Brian Ziff-Levine

Inspired by the ado over Barack Obama's use of Deval Patrick's phrasing, and similar use by Hillary Clinton of at least one Obama phrase, I emailed a few quotable people in New York for them to give them the opportunity to put a catchphrase of their own on the record.

Here they are:

Simcha Felder:
“Do not place unsolicited advertising materials on this property."

Brian Ziff-Levine:
“It’s the undecideds, stupid.”

Joe Mercurio:
“Silence is an incredibly stupid communications strategy. No wait I actually stole that from Frank Luntz.”

Doug Muzzio:
"'If a frog had wings he wouldn't be bumping his ass on the ground' (cribbed from my father-in-law, Darrell Saunders)."

Phil Anderson:
"No reform, no raise."

Charles Barron:
“The renter's rebate. Rock Hackshaw gave me that idea when I was running for mayor in 2005. The next thing I know, Gifford Miller is talking about it, and now, Christine Quinn is."

More after the jump.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg is going to the expense of conducting national polls, but a reader suggested that the fiscally conservative mayor could save by having an intern collect all the polls that have already been conducted on Bloomberg '08.

So that’s basically what we have here. Above is a chart that reader, Brian Ziff-Levine, created, using national polling figures (found here) that test Michael Bloomberg in a hypothetical three-way race with Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.

Ziff-Levine, a consultant with Whitman Insight Strategies, also emailed this analysis:

"I'd say what's most interesting is that Bloomberg's trend, while only
very slightly upturned, hews very closely to that of the undecideds.
This makes me think that perhaps some of the undecideds were holding out
for him to enter the race, and it will be interesting to look at that
number if and when he finally does enter."

Brian Ziff-Levine, a reader who is way more technologically capable than I am, made the above graph out of the Siena poll numbers released today about Eliot Spitzer's popularity.

What does it show? Ziff-Levine emailed the following analysis:

“While this is the biggest jump to date in his UNFAVORABLES (+10%), the biggest dive in his FAVORABLES was back in March (+12%).  Most noteworthy, I would say, is the sharp decrease in the DK’s (-8%) which is also the largest dip to date. This tells me that his numbers are not caused by people who once LIKED Spitzer now disliking him, but causing those who formerly had no opinion to finally speak up.”