Unless he cuts a deal beforehand, Rangel is widely expected to be censured, especially after the Ethics committee overwhelmingly voted for that punishment. But for the New York delegation, the question of whether or not to censure Rangel is an especially difficult one. While even Rangel admits that what he did was wrong, the Harlem congressman remains a beloved figure among the delegation, the one who as the longest-serving member welcomed newcomers to the House.

The Observer reached out repeatedly to New York's House members to gauge how they plan to vote on the Rangel question. Most refused to answer.

So far, however, Rep. Christopher Lee, Rep. Bill Owens and Rep. Tom Reed all stated their intention to vote for censuring Rangel. Rep. Gregory Meeks said that he would be voting against the measure. Four other New York congressmen--Rep. Peter King, Rep. John Hall, Rep. Edolphus Towns and Rep. Paul Tonko--all said that they were currently undecided and were unsure how they would vote at the moment.

Rangel was found guilty on 11 counts of ethics violations by a bipartisan commission last week. While the censure is a far cry from expulsion, which was also on the table for Rangel- it is certainly a degrading one, as Rangel will be asked to stand alone in the well of the House of Representatives and receive a verbal condemnation from Speaker Nancy Pelosi on behalf of her congressional peers.

Rangel was found guilty of using rent-stabilized apartments for his campaign headquarters, for improperly soliciting donations for a library named in his honor by using congressional letterhead, and for failing to claim over $600,000 of income stemming from a rental villa in the Dominican Republic in his tax returns.

In an email to his supporters, Rangel made his clearest apology yet.

"I apologize for the embarrassment I have brought upon you," he wrote.

"Thursday was one of the most difficult days of my life since I was left for dead in North Korea 60 years ago...I hope that you would judge me on my entire record as a soldier and a dedicated public servant - not only by my mistakes," he said.

We will update as we hear from more members of the delegation.

But guess who isn't watching the race? Tim Bishop.

According to spokesman Oliver Longfellow, Bishop is in Florida with his family and Longfellow said he it was unclear when the congressman was coming back.

 As of Monday night, 1,912 votes in the district have yet to be counted.

Both candidates have challenged votes on grounds of voter eligibility, with Bishop questioning 714 and Altschuler challenged 1,051, two of which were Bishop's parents who voted absentee from Florida.

The Associated Press reports that Maffei is down by 567 votes, leading to final tally of 104,374 for Burekle and 103,807 for Maffei.

Buerkle was endorsed by Sarah Palin, labeling her a "New York mama grizzly" in her announcement.  She started her career as a registered nurse and went on to practice healthcare law and served as assistant district attorney since 1997. Healthcare was a major issue in her campaign and she signed a pledge to act to repeal President Obama's healthcare legislation.

Maffei had only served one term in the largely-Republican district: prior to Maffei, the district had been represented by a Republican since 1971. 

The majority of the 11,000 absentee ballots from Wayne, Cayuga and Onondaga counties were some of the last to be counted, and helped Buerkle secure her victory.

Before serving as congressman, Maffei worked for Rep. Charles Rangel in the House Ways and Means Committee from 1999 to 2005.

In talking about his visit to Tryon Detention Center, a juvenile detention center that currently employs 30 people but holds no juveniles, Cuomo said it was an example of the power of special interests to maintain a status quo that suits their interests.

"The Tryon is just a very simple, graphic demonstration of the dysfunction of incompetence," Cuomo said.

The governor-elect likened yesterday's guilty plea by Hank Morris, a longtime aide to former comptroller Alan Hevesi, to Tryon's symbolic meaning.

"I think it's another metaphor: Tryon was one. This comptroller pay-to-play went on for decades, decades," Cuomo said.

"For decades, everybody in Albany said, 'That's the way it is, that's the way it is,' like it came down from the Bible... And how many AGs sat in my seat and nothing was done? It was just, 'That's the way we do business in Albany.' Baloney," he said.

"It's not the way you do business in Albany, it's not unethical: it's illegal," he said. "It's an important case because it says reform is necessary. Just because it's gone on for years doesn't mean its going to continue."

Cuomo said he's going to continue raising campaign funds--on top of the $4 million left in his campaign account--to make sure he can counter the inevitable advertising from groups that oppose the cuts in his first budget. 

"I'm going to have about $4 million left and that is not enough to wage the kind of campaign that I want to be prepared to wage," he said.

