Stringer is the only mayoral contendor who raised much money in the past six months:

Mr. Stringer raised more than $600,000 this year, and he said he intends to carry over about $1 million from his re-election campaign last year.

“I’m gratified by the close to 1,000 people who contributed, and I’m moving forward,” Mr. Stringer said in an interview. “This is a long journey.”

Thompson has also made his intentions clear:

“It is definitely my intention to run for mayor in 2013 and we’ll begin that process in the latter part of this year,” Mr. Thompson said in an interview.

2013 is going to be an interesting year. If all five ran, we’d also have big fields in the comptroller and Manhattan Borough President races. Not that my political acumen matters much, but if all five ran and went the distance to Primary day, I would bet on Liu.

Thompson lost by a margin of less than 5%, despite being outspent by Bloomberg 10:1.

A lot happened on Tuesday. The Republican Party imploded in upstate NY and allowed Democrats to gain a House seat we hadn’t held since 1852. However, two Democratic legislatures have gone Republican and there were widespread losses sustained across the state by Democrats.

Here, in our own City, we elected a Democratic Comptroller and Public Advocate, and we came within a hair’s breadth of taking the mayoralty.

We almost won it.

But almost is not enough. Last year, most of us got on the phone, traveled out-of-state, urged our friends to vote, and donated to help elect Obama. This year, too many of us sat on the sidelines. Don’t take it in stride. Help organize for 2010 RIGHT NOW!

Don’t sit this one out. You can play a pivotal role. Help us keep New York blue.

Give as little as $5 and make sure we elect the right people next year! Come to MYD meetings and help us strategize! They’re the 3rd Tuesday of every month.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Mayor Bloomberg is leading Bill Thompson by 494,367 to 461,129.

That’s 50.0 percent to 46.7 percent, which is not decisive. Not at all.

It’s more like a cliffhanger. And this after spending some $100 million of his own cash.

Maybe NYers are much harder to buy than you thought, eh, Mike?

Meanwhile, up in NY-23, Bill Owens (D) is doing well:

Thirty-one percent of precincts are reporting and he’s leading Conservative Doug Hoffman, 51.1 percent to 43.9 percent.

Hat tip, Jen Chung of the Gothamist.

Btw, if you’re looking for more infotainment on Sunday, check out this nugget form our newsletter:

Sunday November 1, 2009
Info-tainment Politics in the Millennial Generation
The Tank, 354 West 45th St (between 8th & 9th Ave)
Join MYD and other organizations for a night of entertainment and conversation to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the 2008 election with performances, a premier and a panel discussion.
RSVP by emailing meagan.carberry@gmail.com

Behold the NY Observer's artwork. Only NY circulation that rivals our own Mr. Baily

The award for best post-debate analysis goes to Steve Kornacki of the NY Observer for this article: “Bloomberg Beats a Dead Horse”

The irony is that Kornacki doesn’t analyze the debate at all, specifically. No guessing which hand gesture most affected turnout (Bloomie grabbing his lapels), or what response most sent shivers through people (Thompson’s grade of D- for Bloomberg’s term as mayor). Instead, Kornacki chooses to dissect the dialogue of the campaigns, compare the reality of the ’09 Race with what it could have been, and analyze why we’ve ended up with politics as usual.

And as usual, he’s spot on.

Bloomberg Beats a Dead Horse [New York Observer]

From the Thompson Campaign.