“We need a new generation of leadership in Albany, and that starts with Mike Gianaris,” said Gioia, in a statement from the campaign. "I have been proud to work with Mike in the past, and I am proud to support him for the State Senate.”

I contacted a couple of Democrats who've lost primaries to see if they'd heard from Weiner. Turns out, not many had. (One got a present, though.)

Melinda Katz: "We don't recall any."

Eric Gioia: "I don't think he sent me a letter. But he did buy me lunch, which I thought was very nice of him. He also sent a really thoughtful baby gift."

Mark Green: "I haven't seen any."

Simcha Felder: A spokesman doesn't remember him getting one.

Tony Avella: "No, I didn't get any letter from him. Is he using taxpayer money for this?"

Case in point: Eric Gioia hammered away at Bill de Blasio for his ties to the Working Families Party, and ran several television ads making the point. Then, after losing the primary, Gioia endorsed de Blasio.

One knowledgeable reader suggested it was part of Gioia’s penance and first steps on the long road to making peace with the WFP, which would be helpful should he run for another office. One possibility could be the Senate seat held by George Onorato, the Democrat in northwest Queens who is not in favor of same-sex marriage, and has generally kept a low profile and avoided policy fights.

David Yassky's post-election attitude toward the WFP, by contrast, is suggestive of someone who's not immediately making calculations about his next bid for elected office.

He and the other comptroller candidates avoided any major criticisms of one another until he got into the run-off with John Liu. After losing to Liu, Yassky co-authored a column in the Daily News warning about the dangers of the Working Families Party's rising influence.

“The problem is that the WFP is driven not simply by ideology, but also by the very specific interests of its component parts,” which have “an interest that is often at odds with the public interest,” Yassky wrote.

Not mending fences with that one.

I emailed Gioia and Yassky and will update when I get responses.

UPDATE: Yassky emailed to say he does “not know what future plans are. Right now, making up for lost time with my family, trying to tie up loose ends of council term and ensure smooth transition to next councilmember and looking at job options for January.”

In the primary on September 15, Mr. Gioia finished a disappointing third, pulling only 18 percent of the vote and lagging 12 points behind second-place finisher Mark Green.

At this time last year, the public advocate's race was expected to be another rung in Mr. Gioia's rapid ascent. He was (and still is) young, energetic, idealistic and also quite politic. He seemed to like the cameras and the cameras seemed to like him. From a citywide perch, the thinking went, he could position himself for mayor, or Congress, or whatever opportunity might come along.

And then came term limits. When the Council voted--over Mr. Gioia's objection--not to re-shuffle the political deck in 2009, the public advocate equation changed. (The two-term incumbent, Betsy Gotbaum, declined to run again.)

Shortly after the vote, another popular councilman, Bill de Blasio, declared for the seat. Before the term limits vote, Mr. de Blasio had planned to run for Brooklyn borough president, but he had re-directed his ambitions when Marty Markowitz opted to run for a third term.

And then Mark Green, a two-term public advocate in the 1990s who had sworn off politics in 2006, couldn't help himself.

Mr. de Blasio got most of the unions and the helpful Working Families Party; Mr. Green had enviable name recognition forged through his prior service in the office, and his television punditry, and a series of high-profile losses in races for other, more powerful offices. Suddenly, Eric Gioia was swamped.

Mr. de Blasio got 32 percent; Mr. Green got 30 and the two headed for Tuesday's run-off.

Mr. Gioia came in at 18 percent, but received some small--but considerable-- consolation just before the primary: a new daughter.

His camp is coy, for now, about his future plans.

"The first priority for Councilman Gioia is to spend time with his family and get to know his daughter, Rosalee, a little bit better," said his spokesman.

Developing...

Norman Siegel didn't seem too excited at the idea, and sounded dejected when I spoke to him late this morning. He finished fourth behind Green, DeBlasio and Councilman Eric Gioia.

"I'm not sure what if anything I'll do with regard to that question," Siegel told me. "I have a brief that's due about the slush fund in the appellate division on Friday, so for at least the next day or two I need to focus on that brief."

The runoff will be Sept. 29.