The importance of the p.r. campaign, Cuomo said, is that the public be made aware of the choices, and not simply be offered the one solution provided by well-funded special interests.

"I believe if the public hears the argument, and hears both sides, it's not even going to be close."

The letter cited her role on the board of Coca-Cola over the last 17 years as a reason to deny her the position, saying that she "lacks the integrity and compassion to serve as Chancellor or a role model for young people," because the corporation was run "like a criminal syndicate with impunity."

"Cathleen Black and the company have profited greatly by aggressively marketing to children nutritionally worthless and damaging beverages that help fuel the obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes epidemics," said the letter, signed Ray Rogers, director of The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke.

The group made it clear, however, that they were not attacking Black because she is a woman, but simply because she is not qualified and lacks the experience.

"We believe that there are many women educators well-qualified for this position who would serve as a positive role model for young people," the letter states.

The group noted that a number of executives from major corporations--including those from Goldman Sachs, Pfizer, and AIG--all publically endorsed Black's nomination on Wednesday when they signed a letter from The Partnership for New York City.

"This appointment should not be about money and politics and what Big Business wants, but what is best for the children of New York City's School System," the letter closed.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted on only one count--out of more than 280 brought against him--but Nadler and Weiner each hailed the process as a victory for civilian trials, and as proof that suspected terrorists could be tried safely in Lower Manhattan.

"The [Ghailani] trial was effective and transparent, with no security problems in the heart of Manhattan," Nadler said in a press release. "The world has seen that the American criminal justice system is both fair and relentless, just as it has been shown to be hundreds of times before, when terrorists were tried and convicted under both the Bush and Obama Administrations."

After the verdict, Weiner echoed Nadler's comments.

"This is a victory for the rule of law," Weiner said in a press release. "This was a skillful prosecution under difficult circumstances. And, in case no one noticed, the trial was held in Manhattan."

Earlier today, Weiner had some choice words for the Department of Justice, trying to rile them up on Twitter. 

"New nominee for most inept messaging by the Obama team : DoJ. Guys, you won! Act like it!" Weiner tweeted.

Nadler and Weiner have previously suggested that the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might safely be held in Lower Manhattan, a view that puts them in opposition to a number of their colleagues. Both of New York's senators have opposed conducting that trial in New York, and last week, Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General-elect Eric Schneiderman both said the Department of Justice should hold the trial outside of the state. At a joint press conference, the two showed their hesitance but did not suggest alternative locations.

"I previously have said it shouldn't happen in New York City," Schneiderman said. "Now that I have to deal with it from a state-wide perspective, I am supportive of the governor's position."

Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that the Obama administration is "close" to reaching a decision on the location of the trial.

"I would hope that whatever the decision is would be one that would be judged on merit and that what is best for the case and for justice in that case will be the thing that will guide the decision," Holder said.

"I don't know Cathie Black, but Mike Bloomberg has made pretty good personnel decisions," Levy said. "I think if you have mayoral control the mayor should be entitled to appoint who he wants."

Levy was appointed school chancellor in 2000 by the independent Board of Education, as then-mayor Rudy Giuliani did not have mayoral control at the time.

The announcement that Black will replace Levy's successor, Joel Klein, has been met by tremendous outcry from teachers and public school advocates who see Black's lack of education credentials as a deal breaker.

Levy sees that these criticisms may present a problem for Bloomberg and Black, as she still needs to be granted a waiver from state education commissioner David Steiner.

"The statute seems to require somebody with some education credentials. It was written before the contemporary wisdom that a good manager can overcome a lot of domain knowledge," Levy said. "It's not obvious to me how the commission of education gets around those conditions."

While Klein and Bloomberg have endorsed Black, as well as education reformer and former D.C. public schools commissioner Michelle Rhee, the list continues to grow of city officials contesting her appointment. Councilman Robert Jackson, who chairs the city council's education committee, wrote a letter against Black this weekend, city councilman Charles Barron and his wife Assemblywoman Inez Barron held a press conference last Thursday denouncing Black, and councilman Jumaane Williams and State senator-elect Tony Avella have also spoken out against her selection.

Bloomberg touted Black's experience in the corporate world, where she was the head of Hearst Magazines and the proclaimed "first lady of American magazines," as indicative of her managerial skills. Levy thinks that Black's executive leadership will follow in the example lead by Klein.

