Malcolm in the Middle

In today's Daily Politics Blog, Liz reports on the frosty exchange between Senate Minority leader Malcolm Smith and Mayor Mike. The coolness derives from the fallout over the mayor's disastrous Albany sojourn during the denouement of the congestion tax debate. In his typical regal fashion, the mayor expected that the subjects would bow, scrape, and eventually do his bidding. When it didn't happen, he got, well, royally peeved.

What this means for the upcoming debate is hard to predict. We'd venture to say, however, that whatever does transpire will not be as a result of all of the goodwill the mayor has managed to cultivate. As one of Liz's commentators pointed out, the care and feeding of the legislature is not something that Bloomberg has been given much attention to, since the city's own legislative body has been supine when it comes to challenging his agenda.