Alec Baldwin for NYC Mayor: Run, Alec, run! ... by gimleteye

A lifetime ago, in 1985, I was startled to see Alec Baldwin riding the subway in NYC hanging on a strap with Sigourney Weaver. At the time Barack Obama was a regular at the same breakfast joint on the Upper West Side I habituated, down the street from my apartment, that a few years later became a set for Seinfeld. (No I don't recall Obama at the adjacent counter stool. The only character from that time I remember was a man who spent every day on the median strip bench at that corner of Broadway and 112th Street. Every day he told me about Sandy Koufax who in his imagination had pitched the night before.) Sigourney was the star. Baldwin was at the start of a career that would bring him even wider fame. It was hard not to be impressed by their nonchalance in a subway full of people who were either oblivious or, like me, willing accomplices to their anonymity. Those days are gone.

Today Alec Baldwin has 100 percent name recognition if only from his star turn with Tina Fey. In the hit comedy "30 Rock", Baldwin plays against his well-known preferences as a conservative network executive. As unabashedly right-wing as he plays on TV, Baldwin in real life is a vocal liberal. In Miami once, I listened to Baldwin speak at a People For The American Way dinner. I was skeptical at first. He arrived at the airport in a temper of a Hollywood star forced to fly commercial, but when it came time to speak he was calm, cool and collected. And charismatic.

Baldwin's capacity to be self-deprecating is a trait that eludes the right. He is also tough. Unlike Jane Fonda, Baldwin can bite back. On "Fresh Air" recently, Terry Gross asked Baldwin about his political aspirations. He equivocated, saying that although he already lived his life under a microscope -- he was not sure that he wanted more scrutiny. On the other hand, a normal life awaits retirement. Baldwin is at the right age for politics. NYC Mayor Alec Baldwin. It has a ring.