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SSP Daily Digest: 9/4

by: Crisitunity

Fri Sep 04, 2009 at 1:39 PM EDT


CO-Sen: The Denver Post does some interesting digging into how former House speaker Andrew Romanoff wound up in the Senate Democratic primary against Michael Bennet after all. Governor Bill Ritter tried to give the Lt. Gov. spot to Romanoff after Barbara O'Brien left the position in January, but the deal collapsed, leaving Romanoff to decide on the primary instead this summer.

IL-Sen: Chicago's city treasurer, Stephanie Neely, has decided not to run in the Senate primary. However, Chicago's inspector general David Hoffman seems to be taking tangible steps to get into the race, saying he'll make a formal announcement after Labor Day.

MA-Sen: Rep. Stephen Lynch picked up filing papers for the Senate special election in Massachusetts, indicating he's likely to soon join Martha Coakley. Lynch, who represents a heavily blue-collar Catholic district based in south Boston, would likely be the only anti-abortion Democratic in the race, but he has strong ties with organized labor.

MD-Gov: While most of the question marks surrounding the Maryland governor's race involve whether or not GOP ex-Gov. Bob Ehrlich wants a rematch with current Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, now some are wondering if O'Malley will face a primary challenge from former Prince George's Co. Executive Wayne Curry. Speculation centers on how O'Malley has nailed down endorsements from Dems all over the state but is missing some key endorsements from PG County.

NJ-Gov: Wow, what is it with this guy? So it turns out that back in 2002, Chris Christie turned his sail barge the wrong way down a one-way street, struck a motorcyclist (who was taken to the hospital)... and didn't get a ticket. No claims about a tow-truck driver recognizing Christie this time - here, we know he identified himself to the officer on the scene. When he was asked if Christie's title affected the officer's decision not to issue a summons, the police director said "I don't think I want to make that kind of deduction, but I think the facts speak for themselves." Ouch. (D)

OR-Gov: Lots of movement in the Oregon governor's race now that John Kitzhaber is in. Democratic state Rep. Brian Clem (who had set up an exploratory committee a few months ago) quickly moved to endorse Kitzhaber and not just get out of the way but join Kitz's campaign as a director. Meanwhile, Republican state Senator Jason Atkinson -- who finished third in the GOP primary in 2006 and has "next in line" status -- informally told his hometown paper, the Medford Mail-Tribune, that "he's running," although the formal announcement won't happen for a while. Finally, it sounds like Rep. Peter DeFazio is making a move to... do something. He's still considering the race, but will make a decision "around Labor Day," which is soon.

SC-Gov: Here's a tea leaf that Jim Rex, who'd be the Dems's strongest candidate, seems likely to get in the gubernatorial race. In the midst of touring the state and raising money, he says he won't run for another term as Superintendent of Education.

AZ-01: It sounds like the GOP has a candidate lined up in the 1st, to against freshman Dem Ann Kirkpatrick, who's a definite improvement over the sad Sydney Hay from last time. Former state Senate majority leader Russell "Rusty" Bowers (also a former state Rep., and now a sand-and-gravel industry lobbyist) seems like he's set to run.

IN-08: The NRCC, however, wasn't able to pin down a challenger to Brad Ellsworth in the 8th. Former Vandenburgh County Commissioner and county assessor Cheryl Musgrave decided not to run against Ellsworth, although she is considering a state House run instead against incumbent Dem Gail Riecken.

PA-03: The GOP had been previously struggling to find anyone at all to go against freshman Dem Kathy Dahlkemper, but now they've landed someone fairly impressive sounding. John Onorato (not to be confused with Dem gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato) is the former Erie County Solicitor (analogous to DA in most states), giving him a large constituency to build on.

SD-AL: State Rep. Shantel Krebs of Sioux Falls said that she's considering challenging Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in 2010. Krebs would likely need to get past Chris Nelson, the state's two-term Secretary of State, in the GOP primary though; he's also in the "considering" phase. (Remember that South Dakota House districts are teeny constituencies, with only 22,000 residents each.)

