Podcast: And for Dessert, a Mayoral Election

Following is the script of the weekly “Only in New York” audio podcast. Listen at left or download the mp3 to a portable player. Browse a list of other Times podcasts here. With three weeks left until Election Day, the rest of the country is obsessed with swing votes, epitomized by the soccer mom. Not New Yorkers. Here, the focus has already shifted to the mayoral race a full year from now. And the most vivid embodiment of a pivotal voting bloc isn’t the mythic soccer mom. If anything — as personified by Ron Lauder, the billionaire cosmetics heir, failed mayoral candidate, father of term limits, and former ambassador to his ancestral home, Austria — our decisive totem might just be the sacher torte. Legend has it that the velvety rich, but dense Viennese chocolate confection, bound by a thin layer of jelly or a jam, was... [read full story]