2005

Time Magazine has named Mike Bloomberg one of 5 Best Big-City Mayors.

In the meantime, head of the New School, Bob Kerrey, is deciding if he will join the crowded Democratic field to take on Bloomie. There is a touch of insanity to this since:

1. Just last week Kerrey agreed to head 'Democrats for Bloomberg'. 'Mr. Kerrey acknowledged last night that it might seem unusual to go, in the space of a week, from agreeing to head Democrats for Bloomberg to talking about challenging him this year. He said the shift reflected his own ambivalence about a mayor who he said was good in some ways, but flawed in others.' Um, yeah, unusual.

2. He's only been in NY for four years and says he only became a New Yorker on 9/11. Four years!? That means he barely even saw NY under Rudy, let alone under Dinkins or Koch. Four years may a New Yorker make but it's not enough time to really get the city and to run for mayor.

3. Kerrey was seriously bandied about as a presidential choice, nearly running against Gore for the nomination in 2000, or a vice-president possibility . Running for mayor seems like a 'Mooseport' type move for the guy. Having said that, he seems really nuts, telling the Times 'You know me: I am just crazy enough to do this.' Rule #1 of politics: you can be crazy but you really should never admit it.

4. Will his being a war criminal hurt him? While John Kerry always talked about the crimes he committed in abstract, and as 'we' but never 'I', Kerrey is on the record admitting to personally committing atrocities in Vietnam. 'Kerrey led a commando team on a raid of an isolated peasant hamlet called Thanh Phong in Vietnam's eastern Mekong Delta. While witnesses and official records give varying accounts of exactly what happened, one thing is certain: around midnight on Feb. 25, 1969, Kerrey and his men killed at least 13 unarmed women and children.'

I know I have no reason for glee, the Republican party in NY being what it is, but it's so amusing to see the Democrats splinter and fragment in a city where they should be handing our asses to us every time (though 9 times out of 10 they surely do). But, Bob Kerrey, guys? Wacky!