Howard Beach

Choire Sicha sends this photo of Hillary Clinton, taking a break from her relentless campaign schedule today, to take lunch at The Water View Diner in Howard Beach, Queens -- an area rich in the sort of white ethnic voters she'll be looking to claim as part of her broad mandate.  read more »

Anthony Weiner, the congressman who keeps a jam-packed campaign schedule despite not having an opponent, is on his way.

-- Azi Paybarah

Apparently, Mike isn't the only one who gets a little bi-partisan.

At the Queens Republican County annual dinner, Serph Maltese gave a friendly shout out to "the most conservative Democrat in the City Council," Democrat Peter Vallone, Jr.

A Vallone source said he dropped in on the party at Roma View Caters in Howard Beach to show support for Long Island Congressman Peter King (he's Republican too) for his work on security issues.

Another eyebrow-raising moment came when Randy Daniels tried showing that his gubernatorial race wasn't over. For inspiration, he referred to an autistic basketball player in Syracuse who scored six 3-pointers. According to a source there, the story was more inspiring than the actual campaign.

Dept. of Clarification: Vallone's office IM's the following statement: "I think its important to realize that there is no solely Democratic or solely Republican way to keep the city safe. They have always supported our efforts to keep the city safe from terrorism, hire more police officers, and go after even minor crimes like graffiti and I look forward to working with them on these important issues in the future." --Azi Paybarah

On NY1's Inside City Hall last night, Dominic Carter spoke to Senator Serphin Maltese, a republican, about the recent whisper campaign by Bloomberg aides threatening a challenge to the nine term incumbent.

"The fact of the matter is we are now attempting to work closely with the Mayor and his people to get as much additional funding for the schools as possible," said Maltese, who also admitted that he is not in favor of having a well funded challenger.

No follow up on how much or what type of funding that will be. A recent press release on Maltese's website trumpets his support for education tax credits, in line with the Governor's proposed budget, which sets aside $400 million for the program. But it is not clear that tax credits are the main source of funding Bloomberg is after.

The governor's budget includes an additional $634 million in education funding this year, bringing the total aid package to $17 billion, but the mayor has called on him to use an additional $2 billion surplus towards funding New York City schools.

An aside, Maltese will host Rep. Peter King tonight at the Queens County Republican Party Annual Gala in Howard Beach.

—Nicole Brydson

The very words "Howard Beach" conjure painful images for New Yorkers who remember the racist attack  read more »

The  read more »

Has anyone else noticed that Virginia is the only candidate running for Mayor who has been relentlessly, even reflexively on the attack? Anthony has gotten something of a reputation as an attack dog, but it's Virginia who pushed Freddy much harder on his Diallo remarks than any of her Democratic rivals, sparred with Gifford on Kirtzman's show, and was more willing than other Democrats to pick a fight with Lenora Fulani.

Now she's only one so far even remotely to blame Mike for the recent Howard Beach incident. And nobody seems has even bothered to attack her for being "negative."  read more »

But what do you think the longer-term implications of her feistiness are? Does this push her forward in the primary? What does it mean to her, and the other Democrats', chances in the general?

It was Wednesday, Sept.  read more »