John Liu and Bill deBlasio trounced their opponents in yesterday's runoff election. The Times draws a few conclusions from last night's results.

• The Working Families Party… is now the pre-eminent political force in New
York City politics, replacing a forlorn, disorganized Democratic Party.
Its candidates for City Council won by healthy margins; and it can now
claim victories in the second and third highest offices in the city,
public advocate (Mr. de Blasio) and comptroller (Mr. Liu).
• New York City voters are still unhappy with the term limits change.
City Councilmen Liu and de Blasio were impassioned (some would say
grandstanding) opponents of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s
effort to rewrite the law and seek a third term. Hours after the
Council voted to approve the change, Mr. de Blasio predicted: “The
people will long remember what we have done here today, and the people
will be unforgiving.”
• Voters are not engaged by New York City politics this year, so a
small group of motivated voters (unions, Asian-Americans, term limits
opponents) have an outsize influence at the ballot box.
• The mayor’s race will be much closer than the polls suggest. The Working Families Party
has shown it has a formidable field operation, which will now turn its
full attention to the Democratic mayoral contender, City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., another outspoken critic of the term limits extension.
• Even if Mr. Bloomberg wins, his third term will look very little like
his second. Assuming Mr. Liu and Mr. de Blasio prevail in November, the
new comptroller and public advocate will relish a fight (and a
microphone), and will be far more likely to challenge the mayor, as Mr.
de Blasio signaled Tuesday night when he took a swipe at Mr. Bloomberg
over term limits.

The victorious candidate in this month's City Council District 1 race, Margaret Chin, campaigned hard for de Blasio and Liu. She endorsed both candidates at a Chatham Square rally last week – and mobilized her supporters in Chinatown to get out the vote yesterday.

Mike Bloomberg brought breakfast for seniors in Chinatown yesterday. NY1 was there, as protesters greeted the mayor. Here's how the event was summed up on the web site of the Civic Center Residents Coalition:

Mayor Bloomberg slithered his way into
and out of a dark and dirty back staircase entrance of Jing Fong
restaurant at 20 Elizabeth Street, to avoid the chanting protesters at
the main entrance shouting "Dump Bloomberg" and "Chinatown – Not For
Sale". Their placards read everything from "Buying Breakfast = Buying Votes" to "Eight is Enough" and "King Bloomberg.

Continue reading Runoff Results, Bloomberg Protests, Downtown Dumplings