"I think his legacy will be that he brought strong managerial disciplines to the school system," Levy said. "People talk about metrics and outcomes in a way, that, I started down the path of getting the school system to talk about metrics and outcomes and being data oriented and he has taken it a huge long distance from where I took it, and that is to his great credit."

"Mayor Bloomberg, they say insanity is when you do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. We've been this way before. Joel Klein was unqualified," Barron said.

Barron was joined by his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, and a few dozen other supporters of Barron's Freedom Party, the third party that he founded this year to involve more blacks and Latinos in the democratic process.

Barron said the business-minded move was typical of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

"The problem with Bloomberg: he's a businessman," Barron said. "He sees education as a product and he sees it as a business and our parents are his customers. So he has this business mentality, so he went and got a business woman to partner with him."

Both Barrons said that one of the primary problems with the selection of Black is that she lacks experience as either a teacher or an administrator.

"We can no longer have a person who does not have a clue about what they would they see should they walk into a class room to be able to evaluate the classroom, the children's functioning, and the  teacher," Inez Barron said. "We are no longer going to allow that type of person to head the system that effects our children."

Tuesday's announcement that Klein will be stepping down and replaced by Black has been met with skepticism and surprise by a number of elected officials. The mayor's office has refused to comment on who was a member of Bloomberg's search committee, and Klein was reportedly only told of the mayor's selection shortly before the announcement was made.

Councilmember Barron said that the decision can be reversed and hopes that the search expands to include more qualified candidates.

"He should rescind his decision and immediately open up a national search to find a qualified person, and to touch base, connect with, involve some of the educators in the African American and Latino community... who know how to educate our children, have a proven track record of it. Open up our search and do it right, Mayor, do it right. That's all were asking for is a just process."

"The Board of Elections should stop hiding, begin evaluating and become part of the Mayor's management," Quinn said at a morning news conference in which she and representatives from good government groups revealed results of a survey that showed widespread voter confusion on election day.

The Board of Elections is a state agency, and as such, is not under the legislative authority of the Mayor or the City Council. Quinn admitted the only way to acheive change in the Board is for it to be voluntary.

The Board was widely criticized after the Sept. 14 primary election because many polling stations in the city opened late and there were significant technical problems with voting machines.

Quinn said that when the Board testified at the City Council's Primary Day oversight hearing, the Board representatives were "inept, quite frankly," and had no hard data from previous elections.

"This is something the Board should already be doing," she said. "It is necessary to continually evaluate yourself during an after every election."

Because the survey's results came from voter's online responses, 311 complaints, and the work of volunteers who questioned voters outside of polling stations, the only cost of the survey was the subscription fee for a third-party survey service, totaling $40.

"This is not a budget-busting exercise," Quinn said.

The format of the ballot was one of the biggest problems reported, with over a third of respondents found the ballot difficult to read or confusing, citing the small font and tight spacing of all candidates on one side of the sheet. Respondents also complained that poll attendants did not offer privacy sleeves (22.2%) or Ballot Marking Devices (26.8%), and were not able to assist voters (23.8%).

"Formal organizations such as the Tea Party Express made a balance-of-force difference in particular districts such as the defeat of incumbent Scott Murphy in NY-20. But in more cases than not, we're labeling powerful but indistinct and often incoherent discontent with a "party" label post-facto.

"'Tea Party' may come to mean something now that Michelle Bachman (or a competitor, this remains to be seen) is assembling a House Tea Party Caucus. Until that time, when we have elected officials putting their careers on the line with votes that can be predicted from an explicit political platform or philosophy of government, I'm unwilling to award this election to the tea party.

"Even in this season of the voters' greatest discontent, incumbency and familiarity remain powerful assets in politics. That they did so in New York to a greater degree than in the rest of the U.S. is a testament both to the strength of the state Democratic Party here and the fecklessness of the state G.O.P.

"Will President Obama be able to use the House Republicans as a foil, or will they roll him as the obstacle to economic recovery? Of course, we might have a deeper, jobs-producing recovery; if so, who gets the credit from voters next cycle? I suppose it's also possible that the administration and the Congress will collaborate, but that seems the least likely outcome of all.

David Birdsell is the Dean of the School of Public Affairs, Baruch College of CUNY.