The Democratic candidates for mayor smacked each other around with accusations of lies, distortions, flip-flops and betrayals. Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson even ganged up on front-runner Bill de Blasio for a takedown that its target compared to a wrestling maneuver. But just how brutal was their “often testy,” “combative” “rumpus” of a first official televised debate on August 21?
Not as much as you might think. A tally of the total time the candidates spent on the attack shows a total duration of some 633 seconds, or about 10 out of the 90 minutes of the debate engaging in direct assaults against one other.
But some candidates played much more offense than others. Bill Thompson, who earlier in the campaign had to fend off criticism that he lacked “fire in the belly,” was the most bellicose debater. Thompson attacked his rivals for 161 seconds, 27 seconds ahead of runner-up de Blasio.
Thompson lags far behind de Blasio in the polls, with the latest, from The New York Times and Siena, showing de Blasio with nearly 32 percent of likely Democratic primary voters and Thompson far behind at 18 percent, just ahead of Quinn. De Blasio has also surged ahead of Thompson in competing for the city’s sought-after black electorate, with 34 percent of those polled for Quinnipiac for de Blasio versus 25 percent for Thompson.
Almost as fierce was Anthony Weiner, notorious for his minute-and-a-half screaming rant in Congress slamming opponents of aid to sickened Ground Zero workers.
No more Mr. Nice Guy: Ex-comptroller Bill Thompson spent the most time on the attack in the last mayoral debate.
This time, Weiner reserved 89 seconds for a quieter but particularly vicious assault, insinuating that de Blasio was implicated in a City Council spending scandal. When Quinn bristled angrily at the charge she was covering up key details, Weiner punched back at Quinn’s attack: “This notion that I cast aspersions is entirely unfair.”
Neck and neck with Weiner, John Liu, when asked to lay out his agenda for creating jobs, took a machine-gun approach of attacking Quinn, de Blasio and Thompson in a single sentence, for a supposed lack of urgency in advancing a living wage bill. John Liu spent 93 seconds throwing jabs at his rivals.
Dead last among the major candidates was the famously brash Christine Quinn, who reserved most of her 68 seconds to assail frontrunner de Blasio.
The candidates will face off again on Tuesday starting at 7 p.m., to be broadcast on NBC 4 TV and Telemundo, and WOR radio and Radio Soleil.
Video provided by NY1.
