Headline of the Day: “Rep. Peter King Mulls 2016 Presidential Bid.”
Alternative: “Spitzer Releases Some Taxes, But Still Out-Romneys Romney.”
After much brouhaha in the comptroller’s race, ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer released his tax returns–or at least a cover sheet suggesting what those returns might entail. The question is how nuanced the argument advanced by his rival, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, can get while still resonating with voters. In the words of his spokeswoman, “Spitzer’s tax returns are like ordering a hamburger and only getting the bun. Or maybe just the pickles.”
Mr. Stringer believes this is a winning argument, however. “Look, you order a hamburger,” he explained yesterday, “You get two buns and there’s no meat, what do you do? You send it back and you say, ‘Give me the burger.'” He further contended, “I released 29 pages, right? And I’m a W-2 employee. Imagine the insult to people when you only throw out 2 pages and you basically told us that information yesterday. I don’t know what the problem is.”
While in the mayor’s race, Joe Lhota also discussed food. Specifically, he recalled being surprised by a bowl Skittles while schmoozing with voters in Boro Park yesterday. “I was at a party recently where some people had a bowl out, and I thought they were M&M’s, and then it was Skittles,” Mr. Lhota said. “Let me tell you: when you think it’s M&M’s, and it ends up being Skittles, it’s a little shocking.”
And at a forum on food yesterday evening, Comptroller John Liu lambasted school meals. “The food that is served in schools, often, it sucks. It really does,” he kvetched. “My son is 12 years old, and for the last seven years that he’s been in his public school, he does not like the food.” Public Advocate Bill de Blasio opined, “I think we have to end any stigma around school lunches and universalize it. It’s crucial.”
Ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner is learning the pains that come with invoking Godwin’s Law after he discussed 1938 Germany in the context of stop-and-frisk. Now, three of his rivals, Mr. de Blasio, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Councilman Sal Albanese are blasting him over the comparison, along with a host of other officials.
This piece on an Iowa pol discussing Senator Chuck Schumer is amusing: “[I]sn’t Schumer a pretty heavy lift? He is probably the Jew-iest one of the bunch. Also, as a senator from New York, he has the least to gain politically from a high-profile repudiation of the Jewish faith and conversion to evangelical Christianity. Schumer is also a really good negotiator …”
And Ms. Quinn is ahead in the mayoral race again, and substantially so–27 percent to Mr. Weiner’s 18 percent–in the latest Siena College survey. View the full cross-tabs below:
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