cordobainitiative.org

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Remember the "Ground Zero mosque" that wasn't just a mosque but actually a community center but still had people enraged back in 2010 because they thought it would be a victory monument to terrorism?

We hadn't really thought about it much recently, either -- until today, when we heard that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, one of the original religious leaders behind the project, would be involved in a new local effort: campaign finance reform.

Tomorrow, religion and politics are mixing at an event hosted by a local good government group that is pushing to get campaign finance reform underway this year in the state -- and as part of their efforts, they're bringing together high-profile religious figures to discuss politics.

More >>

Sam Levin

Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who is running for Congress, in Flushing today.

Queens Assemblywoman Grace Meng, who would be New York's first Asian-American member of Congress, has raised $300,000 in ten days.

Obviously, she's thrilled.

"We are definitely excited. I think this is going to be a historical campaign that people all throughout New York and the country are looking at," Meng told the Voice this afternoon after the mayor held a press conference on senior centers in Flushing, Queens.

Meng, the candidate of choice of the Queens Democratic Party, is running in a crowded race that includes City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (the cousin of Rep. Joe Crowley, chairman of the Queens Dems, who has endorsed Meng), Assemblyman Rory Lancman (who yesterday got support from former mayor Ed Koch), and Republican Councilman Dan Halloran, who kicked off his campaign last week.

More >>

New Yorkers told pollsters: "I Heart Barack Obama" in a Quinnipiac University survey released this morning.

They gave him a 50-46 percent job-approval rating, unchanged from his 50-45 percent in December. And 50-45 percent want Obama to stick around and think he deserves to be re-elected to a second term in office.

No surprise here, but New York's voters don't really like any of the Republican candidates that much. Obama beats Mitt Romney 52-35 percent, Newt Gingrich by 57-31 percent, and Rick Santorum by 53-35 percent.

More >>

Frequently bombastic New Jersey governor Chris Christie said on Fox News today that it would be "presumptuous" of him to say no to running on Mitt Romney's ticket for vice president if the opportunity was offered to him. Christie endorsed Romney last month. Early in the interview, Politico reports, Christie said that the idea of his running alongside Romney hadn't been brought up. But if it did:

More >>

Barack Obama went on a whirlwind fundraising tour of New York yesterday, making stops in the East Village and Midtown (and causing road closings and traffic issues along the way).

Despite a clutch of Occupy Wall Street protesters on a #DinnerWithBarack action, the president raked in $2.4 million over the course of yesterday's fundraising.

More >>

These Republican debates are getting more bizarre every week, and last night, we were treated to not one but two epic moments. Herman Cain, the one time Godfather's Pizza CEO and implausible front runner in primary poling for the GOP nomination, has been on the ropes the past couple of weeks for, as Gloria Allred crudely put it, offering "his idea of a stimulus package" to female colleagues.

With woman after woman coming forward to charge him with sexual harassment, calling the previous Speaker of the House "Princess Nancy" may have not been Cain's best phrasing to show he has respect for professional women.

More >>

That is Mark Block, Herman Cain's chief of staff and campaign manager, in the campaign's latest ad. Very DIY. Block is pretty composed for someone who is clearly ad-libbing on their cigarette break and who appears to be the kind of guy who carries a flask for emergencies.

More >>

Strictly for the politically active tweeters out there, here comes Barack Obama's new 2012 campaign t-shirt: "When we first decided to make a campaign T-shirt just for Twitter users, we spent a while thinking about the hashtag that does the best job of summing up what we're fighting for."

More >>