Bloomberg Spent $102M to Win 3rd Term

$100 million of own money keeps independent on top

(NEWSER) - Michael Bloomberg has won a third term tonight as New York’ mayor, outdistancing Democrat William Thompson in a race that saw the incumbent spend an estimated $100 million of his personal fortune—the largest sum in US history. Bloomberg won by nearly 20% in 2005, but early returns showed his margin around 6%. More»

Many bemoan tepid support of Thompson

(NEWSER) - No one thought Bill Thompson had a prayer against Michael Bloomberg—no one, that is, except voters. Bloomberg did indeed win yesterday, but it was a moral defeat for the mayor, who spent $90 million and won by just 5%. And it’s an even bigger embarrassment for Democrats, who are kicking themselves for writing Thompson off, reports Ben Smith. Obama, for example, offered an exceedingly tepid endorsement through a spokesman, who didn’t even mention Thompson’s name. More»

Polling guru gives a post-mortem on last night's elections

(NEWSER) - The numbers are in, now it's time to make sense of them. Nate Silver breaks down last night's election results:

• Don’t blame Obama; Creigh Deeds and Jon Corzine were probably just weak candidates. In New Jersey, 57% of voters approved of Obama, but 27% of those supporters voted Republican anyway. In Virginia 20% of those who approved of Obama voted GOP.
• Democrats had turnout problems in Virginia; the voters who came out last night supported McCain 51-43 in 2008, a mirror image of that year's margin.

(NEWSER) - Even supporters of the Rev. Billy Tallen don’t think he’s got much of a shot at beating Michael Bloomberg in this year’s election. But like any crusader, the “theater refugee” will tell you it’s not about winning, reports Good. “The reason we said yes to a quixotic campaign against a $100 million candidate was to introduce new ideas into a political system that’s become conservative,” says Tallen, who founded the Church of Life After Shopping in the wake of 9/11 to rail against America's over-consuming ways. More»

City's life expectancy now 2 years above national average

(NEWSER) - A Big Apple a day might help keep the Grim Reaper away: Newborn New Yorkers can now expect to live a lot longer than the average American, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says. At 80.6, the city's life expectancy—which was long well below the national average—is up almost three years from 2000 rates and is more than two years above the national rate of 78.2 years. When compared to states, New York City's life expectancy is now lower than only those of Hawaii and Minnesota. More»