In what the New York Daily News calls “a rare moment of unity” for the Democratic candidates of this year’s mayoral race, campaign managers for Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Anthony Weiner, and John Liu all co-signed an open letter to the news director of WNBC4 demanding that the channel air Tuesday night’s 90-minute debate in full, rather than go along with the current plan to cut it off after an hour and show the final 30 minutes online. However, Bill de Blasio’s signature was noticeably absent from the petition, and his opponents have jumped on it as an opportunity to attack the current frontrunner. “It’s another example of Bill de Blasio talking out of both sides of his mouth,” said Quinn spokesman Mike Morey. Thompson campaign manager Jonathan Prince weighed in, “Hard to imagine why he’d refuse to sign a letter asking for the entire debate to be televised unless he’s afraid to answer question about his record.” Whatever the television broadcast’s length, expect next week’s debate to be a lively one that very few New Yorkers will watch.