NYC-Mayor: One more SurveyUSA poll of the Dem primary in the Big Apple. William Thompson and Mark Green have pretty clear paths in the Mayor and Public Advocate primaries (Thompson leads Tony Avella 52-14), but check out the Comptroller's race. It's a three-way slugfest between three city councilors: 25% for John Liu, 24% for Melinda Katz, and 21% for David Yassky.

Ads: The DNC, via Organizing for America, is running cable TV spots for four potentially vulnerable House Dems, thanking them for their pro-stimulus votes: Ben Chandler, Martin Heinrich, Travis Childers, and Zack Space.

Polling: The Masters of the Crosstabs were all on hand to do a panel on polling at Netroots Nation last month: Charlie Cook, Mark Blumenthal, Nate Silver, and Charles Franklin, moderated by Greg Dworkin (aka DemFromCT). At the link, you'll find a video of their session. (Charlie gives a nice shout-out to SSP at about 7:40, and again at 80:20, where he talks about the "growing sophistication of the blogosphere.") (D)

Humor: Autotune the News 8 is out, in case you've ever wanted Joe Biden to sing you a slow jam.

Crisitunity :: SSP Daily Digest: 9/4
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MA-Sen
Oh, god, please...anyone but Lynch. I'll just cry if he  wins

LYNCH IS AWFUL
I live in his district and HATE HIM, Im going to have to campaign for Coakley in order to get him defeated, hes awful.

[ Parent ]
The problem is
that I'm not a big fan of Coakley, either.  Her role in Fells Acres has not endeared herself to me, not did her role in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force thing.  She comes off, to me anyway, as a very ambitious opportunist.

I'm hoping Joe II gets in, but I'm in the ABC camp--anybody but Coakley.  Though, from the sounds of it, I'll need to be ABCOL--Anybody but Coakley or Lynch.


[ Parent ]
Well
I don't see anything wrong with Lynch - he can't be that bad.

[ Parent ]
Pro-life
He is pro-life in addition to being very conservative compared to the liberal district I am in. I always vote democrat down the ballot but leave his slot blank, I am so disgusted with him.

[ Parent ]
Joe II
Has flaws too. I'd like to see one of the members of the House (other than Lynch) jump in.  

[ Parent ]
Capauno is preferable
against Kennedy, but my support goes to Lynch.

Inside, outside, leave me alone. Inside, outside, nowhere is home. Inside, outside, WHERE HAVE I BEEN!? Out of my brain on the 5:15!

[ Parent ]
Meehan would be fantastic
He's not quite as liberal as McGovern or Capuano, but that $4.6 million is drool-worthy. Though, to be honest, I want someone really young (like in his 30s) so he can have seniority. There's no one on the bench like that right now, but, if I had it my way, Oliver would run this year and then retire in 2012 and then have either Joe III or Matthew Rauch run (Joe III's sons). It seems like the only young Democrats that can be elected in Massachusetts are those with "Kennedy" as their surname.

[ Parent ]
eh.
Joe III and Matthew Rauch are Joe II's son. Sorry. Joe III is not his own son. Preview is my friend

[ Parent ]
GA-Gov: Another Republican joins the fray.
State Senator Jeff Chapman, whose five-county district (the 3rd) includes a large portion of southeast Georgia and the Georgia coast, including Brunswick, St. Simons Island, St. Marys, and Folkston, has announced he's running for governor.  
The profiles of him make him sound much like your prototypical right-winger (anti-choice, gun nut, pro-vouchers, anti-tax, etc.), with the exception of his opposition to developing St. Simon's Island.  Whether his conservation is more NIMBYness or indicates a larger preference toward conservation remains to be seen.  I would guess he and Austin Scott would probably be the most palpable Republicans currently in the race.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/s...

http://savannahnow.com/node/77...

http://www.jeffchapman.us/issu...

