NYC Mayoral Candidates Participate in Public Housing Pajama Party

"The top Democratic mayoral candidates bedded down Saturday night in a Harlem housing project, sleeping next to moldy walls, busted kitchen cabinets and a host of decrepit conditions caused by years of neglect," reports Greg B. Smith. "They endured urine-soaked elevators that lurched and shimmied, strode past graffiti-scarred walls and braved darkened hallways where bulbs barely registered light in the upper reaches of the Lincoln Houses."

According to Smith, the impetus for the event came from Rev. Al Sharpton, "who made his mission clear: 'When one of you gets to Gracie Mansion, remember your night in Lincoln Houses.'"

"The candidates emerged at a news conference at dawn, bleary-eyed and cradling cups of coffee," writes Javier C. Hernandez in The New York Times. "Looking out on a crowd of cameras, the candidates said they had gained a better understanding of the plight of low-income families."