Because of family in NYC, I've been watching the Mayor race pretty closely. Early on, he was way back in the pack but the front runners pretty much self destructed. NYC is primarily a dark blue city with areas of red (think Staten Island) - but they were ready for a democrat and de Blasio is an unabashed far left progressive. He used to be a communist but I am not sure if he still is. I kind of doubt it. He's kind of an odd duck and his prior history doesn't include running anything on the scale of NYC. Or close.

The Bloomberg stop and frisk policy of the NYPD made the progressives crazy and he has vowed to get rid of it/limit it. Bloomberg has been having a heart attack over that and there is a huge divide regarding whether stopping/reducing stop and frisk is going to impact the crime rate. The right says it will skyrocket, the left says those concerns are all made up (by rich people who didn't want him elected because he was going to raise their taxes) and that it is just an excuse to let the NYPD violate civil rights.

Bloomberg has been working without union contracts for years. The unions are demanding new contracts that include back pay for the years they've gone without. That is a huge issue and most people are watching to see how de Blasio deals with it. This is big, big money.

De Blasio ran on a platform of seeking social justice. Again, the NYC right is having heart attacks over losing the tax base but the progressives are giddy. Should be interesting. I appreciate that the man isn't mealy mouthed about it. He is out there as a proud progressive and the whole world that is interested in such things is watching.

The NYC school district is awful. Bloomberg championed charter schools because they could get rid of bad teachers. There are a lot of truly horrible union teachers in NYC regular school that are protected. The progressives want to get rid of the charter schools (the argument is that they aren't doing very well) and de Blasio ran on the promise to support the union and trim down away from the charter school program. He just appointed a chancellor for NYC schools that is not, historically, pro charter school. Bottom line, the unions and progressives are thrilled with de Blasio. The right is horrified. Left or right, if you have money, you don't send your kids to NYC public schools in the first place.

Personally, I think this is their business. The country was set up to allow areas to be little laboratories to see what works and what doesn't. If NYC wants to go the big time progressive route, they can do that. I personally think it is insane but I don't see New Yorkers losing any sleep over my concern. De Blasio's initial decision on the horses strikes me as both odd, clueless, ruthless and foolhardy and makes me wonder what in heaven's name he is going to do, next. But at the end of the day, it isn't any of my business. This is just pass the popcorn time.

If I were a progressive who wanted the progressive movement to spread, I would be nervous. The whole country is watching to see how a big city with an unabashed progressive taking over at the helm will manage things. Personally, I would feel better if the progressive in charge wasn't this guy - he strikes me as odd and not the brightest star in the sky.

It might be great, it could leave the city in a smoldering heap - dunno. Time will tell but we can all take some lessons from it. We will be moving from the theoretical to the practical and I am interested in seeing how it turns out. Obviously, I worry about the crime rate escalating, expenses increasing, schools getting worse and taxes going up because I have loved ones there. But, who knows? Maybe the progressive model will work.