The downballot effects are probably minimal.  SD-03 is 22% black, according to the demographics on DRA.  We have no bench at the state house level.  If State Rep. Jerry Keen wants a promotion (which I doubt considering he's in the house leadership and has already turned down statewide runs), we may can poach his district.  All of the other house districts within SD-03 look either safe even in the event of an open seat and/or have an incumbent living outside SD-03 who would therefore be ineligible to run in SD-03.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.


I think it's a done deal
that It'll be an Oxendine-Brnes race. Chapman's ceiling is 5% at best, since his district was awfully small when I last checked. Just an observation.

Inside, outside, leave me alone. Inside, outside, nowhere is home. Inside, outside, WHERE HAVE I BEEN!? Out of my brain on the 5:15!

[ Parent ]
Not sure it's a done deal.
Barnes, yes, but Oxendine, Johnson, Handel, and Deal, I think, could all be the Republican nominee.  

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.

[ Parent ]
Hope Not
I'd prefer for us to actually be competitive in 2010, and that's not happening if we nominate Barnes. This is one case where I really don't trust polling. If Barnes is the nominee then it's important we actually focus on a down-ballot race that we can win.

Barnes hurt us a lot in 2002, not only with Conservative Democrats, but also educators in general. I know you probably appreciate his destroying the final pieces of the Conservative Democrats in the legislature, but I'd hope you'd remember how angry educators, one of our party's most loyal groups, reacted to Barnes in 2002.

I can see the rat commercials being played non-stop and targeting teachers.

Sure, Sonny has angered many, but he will not be on the ballot, and we'll need a strategy other than running against Sonny.

I agree with you on the GOP field though, it's wide open between those 4.


[ Parent ]
Barnes is our best shot, I think
He can raise the money to be competitive.  He has ties to the ever-increasingly decisive Metro Atlanta, especially Cobb County.  And he has the powerful message that Georgia was a hell of a lot better when he was governor.  That message can easily be tailored to educators.

Otherwise, we're left with a black guy who's performance as Attorney General will alienate many blacks, and three other guys who, unless things change, will get badly outfundraised.  The fact is that most who won't vote for Barnes aren't going to vote for any Democrat.  No amount of pandering to them is going to change that, especially if our guy is underfunded.  And the cost of that pandering will be larger by alienating or neglecting the base and much more conducive voters.

I would also like to point out that we maintained our state house and state senate majorities the year of Barnes' defeat.  The state senate only flipped after a bunch of party switches while the state house flipped in the next election.

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.


[ Parent ]
Good point
I think there will be runoffs in both races. I think there will be a Oxendine-Deal runoff and a Barnes-Baker runoff respectively. If Handel or Johnson pulls off a miracle and wins the Primary, I'll support Porter, Poythress, Camon, Jones, or Baker or a Third Party if Barnes gets the Dem nod. I know friends in GA who say they'll vote for someone else if Johnson or Handel are the nominee because they're to far to the left of the party establishment. Going with my runoff predictions, if Ox or Deal and Baker emerge, I don't know who I will support. If Ox or Deal and Barnes emerge, then my support goes th either Ox or Deal. However, this is just my opinion and I'd love to hear yours.

Inside, outside, leave me alone. Inside, outside, nowhere is home. Inside, outside, WHERE HAVE I BEEN!? Out of my brain on the 5:15!

[ Parent ]
So you support the Republicans in the general
I don't understand what you're trying to say. Why would you vote for Porter, Poythress, Camon,or Baker but not Barnes in the general? All are pretty identical ideologically and Barnes by far has the most experience and is the most capable of fundraising. And you'd vote for Ox and Deal but not Handel or Johnson? Weird...

Check out Georgia's best progressive political blog

[ Parent ]
Well he thinks that a good Speaker
in the future would be Bobby Bright.

[ Parent ]
Problem with Barnes
Is his experience. He has not endeared himself to the educators that make up the Democratic Party's biggest base of support, one that contributed to his defeat. Also, Baker is a fairly Conservative Democrat, so I don't see where saying his ideology is no different than that of Barnes makes any sense. And as I earlier said about Handel and Johnson, they are to the left of the GOP establishment. I'm not Liberal, I'm a Center-Right(more Right than Center) Independent minded voter who considers his options before voting.

