At a trendy bar in East Williamsburg, about 70 people gathered for a fundraiser in support of Esteban Duran, a community activist running an uphill campaign this year against Brooklyn Democratic leader Vito Lopez. As Duran arrived, the crowd rose for a standing ovation. Duran put his fist in the air like a winning prize fighter—the young challenger who had somehow withstood an onslaught of petition challenges from Lopez’s lawyers and stayed on the ballot.

Until Tom White is buried, at least, the potential candidates for his Council seat covering southeast Queens seat are reluctant to go on the record about their ambitions. But though they will not speak publicly, the consensus on who is on the list of potential candidates has already begun to take shape, as has the consensus that Assembly Member Vivian Cook—-who is herself suffering from health problems that kept her out of Albany and had some questioning her own plans for a re-election run-—will play the kingmaker in the non-partisan special election set for Nov. 2, the day of the general election.

As Charter Revision Commission chair Matt Goldstein wrestles with whether to take up a revised proposal on term-limits at Monday night’s final charter hearing, the chair of the most sweeping and best-regarded commission in city history is strongly urging him to back off.

Apparently, even a former commissioner of the Board of Elections and one-time hopeful for the executive director job can make mistakes on his elections paperwork. That is what Anthony Como, the Republican running against State Sen. Joe Addabbo discovered some time late Tuesday, hours after submitting 4,900 petition signatures to create a third party line for his candidacy.

HRC’s entry into the fray of state politics has created fears that another pro-marriage equality PAC could siphon resources away from ESPA and complicate strategic efforts to oust opponents in the State Senate. Some close to the Pride Agenda even viewed the move as an effort to take advantage of a moment of perceived weakness in ESPA, which is in a period of transition following the departure of executive director Alan Van Capelle, after suffering twin high-profile defeats on the gay marriage and Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act.

Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada, Jr. failed to report both contributions and expenditures for a committee formed on his behalf last year by Steve Pigeon, his office’s general counsel, according to a side-by-side comparison of a variety of campaign finance disclosures with the State Board of Elections.

Some people get their fill of politics from working in Albany, especially in the last few years. But Michael Cohen is looking for more, and a little farther afield. Cohen, the chief-of-staff for Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, is running for a seat on the City Council in Englewood, a 26,000-person town in northern New Jersey.

The Empire State Pride Agenda and the Human Rights Campaign, two of the state’s most prominent gay rights groups, are poised to throw their weight behind Lynn Nunes in his primary challenge to State Sen. Shirley Huntley on Tuesday, sources close to both groups confirmed.

The New York League of Conservation Voters’ endorsements, set to be officially released Monday morning, are going to Democratic Senate challengers Joanne Yepsen, Susan Savage and David Mejias, while sticking with Republican incumbent Kenneth LaValle, who is facing a tough Democratic general election challenge from Regina Calcaterra in Suffolk.

In mid-July, a few weeks after she announced that she would table the controversial paid sick leave bill for several months while the business community further studied its impact, Council Speaker Christine Quinn arrived for an early morning speech before the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. The room was packed with small business owners, the very people who have lobbied intensely against bringing the bill to the Council floor. Officials from the Partnership for New York City, which is studying the long-term effects of the legislation, sat in the front row.