Only one replied, expressed disbelief that the question was being asked so soon, and said Gioia “today he's taking some time to spend with his new daughter.”

“Right now, I planned on being at a subway stop, shaking hands with voters as they went to work in the morning,” he says, with the words “Labor Delivery” written on the wall behind him. “But sometimes, plans change.”

Right after saying he’s taking time off the trail “to get to know my daughter a little bit better on her first day here on Earth," Gioia explains, "that’s why I need your help more than ever. As you know, I’m running for public advocate against two, long-time political insiders.”

Side note: Campaigning for citywide office with an extremely pregnant poses some obvious logistical challenges. Perhaps uncoincidentally, Gioia's entire public schedule except for four hours over the course of Saturday, Sunday and today, was in his home borough of Queens.

With the exception four hours on Saturday, Gioia was only campaigning all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Queens.

“Claiming that you have not yet been found in violation of the law is not good enough,” Gioia said, referring to the explanation de Blasio has offered in the past.

Gioia is hoping to overtake de Blasio as the non-Green candidate most likely to get into a runoff.

It’s a validation that de Blasio is the most likely to get into the run-off with front-runner Mark Green, whose two stints as public advocate in the 1990s and previous runs for higher office, have given him unequaled name recognition among the competitors.

At last night’s debate, when each candidate was allowed to ask one another a question, they all chose to direct their attention to de Blasio.

Green asked about de Blasio’s habit of giving the Council's member-item money to local organizations whose members later turned around and donated to his campaign. It’s a widespread practice, but it looks unseemly. Green, never having been a legislator, clearly figures it's a good line for him pursue.

Eric Gioia – who started the night off by calling his opponents “insiders” – said Green and de Blasio were waging debates among themselves that “don’t have meaning” in the lives of everyday voters. He also said some of the “outrage” on display was “fake” and that they were “coming up with issues to try to distract voters.”

Then, Gioia demonstrated exactly what he was talking about, asking de Blasio about the support he gets from the Working Families Party and whether that violated city election rules. “The vendors on your campaign disclose their payrolls? Do the vendors on your campaign disclose their pay roles?” Gioia asked him. After de Blasio said that information was “disclosed fully,” Gioia repeated his question. “But do the vendors on your campaign disclose their payrolls?”

Later, his aides said it was a relevant issue because it addressed whether or not de Blasio had been compromised by special interests in a way that will influence how he’ll manage the office.

De Blasio said he’s complied with the spirit and the letter of the Campaign Finance Board rules, and they’ve continued giving him matching funds, a sign that he’s in good standing with them.

“Let me bring it back to the people who are listening to the show,” said the fourth candidate in the race,
civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who grouped Gioia in with de Blasio and Green as “insiders.”

(At one point earlier in the debate, Siegel yelled out “Eric, you’re an insider.”)

When it was Siegel’s turn to ask questions, he asked de Blasio about the city’s treatment of protesters arrested during the Republican’s national convention here in 2004, and the slush-fund scandal in the City Council.

“Why didn’t you say anything or do anything on those two instances?” Siegel asked.

De Blasio said Siegel’s work on the R.N.C. arrests was commendable, and that he fought for greater disclosure after the slush-fund scandal.

“We took instant steps to make changes and there are changes,” de Blasio said.

Politically, the interesting thing was that everyone seemed to agree that they needed to go after de Blasio rather than Green. It’s universally assumed that Green’s high name recognition will lead him to either win the election outright or be in the run-off.

“I tried to focus tonight on serious issues, like empowering public school parents, and changing how the city Planning Commission deals with development issues,” de Blasio told me afterward. “I found a lot of my opponents didn’t want to talk about those issues. They seemed to be more interested in my campaign.”

Gioia spoke afterward about his focus on de Blasio’s ties to the Working Families Party and their alleged violation of campaign spending rules. “And it’s not me, by the way, it’s the Campaign Finance Board, which has begun issuing unprecedented opinions on this. It is major news organizations, and the editorial boards of the three major daily newspapers agree that what we think is happening presents a clear and present danger to the campaign finance system in New York City.”

It’s worth noting that the “clear and present danger” didn’t prevent one of those daily newspapers, The New York Times, from endorsing de Blasio.