Politics dominated much of the news in South Queens in 2012. With local and national elections looming, the communities were the epicenter of a hard-fought state legislative race with statewide implications.

But much like T.S. Eliot’s explanation of the apocalypse in “The Hollow Men,” the campaign ended not with a bang, but with a whimper, shoved from the top of people’s minds by the most devastating natural disaster to strike South Queens in a lifetime.

The Republican primary for the state Senate in the newly redrawn 15th District got nasty in its final days.

The campaign of Forest Hills lawyer Juan Reyes, who is backed by the Queens GOP leadership, sent out a number of mailers in the last week accusing his opponent, Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) of being a flip-flopper with ties to liberal politicians and the LGBT community and also blasting his support from the state Senate GOP leadership.

The Republican primary for the state Senate in the newly redrawn 15th District got nasty in its final days.

The Republican primary for the state Senate in the newly redrawn 15th District is getting nasty in the final days.

City Council members from Queens came out on the long and short end when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn allocated discretionary funds as part of the city’s new $68.7 million budget.

The funds — which can go to libraries, Little League fields, soup kitchens, and just about any other type of organization or activity — have been called both pork and funding necessary to advance community welfare.

Maneuvering around hundreds of fans waving red, white and blue campaign signs, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) made his way through a sea of volunteers, politicians and press on Tuesday night and declared victory over Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) in the Democratic primary race for the new 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of South Queens.

Maneuvering around hundreds of fans waving red, white and blue campaign signs, Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) made his way through a sea of volunteers, politicians and press on Tuesday night and declared victory over Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) in the Democratic primary race for the new 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of South Queens.

Candidates seen as the front runners in congressional primaries across Queens — whether incumbent lawmakers or party establishment choices — all won their nominations by wide margins Tuesday, according to preliminary results.

With the June 26 primary breathing down their necks, Democratic candidates running for the congressional district that covers Howard Beach and Ozone Park are making last-ditch efforts to lure voters to the polls, crisscrossing neighborhoods and touting endorsements —including those of Queens Democratic heavyweights for Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) and that of U.S. Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn) for Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn).

Jeffries and Barron are vying to replace Towns, who announced a couple months ago that he would not run for the 8th Congressional District after representing the area for about three decades.

Democrats in much of Queens — and Republicans across the entire borough — will go to the polls June 26 to vote in primaries for their party’s nominees for Congress.

On the Republican side, the race pits U.S. Rep. Bob Turner (R-Queens, Brooklyn) against Manhattan attorney Wendy Long and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, who each are seeking the nomination to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) for a full six-year term. Republicans across the state will be voting in the primary.

Democratic heavyweights from Queens threw their support behind Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries’ bid for the 8th Congressional District outside the Cross Bay Diner in Howard Beach on Friday, saying the Brooklyn legislator will not forget about the South Queens constituents who make up a small portion of the recently redrawn district.

No matter who wins the June 26 Democratic primary for the new 8th Congressional District, which includes Howard Beach, Lindenwood and some of Ozone Park, it won’t be someone from Queens. Voters should at least make sure it won’t be someone who will work against the interests of all right-thinking people in Queens, not to mention Brooklyn, where the candidates live.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, a fine lawmaker with a solid background, is facing Councilman Charles Barron, the old Black Panther. He’s the reverse racist who once said, regarding slavery reparations, that he wanted to slap a random white person just for his own mental health.

A few months after the new Congressional lines were finalized, South Queens residents in Howard Beach and Ozone Park are now faced with the decision of which Brooklyn politician to elect for representation in the new 8th Congressional District.

Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) is running in the Democratic primary against Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Ed Towns, who announced in April that he would not seek re-election after 30 years in Congress.

Before new Congressional lines were finalized in March, a group of residents held a rally in downtown Brooklyn against the proposed districts and waved signs with such statements as “Where is Ozone Park?” and “Howard Beach and Bed-Stuy — why?”

Flash forward a month later, as the Congressional races are heating up, and South Queens residents are worried those running to represent them could be asking the same questions as the protesters, considering neighborhoods like Howard Beach, Ozone Park and Woodhaven have been placed in Brooklyn-heavy districts.

Parishoners at the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Flushing are mourning the loss of former pastor Timothy Mitchell, who died on Jan. 26. Mitchell was 81 years old.

A Flushing native, Mitchell was both baptized and ordained at the Ebenezer church, where his father, James, also served as pastor. Mitchell became pastor of Ebenezer in 1961.

   President Obama’s decision to support Libyan rebels with U.S. military force has angered certain elements within the black community, and some of that anger, along with analysis, will be aired tonight, April 7, in Jamaica.

   The forum is a series of speeches collectively entitled “Africa is Burning,” led by Molefi Kete Asante of Temple University and set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Afrikan Poetry Theatre. Admission is free.

Some people leave their dogs tied up for so long with sharp collars, their necks get impaled and bloodied. Now the city wants to do more to stop such treatment.

Just days before dueling pro- and anti-Walmart rallies were held at City Hall, the retail giant released an independent poll that shows 70 percenty of Queens residents want it to open a store in the city.

The Juniper Park Civic Association is calling on a council member to be censured for accusing community members of racism.

Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley sought to block the Department of Education on Tuesday as it tried to move a plan for a new high school in Maspeth through the first phase of city approval.

With three of the largest businesses allowed to stay, the remaining holdouts in Willets Point seem to be waiting to see what will happen next.

“This city’s going to see some mobilization like they never did before,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton at a meeting Tuesday night. Flanked by members of the Bell family, Nicole Paultre Bell, Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman, Sharpton announced the tentative plan for boycotts, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience that will comprise the official response to the “not guilty” verdict in the Sean Bell case.

The City Council passed congestion pricing legislation during a session Monday evening, leaving its future in the hands of the conflicted state Legislature.