“With her newfound notoriety, it would seem, the stars are aligning for Ms. Quinn to follow Mr. Bloomberg’s footsteps as the most prominent mayor in the country. However, she will first have to cut her path to City Hall through a crowded field of opponents and a Council that may include members eager to exact revenge on the outgoing speaker, while also battling the persistent impression she is a political stand-in, a Medvedev to Mr. Bloomberg’s Putin.“

“Her formula for governing is doomed to fail because there is no clear guiding principle. If she were to use that calculating, transactional approach as mayor, City Hall would resemble an auction house, with all bidders assuming they would get something for their money. Prosecutors and newspapers would have a field day.”

“A year before the mayor’s races in 2001 and 2005, who was considered the Democratic favorite? The incumbent city council speaker,” says a Democratic strategist unaffiliated with any of the current contenders. “But Peter Vallone and Gifford Miller lost those primaries.”

“Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently held private meetings with Democratic mayoral hopefuls Scott Stringer and Bill Thompson, raising questions with each of them about the viability of their candidacies….As he did in the meeting with Mr. Stringer, the mayor told Mr. Thompson that he is inclined to support Ms. Quinn, who has developed a tight professional alliance with Mr. Bloomberg since she became the City Council leader in 2006. Ms. Quinn presided over the body’s decision to overturn term limits in 2008, paving the way for the mayor to run for a third term.”

“The three major newspapers (Times, Daily News and N.Y. Post) are in the tank for NYC council speaker Christine Quinn with the objective being to make her the next mayor of this city. They have been trying without subtlety to decimate those they perceive as her main opponents in the 2013 mayoral primary.”

Ms. Quinn’s advisers “acknowledge that the last two City Council speakers to run for mayor got crushed, but they point to her advantages, particularly her popularity among the financial and real estate sectors . . . So fundraising should not be a problem for Ms. Quinn. And in political terms, real estate and Wall Street hold sway over the editorial boards, which in turn can make Ms. Quinn more palatable to middle-class voters.”

Quinn has “been sued repeatedly for nonpayment of rent.”

“‘It made me kind of question what her values and principles were,’ says Siegel. ‘My feeling is that the way you govern says something about your character and I don’t think you have to compromise on principles in order to get things done.’…But others believe that ever since she stepped on to the scene, Quinn has put her ambitions first, always eyeing a path to a higher office. The current front-runner in the race for mayor, Quinn over the past decade has maintained dual relationships with tenants’ rights groups and the real estate lobby, labor unions and business interests, and police reformers and One Police Plaza, in order to keep her progressive cred while also currying favor with the city elite.”