One of the more striking findings of the new Quinnipiac poll is the dismal 8% to 45% favorability rating for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Phillip Bump: “Why’s it so low? Because Republicans dislike him strongly (minus-55) as they do most of the Democratic candidates. But his unpopularity with Democrats means there’s not really anything to offset those negative opinions.”
President Trump welcomed New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the presidential race with a tweet.
Said Trump: “The Dems are getting another beauty to join their group. Bill de Blasio of NYC, considered the worst mayor in the U.S., will supposedly be making an announcement for president today. He is a JOKE, but if you like high taxes & crime, he’s your man. NYC HATES HIM!”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) will declare his bid for the presidency on Thursday morning, NBC News reports.
De Blasio will make the formal announcement and then travel to Iowa and South Carolina for multiple stops over four days.
The Atlantic: “Multiple people close to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave up trying to talk him out of running for president earlier this year. Now he’s reportedly going to try to win Iowa and New Hampshire without most of his friends—or even people on his payroll—supporting him.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) “revealed Monday that he will not announce his 2020 presidential bid this week after all, despite insiders’ widespread belief that he was planning to take the plunge,” the New York Daily News reports.
Said De Blasio: “There was a story that assumed some specific thing that never was and you can’t have an announcement before there’s a decision.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to announce he’s running for president next week, the New York Daily News reports.
“The 2020 announcement could come as early as de Blasio’s birthday on Wednesday, when he’ll turn 58, said one source. The kickoff was initially expected this week but pushed back, according to another source.”
“By entering these premises you agree not to run for President of the United States in 2020 or in any future presidential race.”
— A flyer posted on the door of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) gym in Brooklyn, quoted by Patch.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s communications director “is leaving City Hall to work on his federal political action committee, the latest sign that de Blasio is leaning toward a run for president,” Politico reports.
Politico: “As de Blasio touted his liberal record in Iowa and South Carolina in recent weeks, nearly three dozen former and current aides, consultants and allies who spoke to Politico panned the idea or doubted that the mayor would end up going through with a run for the Democratic nomination. Aside from the few people working on the nascent effort, only two said de Blasio should run.”
“The idea of a de Blasio candidacy is ‘fucking insane,’ said one former aide, laughing out loud.”
“Another self-described friend of the mayor called the idea ‘idiotic.'”
“It’s a stark contrast to the typical dynamics of a presidential exploration, where aides and allies tend to egg on the potential candidate. Indeed, the strongest advocate for a de Blasio candidacy seems to be de Blasio himself.”
New York City Mayor de Blasio “tried to display some presidential fortitude by traveling through near-blizzard conditions in Iowa — and wound up sleeping in a roadside motel after chowing down on a gas-station burrito for dinner,” the New York Post reports.
“Reporters from New York City wisely decided to wait out a snowstorm in Sioux City… But the mayor ignored the dangerous weather and insisted on heading south to Des Moines with his security detail.”
“Hizzoner made it less than halfway before calling it quits in Onawa, Iowa — estimated population 2,849 — to bed down in a Super 8 Motel… And instead of enjoying some of the Hawkeye State’s award-winning barbecue or succulent steaks, he had to make do with a microwaved burrito.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) “is making moves toward a possible run for president, soliciting City Hall staffers with national political experience and preparing to travel to the early primary state of New Hampshire this week,” Politico reports.
New York Times: “The idea of Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo ever collaborating on anything seems almost unfathomable nearly 16 years later. The two Democrats are now engaged in a feud so nasty, petty and prolonged that even in the cutthroat politics of New York, few can remember ever seeing anything quite like it. The two men have sparred over substance, silliness and everything in between: public housing and private workout routines, homelessness and topless women in Times Square, taxing millionaires and euthanizing a deer, a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and state troop deployments, schools, snowstorms and the subways — even naps.”
Politico: “De Blasio, whose unfulfilled national ambitions have never been far from the surface, will be in Des Moines in early December preaching the progressive message as the best means for Democrats to win control of statehouses nationwide and, the biggest prize, the U.S. House of Representatives. He will also be trying to define a new role for himself in the party.”
“More to the point, he’s diverging from the Clinton brand of Democratic politics from whence he came and fully embracing the Sen. Bernie Sanders wing of the party — a seemingly more natural fit for a man who won his first mayoral term on the message of income inequality.”
New York City mayoral contender Nicole Malliotakis (R) said she finds it “unconscionable” that Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) won’t root for the New York Yankees, the New York Daily News reports.
Said Malliotakis: “I believe that you’ll have two underdogs winning this year — the New York Yankees and Nicole Malliotakis.”
“The candidate said she’s a Yankee fan who’s excited by their post-season run — unlike Hizzoner, a Red Sox fan who told the Daily News this week it’s ‘constitutionally impossible’ for him to root for the Bronx Bombers, and said it’d be just “too weird” to go to a game at Yankee Stadium.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “is putting out feelers to run for president, spreading whispers that Bernie Sanders, 75, and Elizabeth Warren, 68, are too old,” the New York Post reports.
“De Blasio, 56, will claim he’s the rightful standard bearer for the progressive wing of the Democratic party.”
Said one Democratic insider: “He thinks he’s going to coast to re-election victory. His people are sending out overtures asking where he should go next and whom he should meet on a national level.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “is an imperious bully of a boss who threatens his underlings with dire punishment if they fail to meet his demands,” emails obtained by the New York Post reveal.
“‘What do I need to get you guys to follow a direct order? Do you need to experience consequences?’ he threatened in one 2015 diatribe. ‘I’m not raising this again: fix it, or I will [have] no choice but to find a way to penalize people. Not my preference, but I won’t have my instructions ignored.’”
“The emails show de Blasio blowing his top at nearly a dozen aides for failing to make sure phonetic versions of challenging words were included in his speeches and talking points.”
New York Times: “With just over six months until the Democratic primary, no credible challenger — a person with some combination of name recognition, a political base, governmental experience and the funding to wage a knockdown campaign — has emerged.”
“In an era when political neophytes have captured offices as high as the White House, the lack of challengers to Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, may seem mystifying.”
“His administration is mired in a series of overlapping fund-raising investigations, including some by the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, that could result in indictments of Mr. de Blasio or top officials in the coming weeks.”
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that in “a very hypothetical race” for New York City Mayor, Hillary Clinton, running as an independent, would beat incumbent Bill de Blasio (D) handily, 49% to 30%.
Said pollster Tim Malloy: “New Yorkers aren’t in love with Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they seem to like him better than other possible choices – except Hillary Clinton, who probably is an impossible choice.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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