"Not having a primary I think is not a bad thing this year," Dinowitz, an assemblyman from the Bronx, said in a brief telephone interview. "Whoever is the Democratic nominee has to face the $100 million campaign. It certainly is better for the Democrats not to spend so much money fighting each other."

When I asked the him if there is any drawback for the likely Democratic nominee, Bill Thompson, in not going through a primary, Dinowitz said, "Having a primary could be a big plus, but I think a Weiner-Thompson primary would create a situation that the mayor could exploit—it could be a divisive primary."

"In a primary like that, there’s always a danger that the supporters of the losing candidate could defect. You don’t want to see that happen," he added.

That's basically what happened in 2001, when supporters of Fernando Ferrer closed up shop and abandoned the party's nominee, Mark Green, after a contentious and divisive primary.