UPDATE: Lizz Winstead, Co-Creator of the Daily Show just sent me an e-mail about the big debate viewing party on Wednesday:
Hey --
Are you watching the second mayoral debate tomorrow night? Because the future of our city is about to be decided by one of those Dems up on stage.
It’s kind of A HUGE DEAL.
How about watching with me? 'Cause I am hosting a debate watch party in Park Slope at the Dram Shop on 9th Street, and live tweeting (natch) the whole thing — it’s going to be an awesome night.
Can you make it? Click here to get more details and let me know you're coming:
http://my.billdeblasio.com/...
Guys, I'm giving this campaign my all because Bill’s the only one who has been fighting day and night to keep our city’s hospitals open. The only one who is actually going to ban racial profiling. The only one who isn’t afraid to tax the wealthy so this city can expand after-school programs that keep kids safe. (So obviously, he’s the only one you should be cheering for tomorrow night.)
If you don’t live in my neighborhood, there are dozens of other watch parties across the city that you can attend.
Check out the list of debate watch parties and RSVP now. You're not going to want to miss this:
http://my.billdeblasio.com/...
If you can't join me, I hope it's because you will be cheering and tweeting Bill on at a different one!
- Lizz
@LizzWinstead
Writer, Comedian, and Co-creator of The Daily Show
PS: Don't forget to use the hashtags #TeamdeBlasio (to show your pride) and #nyc2013 (to follow along during the debate)!
you can click here to join the party on Wednesday:
http://my.billdeblasio.com/...
I for one have been enjoying the way New York City Mayor candidate Bill de Blasio (D) has been incorporating his family into his campaign. His wofe's been active on the campaign trail, his son Dante did an ad for him and now his daughter is out helping rile up voters:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Eighteen-year-old Chiara de Blasio--whose mother, Chirlane McCray, is black--gave a speech at a fundraiser for her father Sunday in which she explained why he should be the next mayor of New York City.
"I’m so happy that I get to work with my dad and the rest of my family on this campaign,” she can be seen saying in a video released by the de Blasio campaign. “It’d be one thing if I just thought he was just like some boring white guy who didn’t know what he was talking about. But you know, he truly-- he cares about everybody in this city, every different type of person. You know, rich poor, black white, blue, whatever." - Huffington Post, 8/20/13
Very sweet. By the way, The Nation just published their interview with de Blasio today. In the interview, de Blasio touches upon several key issues in this campaign like rent control and stop and frisk:
http://www.thenation.com/...
A battle that every mayor in New York has had to deal with is the amount of important local policy decision making that occurs in Albany instead of here. Do you have any plans where you’d try to make policy making autonomous from Albany?
I think obviously the Urstadt law should be repealed and that the city should have control of its own rent regulations. [The Urstadt Law, which was passed by the State legislature in 1971, took away the city’s power to pass rent laws that are stricter than the state’s – BKS.] We should have our power to make our own taxation decisions.
There’s a host of things that need to change. It’s a semi-colonial dynamic. We’re the economic engine of the state. Over a half of the population of New York [State] still need permission from Albany to do a bunch of things. That should be a matter of self-determination.
Speaking of police overreach, there have been pretty extensive levels of surveillance by the NYPD on the Muslim community. Are there aspects of those policies that you would keep? Do you think the program as a whole has journeyed into the unconstitutional?
I know more about stop-and-frisk than I do about [the] constitutional reach of these policies. Here’s what I do know personally: I only believe in policing based on specific leads, specific suspect descriptions, and so on. We should have assertive policing but obviously always be respectful of constitutional boundaries. The only way to do that is to appoint an independent inspector general. That will be the difference in policing in this city moving forward. I don’t know the specific nuances. I can say this much: if anything is not constitutional and not based on specific leads, I wouldn’t allow it. I would want a highly respected inspector general to have a set of eyes on it. - The Nation, 8/20/13
de Blasio also talks about Occupy Wall Street, labor issues and climate change. It's an interview I strongly recommend you read. Now there is one issue that I am concerned about and how it will play to the voters: de Blasio is a Red Sox fan:
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate and a leading Democratic contender for mayor, has a confession: He is a Red Sox fan, tried and true. He was raised in Cambridge, Mass., becoming a devotee of the Red Sox at 6, and he is unabashed in his disdain for anything having to do with that team from the Bronx.
“I have my loyalty to the team of my youth,” he said in an interview, calling his tie to the Red Sox a “deep devotion.”
Three weeks before a citywide primary, and suddenly tied for the lead in the Democratic race, Mr. de Blasio is handling his Red Sox attachment gingerly, confirming it in interviews but refraining from indulging in any trash talk about the Yankees.
Perhaps sensing the gravity of his admission, he was quick to note that as mayor he would be “very happy to celebrate any New York sports team.” - New York Times, 8/20/13
Glad to hear but I think New Yorkers know this race is about much than what baseball team de Blasio's a fan of. He's ahead because of the issues and if we want him to hit home run, he's going to need our help. Click here to donate and get involved with de Blasio's campaign:
http://www.billdeblasio.com/