The Independent View: NYC Mayor's Race for 2013 Begins

The road to City Hall is starting to get crowded.

"My wish for 2013 is that we elect a successor to this administration that is even better than what we've done," Bloomberg said.

The primary is currently scheduled for September but could be pushed up to June.

It now seems certain that Mayor Michael Bloomberg's successor will be chosen in a competitive General Election in November.

The most recent possible candidate is the former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, Republican Joe Lhota, who has not officially declared his intentions. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is poised to be a force in the race. Lhota was a top aid to Giuliani. He appears ready to promote his campaign.

Then again, neither have many of the other likely candidates for City Hall.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a Democrat, is raising money for an expected run. So is Democrat Bill de Blasio, the City's Public Advocate. City Comptroller John Liu, a Democrat, is also expected to make a bid despite a campaign fundraising scandal. Bill Thompson is the only prominent Democrat to go public with his plans. He did so shortly after losing his challenge to Mayor Bloomberg in 2009.

Mayor Bloomberg is close with Quinn, but he is not offering any endorsements just yet.

There are other Republicans who may be running. Newspaper publisher Tom Allon switched parties to run on the GOP line. So did Doe Fund president George McDonald.

John Catsimatidis, the billionaire supermarket owner, is weighing a Republican bid, and former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion and State Senator Malcolm Smith are in the mix as well. They would need approval, Wilson Pakula, from the Republican leader's to get on the line. They would also need this approval to run on any of the minor party's line.

A Wilson Pakula is an authorization given by a political party to a candidate for public office in the State of New York which allows a candidate not registered with that party to run as its candidate in a given election.

The name refers to the Wilson Pakula Act of 1947, authored by state senator Irwin Pakula and then-assemblyman (and future governor) Malcolm Wilson, which forbids candidates from receiving the nomination of a political party if they are not registered as a member of that party, unless they receive permission to enter the primary from party officials representing a majority of the vote in the jurisdiction.

It all adds up to a lot of potential candidates who have their eye on City Hall.

Update
New York City mayoral hopeful Adolfo Carrión Jr. is a leading contender for the Independence Party nomination, a ballot line that once helped boost Mayor Michael Bloomberg into City Hall.

"The leadership feels very positive about his candidacy, the fact that he's an independent, his message of nonpartisanship," party strategist Jacqueline Salit said Thursday. "The response to him has been very strong."

Ms. Salit stressed, however, that a formal vote hasn't been taken by the party's executive committee and that Mr. Carrión is still meeting with officials. A vote could come within weeks.

I will be part of the selection process.