Before we let the Badillo thread go, I should note that he is a phenomenon, maybe not unique to NYC, but uniquely important here–the true liberal who is truly conservative on certain key issues. (The reason these liberal heretics loom so large here is the near-North Korean dominance of liberals.) The greatest example, of course, is Giuliani. Badillo’s conservative issue is school standards. He was a kid from the Puerto Rican boondocks who believes he flourished in the NYC public schools of yore because he was not shunted to some Spanglish track.

His long career was a string of near-misses. He would have won the 1969 Democratic mayoral primary, if Norman Mailer hadn’t split the liberal vote. In 1973 Beame beat him with the “Vote for Badillo!” flatbed trucks. His last run was in the 2001 GOP primary against Bloomberg and, as Andrew well knows, the better man did not win.