After succeeding in extending Term Limits to three terms, independent Michael Bloomberg sought the Republican Party ballot line so his name would be placed second on the voter ballot. Many Republican clubs from district to young republican organizations stepped forward and demanded that the party run a registered Republican. If this had happened, the mayor still would have been on a Party with ballot status, since the Independence Party had already thrown its support behind him. The scenario that many hoped was a three-way race with Thompson having column’s A & E [Democrat & Working Families], a Republican having columns B & D [Republican & Conservative] and Bloomberg running on column C [Independence] & an independently created “F” line. Such a ballot would have been interesting and exciting as it would have thrown an interesting curve in what we normally know as our “two-party” system. In the end, the county organizations caved in to politics and the mayor got the Republican line and won re-election.

Though this scenario didn’t happen for a citywide seat, it seems to have developed in a little known Assembly District in Queens. Known as the “Forrest Hills” district, Assembly District Twenty-Eight has about a 3 Democrat to 1 Republican ratio with Democrats making up 55% of the voting base. When it comes to New York City drawn districts for Assembly, this is considered favorable for a Republican.

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So the guy who wants to be Mayor can't take a position on the Mosque in Downtown Manhattan.

Capital Tonight shares some quotes from the man who recently got married out of faith, stood shouting down his fellow colleagues in the congressional chambers for "not having courage to take a position,"  and now seems to hide behind some mysterious wall that suits the standard lack of character from many Democrats.

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The media loves a story, especially when it involves politicians being bad. The standard, though, is that if it's a Democrat you write up a story while conveniently omitting the political party of who is involved, but when it is a Republican, you make sure your readers see "REPUBLICAN" by the name being mentioned.

With the wave or reality TV and the degrading of society,  reporters and journalists go out of their way to find dirt on anyone. There was a time when certain matters were just left unsaid. Many reporters knew full well that President Kennedy was sneaking some side action from his wife, but it was not something you would write about. Sports players who would be seen with someone other than their lawful wedded wife would just look at a reporter and the reporter would turn away as if nothing was seen.

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Here are a few current political topics of today that maybe of interest for Urban Elephants to discuss.

A Quinnipiac University poll shows that 81 percent of Democrats are clueless. But we all knew this already.

 The recent investigations from the DA offices of Staten Island and Manhattan on the Independence Party Party have upset party leaders and it appears chairman Frank MacKay will be challenged for his seat.

There's also the State vs City faction of the Independence Party and it is causing much mayhem with its ranks.  

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Every day brings a new twist and turn for the third largest political party of New York State. For those not aware, we have a party called the Independence Party of New York.  But there is also the Independence Party led by Lenora Fulani, which is ostracized by the state chairman, Frank MacKay.

Recently, it was reported that a lawyer of Mayor Bloomberg took a hit for misuse of funds. DA Cy Vance goes after the IP even after AG Andrew Cuomo accepted the party's line for governor.

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We've seen it here on Urban Elephants. We may even see it to this thread once it's published. What I"m referring to is the the campaign strategy of surfing the internet, finding every story on NY's 14th congressional district and dropping a pro-candidate template message in the comments section. 

 The Ryan Brumberg campaign has been doing it tirelessly. If you find any article on Maloney, Saujani or Laverghetta, you'll see a comment that reads like spam.

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Yesterday, John Fund of the Wall Street Journal published a fascinating analysis of how gerrymandered districts designed by liberals is causing a groundswell of opposition to the current administration and could very well cause up to 70 (read that right: SEVENTY) seats to switch to Republican.

After the passage of the Voting Rights Act, liberal politicians took this to mean that in order to better represent American and elect more black American's into the House of Representatives, that districts should be drawn by consolidating a voting block by taking away from others to increase the House diversity. This has caused neighboring districts to have an unusually lower voter-base of black and other minority voters and giving a local seat to the "will of the majority."

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Last year, while the State Senate had a bit of an upheaval in who was actually running the show, the issue of Paterson's successor came to light. With no lieutenant governor, the President of the State Senate would be "Second in Command." Not knowing who that was exactly put our State in a difficult situation. 

So the governor decided to appoint a lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch, so the State wouldn't have to worry whether the successor was Sampson, Smith, Skelos or Espada. Many argued then and still do today, that the move was unconstitutional. I'm in that camp. You can't change the rules. You have to pass an amendment to clarify the rules. Michael Gianaris,  a State Assemblyman running for State Senate this year in the Long Island City part of Queens was the man who interpreted the State Constitution in a way that got the courts to accept the unconstitutional ruling.

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So recently the Republican US Senate candidate in California, Carly Fiorina, was caught on mic making fun of Senator Barbara Boxer's hair. 

The commentators on the Puffington Host reach deep into their sewage pit to make some very unintelligent comments, which is par for the course.  What's great is Fiorina is not apologizing.

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"The word is out and I'm about. And I'm comin' gunnin' for you" - AC/DC Guns For Hire

 So Liz Benjamin interviewed the popular rebel with a cause, Carl Paladino and lifted his Lieutenant Governor from his lips. The upstate businessman announced his runningmate to be former NYC Minority Leader Thomas Ognibene. 

On the surface, one could argue that this is a very good move. It brings an experienced legislator who has dealt with extremely large budgets (the NYC budget is the third largest budget in the nation - larger than 48 state budgets) and has been known to be very good at building coalitions within the conservative ranks.

However, Ognibene has been roughed up politically this past decade and one may not know where his true allegiance is. Five years ago, he was the leading voice in opposition to a second mayoral term of Michael Bloomberg. Then he ran hand-in-hand with Bloomberg last year for his old city council seat while maintaining a tepid relationship with the Queens County organization. 

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