A day after his stunning decision to leave the State Senate after 32 years, Majority Leader Joseph Bruno held a sentimental press conference. Capitol Confidential and Daily Politics has highlights from his remarks, like “Life decisions are never easy. And I’ve made a life decision. My life decision is to step back, and step out" and answering "I have news for you, we're all terminal here" when asked if he is terminally ill. Bruno was......

The highest ranking Republican in NY State, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, announced he would not seek re-election this fall. The 79-year-old released a statement; here is an excerpt (the full statement is after the jump: "Today I met with my Republican colleagues in the Senate and informed them that I will not be running for re-election this November. After 32 years in office, I have decided that it is time to move on with my life and to give my constituents an opportunity for new representation and my colleagues in the Senate who have supported me an opportunity for new leadership."...

Frank Powers, a retired Wall Street executive and MTA board member who had been recently chosen to run for Representative Vito Fossella's congressional seat this fall, died yesterday. The 67-year-old apparently died in his sleep, found by his wife Diane, in his Todt Hill home. Just last month, Powers was endorsed by the Staten Island Republican Party to run for Congress this fall. Powers, a retired millionaire who donated to many charities, had reportedly promised......

Aw, it's time for that classic Rudy Giuliani chutzpah! According to the NY Times, the former NYC mayor and former Republican presidential candidate is offering to help raise money for various Republicans running for election or re-election this fall: "But there is a catch: He wants some cash out of the deal." Giuliani ended his presidential campaign with about $3.6 million in debt, including a $500,000 personal loan. His people have been talking with......

Dennis Gallagher, the married City Councilman representing Queens who was accused of raping a constituent in a drunken encounter last year, announced his planned resignation after pleading guilty to sexual abuse and forcible touching. Last summer, a 52-year-old woman alleged that she met Gallagher at a bar in Queens and after a night of drinking went with the Councilman to his district office, where he raped her. Gallagher's office was searched by police and DNA......

Photograph of John McCain and President George Bush at the White House by Ron Edmonds/AP Yesterday, Senator John McCain was welcomed and endorsed by President Bush. Bush referenced McCain's doubters and past history, "John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment. And that's exactly what we need in a President: somebody that can handle the tough decisions; somebody who won't flinch in the face of......

Photograph of damaged door by dhfdz on Flickr Around 3:45 a.m., a device exploded outside the military recruiting center in Times Square. No one was injured, but a glass entryway was shattered. The streets around Times Square were shut down (now traffic can pass through) and subway service passed through the Times Square station without stopping (it's back to normal now), as authorities investigated the scene. WNBC reports police were searching for a "suspect......

Senator John McCain at a campaign stop in San Antonio, TX by Eric Gay/AP CNN, NBC, and the AP are projecting Senator John McCain will clinch the Republican presidential campaign, after winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island and clinching the 1,191 delegates needed. A source tells NBC that President Bush has invited McCain to the White House tomorrow and will endorse him. McCain will be having a victory party in......

After his $500,000 donation to NY State Republicans was revealed, Mayor Bloomberg explained why he did it to reporters while attending a Mayors Against Illegal Guns conference, "I've said repeatedly, I will help those who help us. They have stood up for the city a number of times — when we needed to have a voice in Albany and we didn't have that voice from the Assembly or from the governor, whether it was the......

Today's big Texas primary, the Post has delivered a cover with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as old West gunslingers. And since Obama's hand in on his gun, it makes sense the headline for the story is, "Barack Goes For Hill Kill." (Obama believes in gun control, though he backed a law allowing retired cops to carry concealed weapons). At any rate, in spite of Obama leading and her campaign desperate for wins in Texas......

Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, who has spent many months (if not years) hinting about his boss's presidential ambitions, is still stirring the pot of rumors. Last night on NY1's Inside City Hall, Sheekey, "promoted the idea of an Obama-Bloomberg presidential ticket." Sheekey revealed that after Bloomberg's official announcement/NY Times op-ed about not running for president, Barack Obama had a chat with the billionaire mayor:"Certainly you could joke that Obama's call was a fundraising call yesterday.......

Photograph of Clinton and Obama before the Ohio debate earlier this week by Rick Bowmer/AP Hillary Clinton's campaign happily announced that the Senator from New York had raised $35 million during February, her best month ever. Adviser Harold Ickes used the news to accentuate the positive, "We have been through a dry period in the last eleven contests but we are about to start our upswing." Clinton is thrilled with the fundraising efforts, saying,......

Yesterday, the Post reported City Councilman Dennis Gallagher, the Queens politican accused of raping a woman last summer, was offered a plea deal that would "keep him out of jail and off the sex-offender registry" and possibly force him to resign office. Gallagher, who has maintained the sex (which occurred in his Queens offices) was consensual, was indicted by a grand jury last summer, but the indictment was dismissed last month, because the judge felt......

William F. Buckley died in his Connecticut home today, at age 82. Some consider him the founder of modern conservatism, as he authored the seminal book in 1951 God and Man at Yale, in response to what he saw was an encroaching secularism at one of the nation's top universities, during what was considered one of the nation's most buttoned-down eras. In fact, Buckley was prescient in foreseeing the social revolution of the 1960s. After......

