How many black elected officials from Brooklyn were at the rally for Barack Obama on the City Hall steps this afternoon?

Enough that State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem muttered to himself at the podium, “Oh man, we’re going to have to mix this up a bit.” He then introduced state Senator Eric Adams--who's from Brooklyn.  read more »

One day after Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, former congressman and Brooklyn mainstay Major Owens is announcing his support of Barack Obama for president.

In a public statement (going out any minute), Owens says,

"Obama stands for the concerns of the masses in the black community who have been let down by the broken promises of past leadership. Our leadership on both sides of the aisle has continued to fail us by supporting the war in Iraq and by standing by while poverty, disparities in our healthcare system and lack of affordable education opportunities for young people weaken our communities. It is time to shake loose from the past and Senator Obama’s record shows that he will deliver on his promise to stand up for us in the White House.”

Also, if you missed it, Horowitz has a nice write-up of the scene during Hillary's visit to Williamsburg here.

But in the race to fill her soon-to-be-vacated seat City Council seat, so far, women candidates are scarce.

-- Wellington Sharpe, who has run for numerous offices and was kicked off the ballot in his race against Assemblyman Nick Perry

-- Dr. Mathieu Eugene, who heads an after-school program in the center of the district and is a member of Community Board 14 and is said to have support among the area's Haitian community

Any others?

Major Owens plopped down in the front-row in a hot, musty Methodist church in Park Slop, inches from Yvette Clarke who hosted a town hall forum in the congressman's district with Rep. John Murtha and Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Weird, but Clarke tried to diffuse any awkwardness.

"We know that a political campaign is going on," she said, "but Congressman Owens has been an outstanding voice when it comes to addressing the Iraq War and our need to bring our troops home and he's been consistent in that voice and I believe it's important to give credit where credit is due."

Then, she invited Owens - who is campaigning against her - to the microphone. He too stepped around the politics of the race to succeed him. "Jack Murtha is the great hope" and he won't "take any minutes away from that."

Murtha had only a few words for Clarke at the town hall. "I appreciate the opportunity to be here with Yvette. When I talked to her, she was one of the first people to talk to me about this war and a number of other things she's been involved with me, like diabetes research and cancer research and those kind of things."  read more »

John Koblin was back in the 11th Congressional district this morning with Carl Andrews, who bragged about his access to Eliot Spitzer and revealed that he aspires to be a congressman in the mold of Charlie Rangel, Anthony Weiner and Greg Meeks.

"Things are starting to shape like a pyramid, or hit a peak for the campaign," says Carl Andrews a little before 8 a.m. at the B/Q Newkirk Avenue subway station.

Shaking hands and greeting sleepy commuters, Mr. Andrews said all the pieces - from yesterday's endorsement from the AFL-CIO to his "broad-based support" - were coming together.  read more »

"A culmination is starting to come to a head," he said.

The Colbert Report's Better Know a District segment profiles New York's 11th, and while funny, our only complaint is that Major Owens didn't drop a rhyme for us.

Una Clarke

The elder Clarke served as campaign treasurer for her daughter's 2004 primary challenge against Major Owens. However, in this election cycle, that role is filled by Ray Trotman, who served as treasurer to Una in her 2000 congressional bid.

However, the mere act of referring can serve a useful function, particularly if it's to an otherwise miss-able source.

Essentially, he thinks that the withdrawal of Nick Perry - and more precisely, the reduction of the number of black candidates in the contest by one - makes Yvette Clarke an instant, heavy favorite over David Yassky, Chris Owens and Carl Andrews.

Who's right?

Some of it is about development, or more specifically, Yassky's financial support from prominent developers.

The Crain's Insider reported this week that three of the five candidates - Carl Andrews, Yvette Clarke and Nick Perry - met earlier this month to work out a deal to consolidate their campaigns.

I have no idea if the idea of a white candidate taking over the historically black district will be enough of a motivating factor for any of the other candidates to subsume their personal interests and drop out.