After two decades under the leadership of Michael Bloomberg and Rudolph Giuliani, New York appears headed for a sharp left turn when voters select a new mayor in November.
"I'm a progressive," said Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate and dominant front-runner in the mayoral campaign. "I believe in an activist role of government. I've been exceedingly clear that I borrow from the distant but still very pertinent examples of Franklin Roosevelt and (former mayor) Fiorello LaGuardia. And I think it is time, especially at this moment in history, for activist, progressive government that will address the inequalities we are facing."
The lanky de Blasio was digging into a bowl of penne pasta at a corner restaurant near his home in Brooklyn. It was a day after his first general election debate against Republican Joe Lhota, and the press reviews noted that the front-runner acted almost like the underdog, pounding his opponent rather than sitting on his lead. "In general I believe in an aggressive strategy," he told me. "I'm not a rope-a-dope kind of guy."