It looks like Roger Clemens didn’t convince any Democrats with his testimony in front of Congress February 13th. According to anonymous sources, a letter to the Justice Department has been drafted asking the it to investigate whether Clemens, and not McNamee, committed perjury during hearings in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Keith Ausbrook, Republican chief counsel for the committee, told reporters that he was unaware of the letter, indicating that......

Doug Schoen, the pollster who has worked with Bill Clinton on his 1996 reelection and Mayor Bloomberg, is stirring the Bloomberg for President pot again. He tells the Sun that Ralph Nader's decision to enter the 2008 presidential race could help Bloomberg. Schoen explained, "The Democratic candidate, whoever it may be, will have to tack to the left to protect their left flank, and that leaves more room on the center-left." And what with John......

Photograph of Queens native Amy Ryan, nominated for best supporting actress for her role in Gone, Baby Gone At 8:30PM (following a half-hour red carpet special), the 80th Annual Academy Awards ceremony will begin, finally putting an end to the "There Will Be Oscar" or "Oscar Country for Old Men" type headlines. You can prep yourself with the Oscar nominees list as you watch (or avoid) red carpet coverage. You could read NY Times......

Ralph Nader will be making another third-party bid for the Presidency in the 2008 election. The consumer advocate - and bane of many Democrats - made the announcement this morning on Meet the Press. Nader emphasized most Americans still are disenchanted with both the Democratic and Republican parties. At his exploratory site, which he established last month, he said both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in thrall to corporate interests. Nader, who ran for......

The NY Times' article about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's superclose relationship with a young, attractive female lobbyist (more about her here) has drawn a lot of criticism, especially from McCain himself. His campaign seized the moment to raise money for his campaign. Campaign manager Rick Davis' fundraising letter read, "With John McCain leading a number of general-election polls against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, The New York Times knew the time to attack......

The headline for the above-the-fold NY Times story about presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk, doesn't quite prepare readers for the juicy insinuations waiting for them in the second paragraph. The first sentence notes that during McCain's 2000 presidential campaign advisers were worried because... A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate......

Governor Spitzer is facing opposition in his attempt to snuff out any Javits Center expansion by selling land surrounding the center to fill budget gaps. The administration still plans to renovate the convention center, but it will result in far less space than what was originally envisioned for the expansion, which would have cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion. Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn oppose the land......

Photograph of an Obama volunteer in Harlem by Angela Radulescu on Flickr Your Super Tuesday primary vote did count, although it may not have initially. The NY Times did some digging around after noticing, according to the unofficial results the media relies on, 80 NYC voting districts recorded no votes for Obama, even in neighborhoods with large black populations. The city has now "confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly —......

After Hillary Clinton's started airing a commercial in Wisconsin questioning why Barack Obama declined to appear in another debate, Obama came back with his own ad. The voiceover says:After eighteen debates, with two more coming, Hillary says Barack Obama is ducking debates? It's the same old politics, the phony charges, and false attacks. On health care, even Bill Clinton's own labor secretary [Robert Reich] even says Obama covers "more people" than Hillary and does......

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions. Like why Hillary Clinton has the only health care plan that covers every American, and the only economic......

Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over......

Mayor Bloomberg's un-campaign for President is losing momentum even before it could officially get started. Bloomberg's position on a run has always been that he is not running at any particular point at that time, even as his Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey aggressively pursues advance work for the campaign that is not happening. Political consultant Doug Schoen confirmed that Sheekey has a formal plan in place already that merely needs the Mayor's go-ahead to begin.......

Graphic from NYPost.com A video showing Mets star pitcher Pedro Martinez at a cockfight in the Dominican Republican briefly surfaced online, outraging some people. Cockfighting is a popular - and legal - sport in the Dominican Republic, but it's illegal in almost all of the United States. The Post explained that Martinez and Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal were "honorary 'soltadores' - the word used to describe the person who throws the animal......

The specter of a Mormon multimillionaire as president has been lifted; Mitt Romney announced his withdrawal from the Republican primary race this afternoon. Romney used his speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee to declare: “If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win.” Wonkette liveblogged the speech to great......

Graphic from CNN It was an exciting night of Super Tuesday primary returns. In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton won eight states, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California, but Obama won twelve - Illinois, Connecticut, Alabama, and Missouri - among them (New Mexico is still undecided as the two candidates are in a tie). The NY Times notes that since there were no decisive victories, "an electoral fight...will unfold for weeks to......

Super Tuesday is supposed to be a decisive catalyst in the presidential campaigns. It may wind up raising more questions than ever, especially with Mayor Bloomberg (not officially) entertaining a run towards 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Today, the New York Sun reports a data analysis firm's claim that it's "empirically possible" for Mayor Bloomberg to become President, even if moderately-positioned John McCain wins the Republican nomination. Symposia Group has been crunching electoral data and thinks Bloomberg......