A group of outspoken animal rights advocates said they’re now considering supporting Republican Joe Lhota for mayor, after the candidate vowed to get rid of horse-drawn carriages because of their smell.

The highly-vocal campaign against Christine Quinn for Mayor just jumpstarted with some guerrilla marketing tactics. Riding an M train the other day, this plastic cigar was seated beside us on the blue bench. The label ring itself displays the apt name for this opposition movement – “Anybody But Quinn” – and is accompanied by a flyer of same.

At a mayoral forum Monday that gave candidates a chance to show they’re supporters of voters’ furry friends, Republican John Catsimatidis played a trump card — his hard-to-spell surname.

The topic of animal rights has recently become unexpected kindling in the mayoral race for guardianship of the city that never sleeps.

Kate Taylor, New York Times City Hall reporter, discusses last night's mayoral forum on animal rights and why whether to ban horse carriages has become an issue in the Mayor's race.

A mayoral forum on animal rights, held at the Union Theological Seminary on Monday, offered the strange sight of New York politicians trying to outdo one another in gentleness and compassion. Five candidates sat beneath organ pipes, professing their love of four-legged creatures and easily eliciting cheers, claps, woos and hoots from an audience that seemed neither to know nor care how expertly it was being played.

Bill de Blasio bragged that his two children were vegetarians.

William C. Thompson Jr. noted that he had a rescued cat.

Sal F. Albanese said his mother-in-law’s life was lengthened by the companionship of a Chihuahua named Joey.

A mayoral forum Monday offered candidates a rare chance on the campaign trail – to prove they’re the biggest ally to the city’s furry friends.

For part of Monday afternoon, the candidates for mayor of New York City focused on wooing a bloc not commonly viewed as urban power players: animal lovers.

You’re a tourist in New York City, looking to add a bit of old-world charm to your evening out with your loved one. Naturally, after leaving the theater, you head uptown to Central Park for a romantic trip in an one of the city’s iconic horse-drawn carriages old-timey electric cars.