I want to give my take on voting today, with a Brooklyn twist.

Mayor: I honestly think Miller has the best chance of beating Bloomberg and that many of the attacks on Miller's credibility have been overblown and unfair. Having said that, Miller is in the back of the pack in the primary. His demeanor is against him. I have seen him in person many times and when he can overcome his robotic demeanor, he's good. But often his robotic default defeats him. My second choice is also second in the polls: Wiener. I have heard him twice and I have met him personally once and watched him campaign on the street. The man is comfortable with the people (unlike Bloomberg and some of the Dems), he is pretty solidly progressive and he is NOT as pro-war as some portray him. He is the one I agree with the most, so I think I will vote for him. Ferrer is better than I was expecting. I hated him after the school-yard antics of him and Green last time. But he has impressed me more than I expected. So I will happily vote for him over Bloomberg, but I like and agree with Miller and Wiener more. Fields? Whose she? I haven't herad her speak once, she doesn't seem to care about the grassroots and I know of no one supporting her. I haven't even seen any commercials from her camp! She is the absent candidate.

Public Advocate: If there is one thing that the last 4 years have shown us is that we need a powerful Public Advocate as a counter to the mayor and city council. Betsy Gotbaum is a non-entity. She disappeared the day after she was elected and emerged from obscurity only to campaign for a second term. She is a no-body! I am voting for Norm Siegel because he has the experience and credentials that make him ideal for the post. I know there are other good people running, but they are not going to win and they don't have the extensive experience and toughness of Siegel. ANY of them would be better than Betsy Do Nothing. But Norm Siegel is the kind of person who the position was designed for. And I get that from one of the people who helped WRITE the legislation that created the position. Norm Siegel has already been fighting for our rights far, FAR more than Betsy has. If there is one single reason I am going out to vote today, it is for Norm Siegel. In fact, I will help campaign for him as soon as I can get off form work. I feel Norm Siegel is the guy Progressives are always saying that the Dem party needs. So if we don't elect him here in NYC, the Progressives just aren't doing their job. Four more years of Betsy would be 4 more years with no Public Advocate.

Brooklyn DA: People have heard me rant about this race already. I am still torn. Given the sad field, I am torn between throwing my vote away on Arnie Kriss (has no chance and I hear mixed ratings on him), voting for Mark Peters, who may well be the best of the three main candidates, or voting for Hynes just to make sure the ultra-corrupt Sampson doesn't win. Let's be clear here--this race is all about keeping Sampson out because no matter how bad any of the other candidates are, they are not as corrupt and nasty as Sampson. The ideal candidate was forced out and since then I haven't been sure who I will vote for. Probably Peters.

Judicial races: Here I am a little unclear who is running for what, but I can share some insight on some good folks. Margharita Lopez-Torres is another of those really perfect progressive candidates. I am going out there for Norm Siegel, but I am also going out there for Lopez-Torres as well. She is running for Surrogate Judge which is one of those seats targeted by the corrupt machine and she is the candidate with integrity. We absolutely have to beat the machine on this one, so PLEASE vote for her! Two other candidates for judicial seats who I like (and they might be running for the same seat, for all I know!) are Cynthia Boyce and Michael Gerstein. Gerstein is endorsed by several folks I respect and is an anti-machine candidate. Cynthia Boyce is endearing! I don't even know who has endorsed her, but I have met her three times and she really seems like a very idealistic, very smart sweatheart. The judicial seats are often overlooked because no one knows who these people are. Well, if you want to fight the machine, the above three candidates are good people to vote for. I am less certain about Norma Jennings, but she has also been endorsed by people I respect. But I haven't met her and know little else about her.

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