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De Blasio Might be the Dem Nominee for NY Mayor

by Nuzha Nuseibeh

The Public Advocate who was accused of running a "racist" campaign by Mayor Bloomberg last week may just be the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York. But it's not quite clear yet.

Bill de Blasio had 40.2 percent of the vote after New York City's election Tuesday night, but only 97 percent of the vote had been counted — meaning it was impossible to tell whether he'd reached the 40 percent threshold needed to win the nomination outright and avoid the run-off in October.

His runner-up, former Comptroller Bill Thompson — who had 26 percent of the vote — refused to give up before knowing the results of the 19,000 absentee ballots, which'll be revealed early next week.

"This is far from over," Thompson said.

If De Blasio is forced into a (probably heated) runoff against Thompson, and wins, then he'll go into the general election on November 5, against Republican Joe Lhota. But with Republicans making up only 11 percent of New York registered voters and Democrats at 68 percent, it's unlikely the race will be very close.

The other Democratic nominee expected to come in close in Tuesday's primary, Christine Quinn, ended up in third place with only 15 percent of the vote. The city council speaker, who was hoping to be the first openly gay and female mayor of the city, was apparently hurt by her close association with Bloomberg.

As to our favorite cybersexter? Yah, he's out. Former congressman Anthony Weiner was left lagging in fifth place, with 5 percent of the vote and, let's be honest, very little dignity.