Disenchanted Voters
To the Editor:
Unless you’ve been living in a cave all summer, between campaign mailings, newspaper ads, radio and television commercials, debates along with articles and editorials, everyone knew there was a primary election. With 3.2 million registered Democrats, only 10 percent, or 351,000, voted. Ninety percent, or 2,849,000, stayed home, making “None of the Above” the real winner. Bill Thompson (mayor), John Liu and David Yassky (comptroller), and Bill de Blasio and Mark Green (public advocate) all failed to close the deal with voters on the merits of their respective candidacies. Read more
Our Run-off Picks
New York City’s Democratic voters will probably pick the city’s next C.F.O. and ombudsman in a run-off election on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Since no candidate in the four-way primary races for comptroller and public advocate reached the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off, the top two vote-getters are now facing off. And because registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in this city by such a large margin, whoever gets the majority in this upcoming contest will likely emerge victorious in the November general election as well. Read more
Race to the Run-off
Just a handful of Democratic voters will likely choose the city’s next comptroller and public advocate, in what is expected to be a very low-turnout run-off on Sept. 29. On primary day, Sept. 15, only 11 percent of the city’s voters bothered to come out. The races for public advocate and comptroller were the nail-biters of the day, with no candidate broaching the 40 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off. And in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a large margin, the winners of these two contests next Tuesday will likely cruise to an easy victory in November. Read more
Primary Day Is Over, But Races Continue
The primary election was in some ways a sleepy affair, with only 10 percent of the city’s voters turning out. Comptroller Bill Thompson, as expected, won the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor handily, with 70 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns. But two citywide races will now have run-off elections between the top two candidates, and voters gave Cy Vance a decisive win in the hotly contested Manhattan district attorney race.
Moments after the polls closed, the general election between Thompson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg began, with both candidates lobbing blistering attacks at each other. Read more
Election Cheat Sheet
During the past few months, these papers have provided ongoing coverage of the various candidates vying for office this fall, as well as overviews of the mayor’s race focused on a different topic each month. To help readers before they head to the polls on Sept. 15, we’ve created a simplified roundup for each candidate in the Democratic Primary. Read more
Decision ’09: Primary Profiles
With two major citywide races and one Manhattan-wide contest this September, Democratic primary voters could be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. On primary day, a total of 11 candidates will vie for three high-profile positions: city comptroller, public advocate and Manhattan district attorney. (And that’s not even counting the mayoral primary race, although most think the outcome is a foregone conclusion, and other miscellaneous contests.) Read more
Money Matters
The office of city comptroller seems to have little fanfare or panache. There is the perception that he or she is a number cruncher who sits quietly in the background of municipal government. Even the race for comptroller is normally eclipsed by a high profile, competitive mayoral Democratic primary.
But this year, the mayoral primary a foregone conclusion—Comptroller William Thompson, a Democrat, will likely face Mayor Michael Bloomberg in November. Plus, the bad economy is dragging down the pension fund, which the comptroller must protect. Read more
