera having seemingly giving advice about losing one's virginity.

"Your first time shouldn't be with just anybody," Ms. Dunham says. "You want to do it with a great guy."

As the video continues, it becomes clear Ms. Dunham is talking about voting--specifically, casting a ballot for President Obama.

"My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in the sand: before, I was a girl, now I was a woman," Ms. Dunham says.  "I went to the polling station, I pulled back the curtain, I voted for Barack Obama."

Ms. Dunham was born in May 1986, so she would have been eligible to vote for the first time in 2004 rather than 2008. Apparently, she didn't feel John Kerry or George W. Bush was worthy of being her first.

Watch Ms. Dunham's video below.

A still from Michele Bachmann's new video. (Photo: YouTube)

Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank is heading to Minnesota tomorrow to appear at a fundraiser for his fellow Democrat, Jim Graves, who is running against congresswoman and former Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. Ms. Bachmann's campaign marked the occasion by releasing a video yesterday entitled "Barney Frank is Coming to Town."

"Roll out the red carpet, shine up your shoes, but hide your wallets," a narrator says in the clip as a jazzy soundtrack plays. "Jim Graves needs a little more campaign cash, so he's doing what any good Wall Street banker, auto executive and corporate welfare fan would do: Ask Barney Frank to bring in the bucks."

The video characterizes Mr. Frank as the "architect of the bailouts" who "sure knows how to recklessly spend and tax."

"Big spending Jim Graves already supported the Wall Street bailout, the failed trillion dollar stimulus and budget-busting Obamacare. They'll get along great," the narrator says of Messrs. Frank and Graves. "Welcome to Minnesota Barney!"

As of the end of July, Mr. Graves had $351,622 on hand compared to $199,073 for Ms. Bachmann. Ms. Bachmann raised and spent far more than her rival in the first eight months of the year, but Mr. Graves, a hotel owner, has a personal income of between $22 and $111 million to draw upon for the race. According to a poll conducted last month (albeit, by a Democratic firm commissioned by the Graves campaign) the Democrat has a narrow two point lead over Ms. Bachmann.

Watch Ms. Bachmann's video welcoming Mr. Frank to Minnesota below.

A still from the Occupy Wall Street raid video released by someone claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous. (Photo: YouTube)

On Sunday, someone claiming to be affiliated with the hacker activist group Anonymous, released a two minute clip containing footage of last November's eviction of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park that they said was obtained from the NYPD's Technical Assistance Response Unit. While the clip has widely been covered as having been "leaked" from the police, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne told Politicker the clip was 'not 'leaked'' and may have been a combination of footage from television news cameras, public court records and even possibly from the occupiers themselves.

Reporters were infamously prevented from getting behind police barricades during the eviction of the Occupy encampment. In Anonymous' footage of the raid, a narrator said "the authorities made all media leave the scene and the only images of what happened came from one livestreamer who stayed in the center of the park until his arrest and one other citizen journalist" and described the footage as "a trove of video shot by the NYPD itself from 14 different angles including surveillance cameras." A statement accompanying the clip also said "much of the video" was "edited by the NYPD," which they accused of "covering up their attrocities [sic] committed November 15th in Zuccotti park."

Mr. Browne disputed all of these claims.

"It was not 'leaked,' and does not show any misconduct by police. Contrary to the narrator's account, there were scores of protesters who took video with no attempts by the police to confiscate it," Mr. Browne said. "I saw one protester standing near me who videotaped the same opening scene in the youtube video of officers sawing a chain that two protesters used to chain themselves to a tree in the park. Further, the west side of Zuccotti Park on Church Street was lined with television news personnel and satellite trucks, many of whom filmed events that night."

The footage released by Anonymous doesn't appear to show any instances of police brutality or excessive force. Anonymous' clip does include some footage that appears to have been taken by surveillance cameras as well as audio of a man identifying himself as a detective with the TARU unit. Mr. Browne suggested the surveillance footage and the audio may have come from court records from some of the many lawsuits related to the eviction.

"The TARU's detective voice, if genine, sounds like it may have be taken from material turned over to plaintiffs who are suing the police. It was not 'leaked' by the police, but possibly by someone suing us, and not much of a leak since it's part of the court record," said Mr. Browne.

Update (9:02 p.m.): Mr. Browne told us he believes the detective's voice heard on the video was actually recorded by occupiers who were near him at the time of the eviction.

"We think the detective, as he was making the statement into his own equipment, was taped by a protester standing nearby. In other words, they got his voice, but not his videotape," he said. 

Anonymous' clip begins with footage of someone wearing what appears to be an NYPD uniform and Anonymous' signature Guy Fawkes mask. To avoid any confusion, Mr. Browne made clear this was not an actual police officer.

"Also, the video suggests that the image at the start is an actual officer in an NYPD uniform, in addition to the anarchist mask," Mr. Browne said. "The problem is that the collar brass doesn't comport with his claimed assignment, and the patch over his right shirt pocket is in the wrong place. It's a shoulder patch not worn on the shirt. The 'badge' on the left shirt pocket is clearly bogus."

