[UPDATE: Seems today's Daily News has confirmation that Nydia Velasquez is a front runner to replace Hillary Clinton should she be elevated by Obama (Cabinet or, possibly, Supreme Court). Don't know about you, but I heard it first at CBID!]

Tonight was CBID's (Central Brooklyn Independent Neighborhood Democrats) dinner honoring the Brooklyn for Obama people who worked so hard both locally and nationally to elect Barack Obama. It was held at Bogota, the excellent Colombian restaurant on 5th Ave. Those who know me know that I paid particular attention to the food, so let me get that out of the way, then I will mention some of the rumors that came my way today both at the dinner and by email after I posted my "Defeating Tsar Bloomberg and his Trained Surrender Monkeys" diary.

The Colombian style chicken and potato empanadas were wonderful. Among the best empanadas I have had. The "domino" (black bean and feta cheese) empanadas were also good. The sweet arepas with avocado were amazing. And the long plantain chips with black bean dip were excellent. I am not a big bean dip fan, but their black bean dip (with a touch of sour cream) was great.

I hear the mojitos were great as well (according to Chris Owens, anyway) but I didn't try them.

Okay, now on to the politics. The honorees, both individually and collectively, were the Brooklyn for Barack, and Audacity for Park Slope organizers who did HUGE amounts of work raising money, phone banking, organizing bus trips, and knocking on doors in who knows how many states to get this thing done. An amazing group of people. A hat tip also goes to those of our local politicians who worked hard to get Obama elected, including some who had originally supported Hillary Clinton but who went to bat for Obama after the primary. Those present who did their part on phones or on foot were Jim Brennan, Joan Millman, Jo Anne Simon and Alan Fleishman (sorry if I left anyone off...many other electeds dropped by but these were the ones I noted had done some serious work).

But today was noteworthy for the many rumors that were thrown my way, both at the dinner and before.

First let me note that Anthony Weiner spent a chunk of his talk discussing the anti-marriage equality amendments that passed this year. He spoke out against these hate amendments and for marriage equality, and spoke about it like someone aiming for higher office. Mayor is the obvious, but he has been a bit coy about this. Is he waiting to see if he can get appointed to replace Hillary if she gets a cabinet post before definitively throwing his hat in the ring for mayor? What was clear is he is running in 2009 and is talking like a candidate.

Let me also note that Bill Thompson did not correct Chris Owens the multiple times Owens explicitly indicated Thompson was running for mayor. I have heard that Thompson will stick with Comptroller, whatever Yassky wants, but tonight it was Thompson who seemed to be aiming for mayor.

Nydia Velazquez also came up as a possible person to replace Hillary Clinton should she be elevated by the President elect. Hadn't heard this one before, but my informant seemed to feel it was a definite possibility.

The word is that Josh Skaller's campaign for the 39th City Council district is doing extremely well. This is about the third time I have heard this in the past month or so, from three different sources, some of whom think he is poised to be the frontrunner. Fundraising and networking are going well for Josh. And he has some nifty new buttons to help raise name recognition. I always feel that a campaign (judicial elections and incumbents aside) without buttons seldom wins (though that doesn't mean having buttons means victory). It is sort of an indication of funding and a way to get the name out there.

I have now heard from quite a few people at CBID that Jo Anne Simon is seen as the candidate to back in the 33rd City Council district largely because she seems the strongest candidate to beat Yassky if he is running, or Vito Lopez's candidate, Stephen Levin, if Yassky doesn't run. Not all who say this consider her their preferred candidate, but they are still considering backing her because they want to beat Yassky and Levin. Ken Diamondstone remains the favorite on issues, I think, but Simon is becoming the candidate of choice in the club from what I am hearing.

In my previous list (or partial list taken from a Facebook site about challenging Bloomberg and his City Council followers) of city council challengers there was no candidate listed challenging Sara Gonzalez for the 38th City Council seat. Today people told me David Galarza is running for that seat and he was talking like a candidate tonight. I will also note that this race seemed to rival defeating Yassky and electing Josh Skaller for the race people most wanted to see won.

Finally, an unconfirmed rumor is that Angry Clown Marty Markowitz may have one, possibly two, challengers after all. Chris Owens is rumored to be seriously considering a run, though my impression recently is that Chris is happy with his Air America radio show and his current real job. But I for one think Chris would be an excellent BP, and a big improvement over the current guy best known for his anger management issues and his vindictive streak. I will say, though, Chris better line up some good backers before anouncing if he is running. I also heard a reference to another possible candidate, but the identity remains a mystery. I am hoping WFP gets in on this race because that will be the way to beat Marty The Clown.

A final note. The two people present who got the biggest applause (other than any mention of Barack Obama) were Josh Skaller (a popular former president of CBID and possible frontrunner in the 33rd Council District) and Norman Siegel. The crowd went wild when Norman Siegel's name was mentioned. In this little corner of NYC, Siegel has a good power base. This was particularly interesting since CBID includes Bill de Blasio's district and I didn't see Bill there tonight.