de Blasio, Quinn tied in new Wall Street Journal-NBC-Marist College Poll

[cali]

In the recent Quinnipiac poll, de Blasio was in the lead by 6 (the moe in that poll was 4.5).

The latest poll in the fast-moving New York mayoral race has Public Advocate Bill de Blasio neck-and-neck with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

The two frontrunners in the Wall Street Journal-NBC-Marist College survey each had the backing of 24% of likely Democratic primary voters, with former Controller Bill Thompson just behind with 18% of the vote.

But while the Democrat primary appears to be shifting into a three-way horse race with less than a month to go before the Sept. 10 primary, experts say polls are likely to swing wildly before settling on an emerging victor.

“Few people have been paying attention other than the circus of Anthony Weiner,” said Democratic strategist and pollster Bernard Whitman.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/de-blasio-quinn-dead-heat-nyc-mayor-poll-article-1.1428345#ixzz2c8MD9r5S

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. de Blasio reminds me somehow of the Woody Allen movie where Woody's character was mysteriously....

... "out of focus", and therefore un-filmable. That is to say: blurry; not having distinct edges and leaving an unclear impression. ( This will drive me crazy for the rest of the day: was it "Manhattan"?).

Here's a guy who was Public Advocate for 4 years ( And what is a Public Advocate supposed to do other than "leave a clear impression? Nothing, really.) but one really doesn't get a strong impression of "who he is".... at least THIS one doesn't.

Cue the now-somewhat-famous "Dante" add ( featuring Bill's son, mega-Afroed Dante ) with background shots of the rest of the mixed-race ( di Blasio's wife is AA) family ..... but no sign of Bill.)

Til the very end. And he says nothing then , just comes into the shot and pats Dante affectionately on the shoulder . So we are left w. an *image*... a vague impression of who di B is and what he's "about".... but , Jesus, the man himself is still a blur.

Now this may be in large part my fault, ( for not paying attention) and --- probably --- in large part , the media's fault ( maybe he's been jumping up and down and standing on his head for 4 years, trying to get attention but the msm focused instead on steroidical athletes and nutty, drug-addled psuedo-celebs.

Whatever... we need, I think to hear and see more of di Blasio himself. Otherwise this race is an issue-free blur, with three serious candidates ( di B, Quinn, Thompson) running as reps of demographic categories.

Only di Blasio and Quinn are in a position to define themselves along philosophical lines. ( Thompson doesn't figure here; he's running as an insider; "the one with experience".) If they represent fundamentally different ways of looking at the world...and the city....then let's hear about it, ferchrissakes.

And it seems to me, only di Blasio benefits from either of them "going there."

So..... Bill?

[cali]

2. it's out there. de Blasio has clearly defined himself

on education, stop and frisk, affordable housing, "the tale of two cities" and inequity and much, much more.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. He's tweaking. Or is it "teasing"?Eg. Education: Like Bloomberg he's for mayoral control of schools.

( A monumentally BAD idea, BTW, as the last 12 years have amply demonstrated) He just wants a different VERSION of mayoral control.

Like Bloomberg, he's for stop-and-frisk ( another monumentally BAD idea that should just be "dropped like a bad habit&quot ; just a REFORMED version of stop and frisk.

Adopting the positions of other candidates and then edging 3.41 inches to the left of the leftward most of his opponents may induce nerdy policy wonks like us to vote for him in a DEM primary but it's not going to go far in helping people to determine what kind of a *person* he really is. Or is PERCEIVED to be.

People had a sense of Bloomberg as a person. They certainly had a sense of Giuliani.

I'm supporting di Blasio ( or at least voting for him) but I still don't have a strong SENSE of him... either politically or personally.

OTOH, I know what Ms. Quinn is about. In a close race.... even in a runoff.... Quinn's sharp personal definition, combined with her coalition of feminists, lgbts and Bloomberg's natural constituency: middle and upper-class whites, may very well add up to 51% if people don't have a strong personal sense of who the opposition *really* is.

[RudynJack]

3. The film is

"Deconstructing Harry".

[Smarmie Doofus]

4. Bingo. A masterpiece, btw. ( Not everyone thought so but it was.) n/t

[RudynJack]

6. I find a bit of genius in every Woody Allen film, even the not-so-good ones.