Watch the video in question below.

Footage from Gary DeLong's new video show the alleged "stalker" following him and his family. (Photo: YouTube)

Gary DeLong says he, his wife and his six year old daughter are being stalked by operatives working with his rival in a California House race. Mr. DeLong released a web video today documenting what he says is his family being tailed through the streets by "a tracker" sent by his Democratic opponent in California's 47th Congressional District, Alan Lowenthal. Footage in Mr. DeLong's ad shows him walking around Long Beach's annual Greek Festival with his wife and child while being closely followed by a young, blonde woman wielding a video camera.

"The lady following Gary? That's not his videographer," text explains in Mr. Delong's video. "Unfortunately Lowenthal and his party bosses felt it necessary to intrude on Gary's quality family time by sending a tracker to record his every move."

Mr. DeLong is a Republican member of the City Council in Long Beach. Mr. Lowenthal is a Democratic California State Senator. Republicans around the country have complained that Democratic House candidates backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have become overly aggressive in their use of "trackers" this election cycle.

"Trackers" are operatives who follow candidates to obtain damaging video footage. They have long been a part of political campaigns, but in recent months, Republicans have accused the DCCC of crossing the line with round-the-clock tracking and filming of candidates' homes that some have described as a safety risk.

Mr. DeLong told Politicker the Greek Festival was the first time he believes he was tracked by the Lowenthal campaign. Though he was initially unfazed by the tracker, but decided to publicize the footage after seeing how other people reacted to the story of his experience with "the stalker."

"It didn't get to me that much, but we saw a lot of people who found it repugnant that that's what my opponent feels he needs to do to win elections," Mr. DeLong explained. "Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, people are looking for the problems to be solved. When you're doing this kind of stuff, it's not about solving problems. It's disgusting and just inappropriate for 2012."

Though he doesn't know the name of his "stalker," Mr. DeLong said he has seen her several times since the Greek Festival, which occurred on Labor Day weekend.

"That was the first time, but I've seen her many times since. She gets right in your face. She doesn't do it from fifteen feet away. You're talking to your wife and she's just two feet away," said Mr. DeLong.

We reached out to Mr. Lowenthal to inquire about the stalking allegation. As of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Watch Mr. DeLong's video about his "stalker" below.

Todd Akin, obstetrics expert. (Photo: YouTube)

Missouri Congressman, costume enthusiast and (for now) Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin became notorious for his rather interesting theories on the female reproductive system this weekend, but his disastrous television interview isn't the first time he's shared his unique hypotheses on how babies are made. At a Tea Party event in Branson last year, Mr. Akin and his wife, Lulli, gave a detailed explanation of how they came together and made their six babies.

Mr. Akin began by explaining how he met Lulli, whom he repeatedly described as "not the sort of girl I would date" while playing tennis.

"She was not the sort of girl that I would ever date because I knew that I would find one of those in a bar and dancing and drinking and stuff like that

Eventually, the pair overcame their differences and, after a few months, he began thinking "she'd make a good mom." The rest is history.

"Lulli has blessed me with six children. Lulli keeps telling me it was God that did it, but Lulli was--there's an agency that's involved here," he said.

Lulli responded to her husband's discussion of her "agency" and heavenly intervention when their children came into this world with a more graphic description of her birthing experience.

"Just through my womb and you're home," she said.

The candidate assured her the audience needed no further explanation.

"They understand how that part works," Mr. Akin said.

Watch Mr. Akin explaining how he and his wife made their babies below. If that's not enough Akin action for you, the full version of his speech at the Branson Tea Party event is here.

The Elvis impersonator endorsing Bobby Tullis for Congress. (Photo: YouTube)

This new web video for Arkansas congressional candidate Bobby Tullis may just be the most incredible campaign ad we've seen so far this year. Mr. Tullis' commercial features an aged Elvis impersonator in a jeweled jumpsuit crooning a "Bobby Tullis For Congress" song.

"Ladies and gentlemen with all the fussing and feuding going on in Washington let's elect someone grounded in the principle of economic freedom and personal liberty," the Elvis impersonator says before breaking into song.

Mr. Tullis' Elvis impersonator also makes a rather unusual campaign promise on the candidates' behalf.

"Hey, Bobby Tullis will try to get my picture on the hundred dollar bill," he says displaying fake currency with a picture of "The King."

Mr. Tullis is running in Arkansas' 4th District on the Libertarian Party line. He previously served in the Arkansas House of Representatives for 14 years and mounted unsuccessful campaigns for state auditor as a Democrat and state treasurer on the Green Party Line in 2010. As of this writing, he has not responded to a request for comment on this story.

Enjoy the unique appeal of Mr. Tullis' web video below.

Friendz of Mindy Meyer (Photo: Facebook)

Mindy Meyer, the brash 22-year-old self-proclaimed "diva" running for State Senate in Brooklyn, told The Politicker she has nothing to do with a "Friendz of Mindy Meyer" "super PAC" that released a campaign web video and created a Facebook page on her behalf.