Inside, outside, leave me alone. Inside, outside, nowhere is home. Inside, outside, WHERE HAVE I BEEN!? Out of my brain on the 5:15!

[ Parent ]
Handel and Johnson are very right wing
Handel single handily passed the most regressive policy when it comes to voting since the VRA and likens herself to Sarah Palin and Eric Johnson likes to ride around in the back of convertibles with confederate flags at St Patrick's day parades.  

Check out Georgia's best progressive political blog

[ Parent ]
An aside
How did you get DRA to cough up State House or Senate seats?

[ Parent ]
Reply
Well, GA-SD-03 was easy; all five counties are in the district in their entirety.

In other cases, I try my best to approximate the district lines.  

Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.


[ Parent ]
Bah...
Cheating, I say.  Dave actually said something about being able to superimpose state districts over US House ones.  I desperately need that feature to complete my Colorado map (in order to make my Colorado Springs district viable, I can't go north of CO SD-11...if only I knew which precincts comprised its borders).

[ Parent ]
Here's a map of the 11th District on Dave's App
http://i564.photobucket.com/al...

I used the Census map of CO 11 which is far more detailed and was able to draw it out on Dave's App.  The far western precinct in on dave's app is the only one that differs from the 11th.

"[Rush Limbaugh] is a sorry excuse for a human being and a has-been hypocrite loser who was more lucid when he was a drug addict." Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL)


[ Parent ]
Goodness...Thank you so much!!


[ Parent ]
NJ GOV
Surely this drip drip drip has to be hurting his poll numbers.  I mean the narrative is so easy to see, this guy puts people in jail for corruption, all the while ignoring the law and making deals based on his office.  No telling what this guy would do as gov... Corizine is an idiot and I wish we had a different candidate (also true in VA) but if life gives you a choice between stale bread and dog turds... well you get the drift.

Christie's poll numbers
Christie's poll numbers are actually holding up fairly well; his favorability ratings have stayed more or less the same statewide since he won the primary. His unfavorability ratings have gone up, however, so the argument can be made that Corzine's barrage of negative campaign ads is working. Not enough to boost Corzine or hurt Christie, though...just enough to drive up Christie's unfavorability ratings while preserving the status quo in the "who would you vote for if the election was held today" poll.

Admnok: If life you gives you a choice between stale bread and dog turds, you vote for Chris Daggett.


[ Parent ]
Perhaps if there was a shred of hope
that he could actually win.  In a machine state like Jersey, there isn't.

[ Parent ]
Unfortunately there isn't
...but that won't stop me and hopefully plenty of other voters from casting ballots in favor of an independent, non-machine candidate. If nothing it else, it at least sends a bit of a message.

That also doesn't stop me from voting against the Democratic machine candidates here in Union County for county government. I know they're going to win anyway, but that doesn't mean I'm going to give those corrupt fat cats my vote.


[ Parent ]
You understand, of course,
that when you vote for a candidate with no chance to win, you're essentially casting a spoiled ballot, right? You can think of it as either giving one half vote each to the two real candidates, or not voting at all.

[ Parent ]
I do, but still...
I'd rather vote for Daggett -- with whom I agree on most of the issues, whose policy-driven campaign I admire, and whose record I am impressed by -- than either of two candidates I overwhelmingly dislike.  

[ Parent ]
Just a thought, but
someone ought to check to see if that cop, who didn't ticket Christie for hitting a motorcycle, got any large personal loans from Christie...

[ Parent ]
Mayland
The PG County Exec is Jack Johnson. Wayne Curry is the former county exec. Both Johnson, Curry, and former Montgomery County Exec Dough Duncan and former delegate George Owings have all been rumored at some point to be primarying O'Malley. I don't think any of them have any shot.

Thanks
I'll add a word there.

