Capital New York

Cory Booker's Newark enemy says 'I told you so'

Newark mayor Cory Booker's decision this weekend to go off the Obama reservation on "Meet the Press"—saying the campaign's attacks on Mitt Romney's private-equity background "nauseate" him—was an unconventional one in the context of the very Democratic, very pro-Obama city he currently runs. More

Posted on May 21st, 2012 4:14pm

Joe Ricketts and the war on message

A funny corollary to the rise of corporate-backed super PACs is that they have, at times, been enormously inconvenient for political campaigns wishing to spoon-feed narratives to the media. More

Posted on May 17th, 2012 4:23pm

F.A.Q.: Which campaign wants to have an election about gay rights?

Steve Kornacki: I'm sure we'll hear plenty of that, sort of like with the supposed Bradley Effect and Obama in '08, and if Obama ends up losing, maybe there'll be some impulse to blame this. What will really change it is when states start voting against bans like the one that passed in North Carolina yesterday (or start voting to legalize it). More

Posted on May 10th, 2012 5:23pm

First Cuomo, then Obama

This is very, very good for Andrew Cuomo, will legitimately be able to claim forever more not only that he was ahead of his party's leader on same-sex marriage, but that in fact the leader followed him.

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Posted on May 9th, 2012 5:33pm

F.A.Q.: What can an event in Albany say about Obama, Cuomo and upstate New York?

Jimmy Vielkind: I think it shows just how strategic Cuomo is about, well, everything. There's what you mentioned. But there are also worries that the governor talks about, which I think have merit, about not being distracted from New York. A soaring speech moves him to a national stage when he's not done with his agenda at home. He knows the dangers of peaking early (See: Cuomo, Mario Matthew) as a prospective presidential candidate so yes, this does put him in a bit of a spot. More

Posted on May 8th, 2012 12:23pm

While Hillary makes a joke, Cuomo addresses the 2016 thing like Obama isn't even there

It was less a political development than a political-narrative development this week, as both Hillary Clinton and Andrew Cuomo acknowledged speculation that they might run for president in 2016, positioning two giants of New York politics for the greatest imaginary primary of all time. More

Posted on April 26th, 2012 10:35am

Levon Helm, a self-effacing drummer from Turkey Scratch

From Jon Pareles:

Mr. Helm’s drumming valued space over showiness. He gave his drums a muffled, bottom-heavy sound that placed them in the foundation of the arrangements, and his tom-toms were tuned so that their pitch would bend downward as the tone faded.

Mr. Helm didn’t call attention to himself. More

Posted on April 19th, 2012 4:25pm

The soccer in England is very good now

An executive from Major League Soccer told me in an interview a few years ago that he got annoyed when people complained about the standard of play in the relatively new American league. More

Posted on March 30th, 2012 1:55pm

Andrew Cuomo had a much better day today than Donald Verrilli

There was little gratification to be had this afternoon, really, after the second day of oral arguments in the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Obama health care legislation. More

Posted on March 27th, 2012 6:36pm

How big can Andrew Cuomo's inner circle get?

Maybe it’s too soon to be talking about Andrew Cuomo as a candidate for president. After all, there are so many things that can happen between now and 2016 that would complicate his, or anyone’s, nomination prospects. (What happens, for example, if the current president gets re-elected?) More

Posted on March 26th, 2012 7:21pm