“Injecting millions of dollars into elections from coast to coast, billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is building on a large-scale effort that began last fall to expand his influence beyond his home turf,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“His growing national profile was on display Wednesday when he visited the White House to talk to Vice President Joe Biden about new gun laws. The trip came one day after a Chicago congressional candidate backed by $2.5 million of Mr. Bloomberg’s money came from behind and won a special Democratic primary for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s seat.”

Said Bloomberg: “Is it a harbinger of what’s to come? I think so.”

Stu Rothenberg
isn’t impressed:
“Pick a fight in a place where you have a substantial advantage and
where almost nobody else is playing, dump a ton of money attacking one
candidate and supporting another, and then declare victory when —
surprise! surprise! — your candidate wins.”

A new Quinnipiac poll finds New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D) is closing in on the 40% target needed to avoid a runoff election as she leads the Democratic primary for mayor with 37%, more than three other candidates combined.

A new Crain’s/Ipsos poll in Chicago finds Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s (D) popularity has fallen sharply since last surveyed in September. He now has a net minus 16 rating, down from the plus 4 he had in September.

Texas politicians Joaquin and Julián Castro “tell their family story and discuss career ambitions in the March issue of Vogue,” the Dallas Morning News reports.

“The article, titled ‘Pair of Aces,’ echoes the twins’ frequent labeling as ‘Democratic rising stars’ — Joaquin is a freshman congressman representing San Antonio, while Julián has been mayor of the city since 2009.”

Former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor (D) “spent the last decade wagering more than a billion dollars at casinos across the country, eventually liquidating her savings, auctioning her belongings, selling off real estate, borrowing from friends and taking more than $2 million from a charity set up by her late husband, a fast-food tycoon,” the New York Times reports.

O’Connor “blamed an addiction to gambling aggravated by a brain tumor for the gargantuan spree. Her lawyers said that while she had made well over a billion dollars in bets at casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and San Diego, her actual net losses were around $13 million.”

“I would have kicked his ass.”

— Christine Quinn (D), quoted by Capital New York, on if she had run for mayor in New York City against Rudy Giuliani (R) in 1992.

In a fascinating interview with the New York Times that was not to be made public until his death, former New York City mayor Ed Koch had final words for his 1977 mayoral opponent Mario Cuomo and called him a “prick.”

Said Koch: “Even though social relationships when we meet in public are good, underneath, he knows that I know what I’m thinking–‘you prick.'”

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch died early this morning, the New York Post reports. He was 88.

“The larger-than-life Koch, who breezed through the streets of New York flashing his signature thumbs-up sign, won a national reputation with his feisty style. ‘How’m I doing?’ was his trademark question to constituents, although the answer mattered little to Koch. The mayor always thought he was doing wonderfully.”

First Read: “Interestingly, Koch was the first mayor to become a national celebrity,
demonstrating how New York’s top politician could be a larger-than-life
figure — and it’s a model that Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg
later followed. He was the first ‘national mayor’ deciding that one of
the best ways to run the city was to be seen as somebody who was
omnipresent.”

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock paid off his bet after the Denver Broncos lost their playoff game to the Baltimore Ravens by doing Ray Lewis’ pregame squirrel dance.

And he released it on video for everyone to see.

[Read more…]

A New York magazine anecdote suggests New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn’t realized he was introduced to a journalist at a Christmas party a few weeks ago.

“Later in the evening, the host interrupted me to point out that the mayor himself had just arrived. Did I want to meet him? Sure. My friend and I followed the host over, shook Bloomberg’s hand, and my friend thanked him for his position on gun control. Without even acknowledging the comment, Bloomberg gestured toward a woman in a very tight floor-length gown standing nearby and said, ‘Look at the ass on her.'”

Former New York City public advocate Betsy Gotbaum declined to endorse her stepson, Noah Gotbaum, for the same office, the New York Times reports.

Gotbaum said that her decision was not personal and that she and her stepson had “a close relationship.”

Chicago Tribune: “With a potential re-election bid still two years away, Mayor Rahm Emanuel is quietly accelerating his campaign fundraising, tapping donors to President Barack Obama, venture capitalists, law firms and leaders of his economic development team.”

“I couldn’t betray my true feelings. I was disgusted by gays. The thought of two men kissing each other was about as appealing as a frontal lobotomy.”

— Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), writing in the Stanford Daily in 1990 on how he came to accept homosexuals.

“It’s typical of Congress, it’s typical of unions, it’s typical of companies, I guess, where a small group is really carrying the ball and the others aren’t necessarily in agreement. The NRA is another place where the membership, if you do the polling, doesn’t agree with the leadership.”

— New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, quoted by the New York Times, comparing teachers’ unions to the National Rifle Association.

A behind-the-scenes political maneuver by Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) to fill a vacant council seat with his choice “led to a near-riot in city hall tonight, with dozens of residents rushing the council stage and police responding with pepper-spray,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.

Booker made an unprecedented personal appearance to cast the deciding vote for Shanique Davis Speight to fill the seat of Rep.-elect Donald Payne Jr. (D), who was just elected to Congress. Booker’s opponents were pushing for John James, the son of former Newark mayor Sharpe James, who Booker beat in 2006.

Booker was able to cast the decisive vote when James allies on the city council stormed off in protest.

The power play was planned by Booker chief of staff Modia Bulter: “We did our research. We abided by the rules and guidelines. We didn’t run afoul of anything.”

“You all beat up on good people for doing good things. I’m not ever telling.”

— Washington, DC councilman Marion Barry, quoted by Washington City Paper, refusing to say who is paying for his Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway, adding that it’s only “liberal white folks” who care.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “spent upwards of $9 million of his own money in the final ten days of the 2012 campaign in support of candidates who shared his views on gun control and political moderation, a sizable sum that portends how the billionaire envisions his life outside of the mayor’s office after his third term concludes in 2013,” the Washington Post reports.

Said aide Howard Wolfson: “This is just the beginning. On issues like guns and education, Mike Bloomberg is poised to play an even bigger role in advancing a mainstream agenda and influencing elections.”

A campaign adviser to Washington, DC Mayor Vincent Gray (D) tells WUSA-TV  that the mayor won’t run again regardless of the outcome of a federal probe.

Gray is reportedly supporting a new candidate, though that candidate was not named.