Public Advocate Democrat Bill de Blasio and Republican challenger Joe Lhota square off Tuesday in a bid to become New York City's next mayor. The winner will succeed Michael Bloomberg who has been at the helm since 2001, DNA Info reported.
De Blasio, a former political operative who ran Hillary Clinton's 2000 New York Senate campaign, is seen as the heavy favorite against Lhota who served in former Mayor Rudy Giuliani's administration.
Throughout the campaign, de Blasio has emphasized his mixed-race family. His son Dante and daughter Chiara have even appeared in commercial advertisements. A stalwart liberal, de Blasio expressed consternation to the NYPD's stop-and-frisk' program, which drew the ire of his opponent Lhota and others.
Even The New York Post branded de Blasio as a socialist and 'soft on crime.' The newspaper ran a cover art photo of de Blasio's disembodied head next to a hammer and sickle with the words "Back In The USSR.' In their cover story, journalists Carl Campanile and Yoav Gonen discussed de Blasio's 'Secret Cold War Trip,' in which he visited the former Soviet Union as an NYU student.
De Blasio's opponents had previously excoriated him for honeymooning in Cuba, and for doing aid work in Nicaragua during the communist-funded Sandinista civil war, reported Yahoo News. De Blasio held a 40 point lead, according to a Marist poll, leading into Tuesday's elections.
Lhota, a life-long New Yorker, whose family members served in the police force and in the fire department, has portrayed De Blasio as 'soft on crime,' in that his policies would return the city to a far more dangerous time when rampant crime inundated the headlines.
Two high profile elections in Virginia and New Jersey have also garnered considerable nationwide attention. In Virginia, Democrat (and long-time Clinton advocate) Terry McAuliffe has been pitted against Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is expected to win in a landslide against state Senator Barbara Buono.
McAuliffe, who has received public endorsements from the Clintons, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in recent weeks, has been charged by his opponent for running 'a dishonest, unserious campaign,' CBS News reported. In turn, Maculiffe has painted his tea party opponent as a far-right extremist who remains hell-bent on ending access to abortions and contraception. Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have campaigned on behalf of Cuccinelli. The most recent Quinnipiac poll out Monday showed McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli with a 46 to 40 percent lead.
While a heavy favorite to be re-elected as New Jersey's governor, Chris Christie was criticized by some Republicans for appearing with President Obama immediately following Hurricane Sandy last year.
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