Salon.com > 2013

Anthony Weiner can actually win the NYC mayor race

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:21:00 +0000

Anthony Weiner can "shake up" the campaign for New York City mayor, the conventional wisdom tells us, but he definitely cannot win it. That may be the consensus among those following the race, but the fact is Weiner’s chances are better than many realize. The reason: his challenges are not as great as they’re being portrayed. And his strengths are more important than people think.

Let’s start with what he has going for him. Most critically, Weiner begins this race possessing a prerequisite for an upset: the field of candidates he faces has failed to catch the attention of voters. The current frontrunner, City Council speaker Christine Quinn, leads early polls but none show her approaching the 40 percent mark needed to avoid a runoff, and she inspires intense opposition among many New York voters. Add to that the fact that other leading candidates like Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson have failed to consolidate their bases of support, and you’ve got an unsettled race -- just the kind of backdrop essential for Weiner to have a prayer of winning.

Addressing global warming: Earth’s New Year’s resolution

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:33:00 +0000

As this wild year comes to an end, we return to the season of gifts. Here’s the gift you’re not going to get soon: any conventional version of Paradise. You know, the place where nothing much happens and nothing is demanded of you. The gifts you’ve already been given in 2012 include a struggle over the fate of the Earth. This is probably not exactly what you asked for, and I wish it were otherwise -- but to do good work, to be necessary, to have something to give: these are the true gifts. And at least there’s still a struggle ahead of us, not just doom and despair.

Think of 2013 as the Year Zero in the battle over climate change, one in which we are going to have to win big, or lose bigger. This is a terrible thing to say, but not as terrible as the reality that you can see in footage of glaciers vanishing, images of the entire surface of the Greenland Ice Shield melting this summer, maps of Europe’s future in which just being in southern Europe when the heat hits will be catastrophic, let alone in more equatorial realms.