The News Media Agree - De Blasio Emerges Relatively Unscathed From Final Debate

From the Daily News:

His front-runner status solidified by a stunning new poll, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio sailed through the initial 60-minute broadcast portion of the final Democratic debate relatively unscathed.

...

The debate — co-sponsored by WNBC/Channel 4 and The Wall Street Journal — began a few hours after a new Quinnipiac University poll claimed that de Blasio had the support of 43% of likely voters in Tuesday’s Democratic primary — above the 40% threshold needed to win the nomination without a runoff.

It found Thompson and Quinn, far behind with 20% and 18% of the vote, respectively, fighting to make it to a runoff. Weiner had 7% and Liu just 4%.

For the candidates, the debate represented the last, best chance to address a large number of candidates before the primary.

And given the new poll, de Blasio’s rivals had a mandate to stop his momentum -- but they seemed frustrated at the outset by the questions posed and the moderators’ insistence that they adhere to strict time limits.

The News writers go on to say de Blasio got attacked hard and heavy after the TV part of the debate ended, but "stayed relentlessly on message, sticking to the script that has catapulted him from fourth place in July to top dog — that he has bold, progressive ideas that would take the city in a new direction from the Bloomberg years and bring equality to a New York."

Then there is Lupica, also in the DN, who said de Blasio's opponents drew blood, but didn't do any real damage:

If de Blasio does end up in a runoff, if he doesn’t get to 40% next week, the fact that the others did draw some blood during the Internet-broadcast-only part of the night might matter, and more than somewhat.

But the ones chasing de Blasio needed to do more than draw blood Tuesday night, just because the next week will be all ads and the Jewish High Holy Days, when many eyes will be off the race. In a loud, messy, badly run debate, they needed to hurt de Blasio bad. Came close at the end. Did not.

And Politicker:

In their final televised debate on Tuesday night, the Democratic candidates for mayor tried to re-shuffle a race that has been dominated in recent weeks by Bill de Blasio.

A poll released earlier Tuesday put de Blasio's support at 43 percent, just above the 40-percent needed to prevent a run-off, making the public advocate the obvious target throughout the 90-minute debate.

He was repeatedly criticized by former comptroller Bill Thompson and Council Speaker Christine Quinn for offering a "pie in the sky" plan to push a tax on high-earners in Albany, for accepting donations from landlords he included on a watch-list, and for his 2005 support for changing term limits.

But the debate's format only allowed for brief answers, and didn't provide for much in the way of extended explanations or clear back-and-forth between the candidates, with the most spirited exchanges coming during the last half-hour, which only aired online.

 Harry Enten of The Guardian didn't think the debate changed anything in the race either.

A week to go until Primary Day, two days of Jewish Holidays coming up when things will slow down a bit, then a weekend and that's it.

We're almost there. 

Barring something unforeseen at this point, Quinn and Thompson have their work cut out for them.

Can one of them make a runoff with de Blasio?

I am hoping that they cannot.

It would be best to end this thing now and get focused on Lhota and the general election.