"That's some scam because we never did that," Ms. Meyer said.

The "Friendz of Mindy Meyer" campaign video features footage of Ms. Meyer culled from the many media appearances she has made since her blinged out, pink official website propelled her to viral stardom last week. The clip also boasts Ms. Meyer's trademark "I'm Senator And I Know It" remix of the electropop duo LMFAO's hit song "Sexy And I know It."

Ms. Meyer said she isn't releasing any ads at the moment because of all the press attention she has received, but we may see a genuine campaign commercial for her sometime soon.

"So far, my life is filled with enough advertising with all the media nationally and internationally, so we didn't actually put out any ads yet," said Ms. Meyer. "We're thinking of doing that closer to the election, because right now, we have extensive press coverage, so we did not make any ads yet."

Watch the "Friendz of Mindy Meyer video below.

Mindy Meyer working her magic in the 21st district. (Photo: Animal New York)

The good people at Animal New York spent an afternoon walking the streets of the 21st State Senate district in Brooklyn with self-proclaimed "diva" candidate Mindy Meyer and captured incredible footage of the 22-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman's decidedly unorthodox campaigning techniques. Ms. Meyer spends most of the video greeting constituents and basically berating them with her voice at full volume.

"I'm not your typical senator. Do I look like your typical senator?" Ms. Meyer asks one voter.

Ms. Meyer's loud, in-your-face approach seems to connect with some of her targets, but not everyone in the video enjoys the show and some are eager to end their conversations with the candidate.  

Last week, Ms. Meyer, a 22-year-old Orthodox Jewish intern in Kings County Supreme Court, burst onto New York's political scene and the rest of the internet when her pink, blinged out campaign website went viral. She originally intended to run against Democratic incumbent Kevin Parker on the Republican and Conservative party lines, but she seems set to lose the GOP line today due to an error in her paperwork.

In the video, Ms. Meyer explains her party affiliation is just a technicality. She also reveals her love of the television show White Collar and makes a presidential endorsement.

"I'm a republican and I'm not happy with, you know, Obama, so I'm definitely going to endorse Mitt Romney in the presidential election," Ms. Meyer says.

It's really must-see internet TV. Watch Animal New York's Mindy Meyer video below.

James O'Keefe posing as a government contractor in his new video. (Photo: YouTube)

The latest video from controversial conservative provocateur James O'Keefe's "Project Veritas" implies unions and several big name New York politicians are colluding to earn state and federal contracts for do-nothing companies purporting to hire for so-called "environmental jobs."

In the clip, Mr. O'Keefe portrays an executive for a business that literally digs ditches and fills them back up with more dirt. He visits with John Hutchings, whom he describes as a "director" of the Laborers' International Union of North America, and former assemblyman Ronald Tocci and another man who apparently discuss how easy it is for them to use their lobbyists and political connections to get cash for businesses.

"When we go for a bill, you know, you've got to get approval of the Senate, and the Assembly and then the Governor's got to sign that. We have a lobbyist for the Senate [Republicans], and we have a lobbyist for the Democrats and that's how we try to push our agenda through," Mr. Hutchings says in the video. 

Mr. Hutchings specifically mentions Tom McMahon, Tom Harnet, who he says "usually takes care of" the Democrats in the Assembly and Powers & Company, who "take care of the Senate."

Mr. O'Keefe's is best known for releasing videos targeting ACORN that resulted in organization losing federal funding. His partisan ambush attack films have been criticized by his detractors and in 2010 he was arrested and accused of trying to hack into the phone lines in the office of Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

In this clip, which has been heavily edited and features the pop hit "Call Me Maybe," Mr. O'Keefe and an accomplice painstakingly tell Mr. Hutchings their company does nothing but dig and re-fill ditches.

"You really have to dress up what we do, 'cause all we do is dig holes," Mr. O'Keefe says.

He goes on to ask if Mr. Hutchings knows "political office holders in New York... who can help us find those--basically excuses to get public funds."

Mr. Hutchings says New York's two senators will give them a friendly reception.

"We're good with Gillibrand and Schumer," Mr. Hutchings says.

Mr. Tocci suggests his former Assembly "colleagues" Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Eliot Engel.

"It's awful hard for anybody to vote against, like, a jobs bill right now," says Mr. Hutchings.

According to Mr. Hutchings, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver won't involved himself in picking the recipients of grants, but he does approve them.

"Shelly Silver wouldn't say specifically, 'Fill the dirt there.' He would have to approve a grant to do that type of stuff, then we'd have to find places where to dig," Mr. Hutchings says. "He doesn't want to get involved in picking, that's where they get into trouble."

Mr. Hutchings is dismissive of the Green Jobs, Green New York program as well as the NYSERDA grant system, but thinks there's a positive aspect as long as people are being hired.

"You know, the Green Jobs Green New York, between us, a lot of it's bullshit," Mr. Hutchings says. "Even if it's bullshit, I think as long as people are working that's not bullshit."

Watch Mr. O'Keefe's edited nearly nine minute version of the video below. He also posted nearly one hour of "raw footage" here.