The Times reports Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has decided against a run for Public Advocate, which office Betsy Gotbaum will vacate next year, and content himself with another race for Beep. That leaves the PA field open for John Liu and Bill de Blasio, two prominent opponents of Bloomberg's term-limits overthrow, of which Stringer was an ardent supporter. Like Bloomberg, Stringer cited the need for incumbent retention in difficult times. "I don’t think that uprooting this office would be in the best interest of this borough," he said. Looks like this "change" thing that swept the nation Tuesday doesn't apply to New York. (Update: We are reminded that former NYCLU executive director Norman Siegel is also in the PA race, and Eric Gioia and Adam Clayton Powell IV are expected to jump in.)