Political Obituary: Mark Green, D-NY

There was not much excitement in Tuesday's runoff elections in New York City, but one result caught our eye.

Mark Green, the former NYC Public Advocate who was trying to reclaim his old job, was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary by Bill de Blasio, a Brooklyn city councilman and former Hillary Clinton campaign aide. The margin was 63-37 percent.

The public advocate — sort of like NYC's ombudsman — is a relatively new position. It replaced city council president as a city-wide electoral post in 1993, when Green was elected as the city's first. He was re-elected in '97 but gave it up in 2001, when he ran, unsuccesfully, for mayor. He returned to the political arena this year when incumbent Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum decided to retire.

His defeat is the latest — and perhaps the last — in a long political career noted mostly for his defeats. Here's the complete list:

1980 — ran for Congress in Manhattan's 18th CD against Rep. Bill Green (R), lost 57-43%.

1986 — ran for the U.S. Senate: won Dem primary but lost to Sen. Al D'Amato (R) 57-41%.

1993 — elected NYC public advocate; re-elected in 1997.

1998 — finished 3rd in Democratic Senate primary with 19%, behind Charles Schumer and Geraldine Ferraro.

2001 — ran for mayor of NYC: won Dem primary but lost to Michael Bloomberg (R) 49-47%.

2006 — lost Democratic primary for attorney general to Andrew Cuomo, 53-33%.

2009 — lost Democratic runoff for NYC public advocate to Bill de Blasio.