ABC News has declared Rudy Giuliani the “Buzzmaker of the Week”

Against all odds and predictions, the former New York City mayor is holding on to his top spot in the Republican field, leading in polls and the money race

ABC is not the only media outlet that is acting as though Rudy (and Hillary) as the sure winners of the Party nominations.

Back in March, I posted my thoughts comparing early polls to Baseball Spring Training results and stated that it much too early to take them seriously.

The New York City Board of Elections has certified the results of last month’s Primary elections.

Here are the results (with a little commentary).

BROOKLYN

The only contests n Brooklyn were Democratic Primaries for judicial posts. These are the only contests that received anything close to significant media coverage.

If anybody reading this is interested or knows someone interested in voting for or against Hillary, Rudy, Obama, Edwards, Romney, McCain or any of the Presidential candidates in the February Primary, Friday October 12 may be the last chance to qualify to do so.

Only enrolled Democrats will be eligible to vote in the Democratic Primary and only enrolled Republicans can vote in the GOP Primary.

So for any voter not presently enrolled, Friday is the absolute last day to switch and become a Democrat or Republican.

You can go the NYC Board of Elections website for details on how to switch.

The New York City Board of Elections has (almost) finished the hearings on petition challenges for this year’s Primaries.

And it looks like a quiet year will be even quieter.

In a previous post I reported that the only Primary contests for public office were for 5 judicial positions.

In the a race for a Brooklyn Countywide Civil Court spot, candidate Fred Arriaga, counsel to the Borough President, successfully challenged the petitions of opponent Pia Wood, who fell short by about 800 signatures.

In Brooklyn’s 6th district, where 3 candidates filed petitions, Sharen Hudson removed one opponent - Daniel McCullough, who is 250 signatures short. Hudson’s only opponent is Katherine Levine.

Thursday was the deadline for candidates to submit designating petitions to run for public and party office this year. This year is an “off-year” in New York City with very few electoral contests.

Here is a list of what contests there are with some commentary about who is who.

Note that this list is subject to change as a result of candidates withdrawing or being removed from the ballot.

Queens

There are no Democratic, Independence, Conservative or Working Families Primaries.

The 2007 edition of Prime News will be mailed this week to @1,500 political activists.

Prime News is the publication my partner Stu Osnow and I produce each year that lists the most complete election results published. It also includes information about what we at Prime New York are up to.

If you can't wait to get it in the mail or are not on our mailing list, you can get 2007 Prime News on our website at -

http://primeny.com/index.html

Last year, after the Detroit Tigers knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs, I wrote an entry comparing Joe Torre and Karl Rove.

http://www.r8ny.com/blog/jerry_skurnik/joe_torre_karl_rove.html

The gist of it was my belief that people are too quick to brand baseball managers losers despite their overall record and too many political folks are too quick to call anyone involved with a losing campaign an idiot.

In 2009, unless something changes, term limits will kick in and 38 NY City Council members will not be eligible to see re-election.

Eight years ago when the situation was similar I had already heard enough gossip and rumors and read press reports that I had compiled a list of many potential candidates for the open Council seats.

That has not happened yet this time. Only 6 candidates have declare their interest in running for an open City Council seat on the NYC Campaign Finance Board website and while I’ve hear a few rumors and there has been some press reports about likely 2009 Council candidates (Assemblyman Denny Farrell, Lower Manhattan community activist Madelyn Wills & Julie Menin), I have not heard nearly as many names as 1999.

The City section of Sunday’s NY Times had an article about Jose Adames, who has the crazy idea that he is really Mayor of New York.

The story treats Adames as a harmless eccentric but does point out that he is constantly violating the law by taping or pasting fliers on light poles and other places.

The 2 relevant paragraphs are:

Mr. Collins confronted Mr. Adames at a board meeting in February. “I stood up,” he recalled, “and I said to him, ‘I have a question: Will you stop littering the community with your fliers?’ People in the audience applauded. He said, ‘No.’ ”

2007 is an “off-year” in New York City politics. There are no Citywide or Statewide positions to be elected and no Congressional seats to be filled.

But there will be an election this year in New York City and there even may be some Primary contests.

As a public service, I present the list of public offices to be filled this November, with some commentary about who might be running.

This list only applies to public office (not party positions like District Leader or Judicial Convention delegate) and does not include special elections. Also, this list is still subject to change because on death or resignation.

All this press coverage almost a year before the first Primary over a year and a half before Election Day reminds me of nothing so much as something else happening right now – spring training in baseball.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain, speaking after a fundraiser in New York last night, told reporters it was “early in the campaign” when asked about former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s surging poll numbers.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” The Associated Press quoted the Arizona senator as saying. “We are doing very well in the early primary states. This campaign … is still in spring training.

According to the press who cover politics, last week was a real good one for Rudy Giuliani. He increased his big lead in the Republican Presidential opinion polls. It was also good for Hillary Clinton who kept her lead in the Democratic polls and for Barack Obama who now leads Clinton among African-American voters.

Of course, if I was writing this before Room 8 was invented, I could have written that it was a good week for Nelson Rockefeller in 1963, George Romney in 1967, Edmund Muskie in 1971, George Wallace in 1975, Gary Hart in 1987, Mario Cuomo in 1991, and Joe Lieberman in 2003. All of those losing candidates were leading in the national polls at a similar time to this those years.

A number of states, including New York and New Jersey are considering moving up their Presidential Primary dates to early February.

Those supporting the move in all these states are doing so for a reason that makes sense – giving their state’s voters more of a say in picking the next president.

But in a few states - New York, Illinois and Kansas, pols have said they have another motive. That is helping the presidential candidate(s) from their state.

As we all recall, the attacks of September 11, 2001 happened on what was supposed to be Primary Day here in New York.

Since the election law still says that primaries are to be held on the first Tuesday in the week after Labor Day, this year, for the first time since that year, Primary Day is scheduled to be on September 11th.

I see a problem with that.

While this is an “off-year” in New York City, with not many election contests to be held, there are some. And outside of the City, some major positions are up for election this year (suburban & upstate County Executives, Mayors & County Legislators).

The NYC Board of Elections held their hearings on petition challenges for the Feb. 20 Special Elections today (Tuesday).

Of the 13 candidates, three were removed from the ballot.

Gerry Hopkins filed the required statement accepting the nomination of his Party one day past the dealine.

Ferdinand Zini submitted only 646 signatures, much less than the required number according to the BOE staff.

Mozell Ducton Albright's number of valid signatures is 960 according to the BOE, 42 less than required. So she is out, though she may go to Supreme Court and try to get back on.