"The leader should best reflect the values of NYers. Running a candidate who clearly does not relect the values of most NYers is a formula for consistent losses."
That's a talking point of self styled centrists, but is such a position honest, or effective?
In a two-party system, you don't aim for the middle of the electorate, as it will alienate the base, and drive them away over time. What is more effective is building a coalition of various types of voters, advocating their positions in some sort of consistent way across a single party line, and aim for the middle of your side. Undecideds, though they will decide elections if only half the population shows up to vote, are not the people you build a campaign around. They may be representive of the average guy, but there is an obligation to server your party's voice.
I can see the communist party of China, in the instances where they bother to consider the average Chinaman on the street, to make such an everyday guy calculation. That's because it'a a one Party system. In America, it's a battle, and someone has to win, and someone has to lose, it's not win-win come election time.
Running a candidate that reflects the values of the electorate IS effective. What in the world makes you think otherwise?