[ Parent ]
Looked Curry up
given his ties to Ehrlich, I take it he's a conservadem like Owings? Seems like that faction is unhappy with O'Malley, you know, fixing the budget mess that Ehrlich failed to do in his four years in office.

[ Parent ]
O'Malley isn't going to be primaried
I know that O'Malley is fairly unpopular (I haven't seen any recent polls on O'Malley's favorability rating anywhere, but one I think I saw last year had him in the in the high 30s but still higher than his disapproval, with alot of undecideds) but he hasn't collasped to the point that he is vulernable to a primary challange. Ducan in particular was pretty pathetic in 2006, so there is no way he could take on O'Malley now.

I also don't think he is in any real danger in the GE. Alot of talk about Erlich, but I dont think that rematches in which a outsted governor tries to take out his sucessor who beat him in the last election is going to go well. Erlich was a very partisan and ecnomically conservative Republican in a heavily Democrat state, and O'Malley is likely to highlight that should Erlich try to rematch him. But at least with Erlich the GOP would have a chance if O'Malley implodes like how Glenn Denning did (and his extreme unpopularity was around Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons levels) allowed Erlich to defeat Lt. Gov Townsend in the first place. The GOP bench in Maryland is just so extremly weak.


[ Parent ]
Ohio races
I'm curious to know if Mahoning County DA Paul Gains is going to follow through on his run for SoS. I actually think he'd be great at it, but I'm not sure how the rest of OH will react to him. His struggle against the Y-town mafia and surviving an attempted wacking will be very appealing to voters, but I wonder if they'll be turned off by his resembling a deranged Donald Southerland.

A number of people in my grad classes at Akron (including an old friend from YSU) are working with Brunner's campaign, and many of them suggested that Brunner can mitigate her fundraising disparity by appealing to those out-of-state. My friend, who is now head of the Mahoning County Women's Caucus, suggested that Brunner make appeals to CA or NY.

BTW, Jim Traficant is now a free man. Hard to believe 7 years have gone by since I watched his expulsion on TV (after having predicted it for several months). I doubt he wants to run for anything anymore. He's had health problems and he's 68. Methinks he might pursue, at most, a radio show, but I think he just wants to be left alone.


I also remember clearly
Traficant being convicted and subsequently expelled. I was 19 and just beginning my time as a voter. Hard to believe it was 7 years ago. I feel old!

Check out the 2010 California races (http://2010californiaracetracker.wetpaint.com) and help us take back Red California! (http://www.takebackredcalifornia.org)

[ Parent ]
VA-Gov
Survey USA latest has McDonnell up 54-42.

http://www.surveyusa.com/clien...

Not great but Deeds has swung NoVa and is competitive with indies. Needs to get some Dems back though. Can't see McD getting 18% of AA voters. Don't think it is over.


Really, really not good
Deeds is on track to lose.  

[ Parent ]
AZ-01
What is it with the NRSC trying to get people from Phoenix to run in the extremely rural 1st District?  Last cycle they tried to get Ken Bennett, Bill Konopnicki, Kris Mayes, and Andy Tobin to run, all of whom live in the outskirts of Phoenix.  Bennett and Mayes at least live in Prescott, which is definitely a part of the 1st, but c'mon, out-of-state campaign committee -- these people aren't going to beat someone like Kirkpatrick in a district that prides itself on its rural values (Kirkpatrick was born on the Apache Reservation).  If the RNC wants my advice, there's a fellow out in Globe by the name of Lewis Tenney who nearly won the nomination back in 2002 and could probably roll Kirkpatrick.  But no, they go for Rusty Bowers, a Mesa resident whose connection with Phoenix is stronger than all the others they've mentioned.  This seat will stay safely Dem if Bowers is the GOP nominee.

Did he represent
Mesa in the Senate and just suddenly take an interest in the 1st, or did he have a Senate seat that was part of the 1st and then move to Mesa more recently? If it's the former, then, yeah, that makes him seem pretty lame.

[ Parent ]
All these guys live in the district
It's just that the rural part of the state was just slightly too small to have its own district back in 2000, so the redistricting commission threw in some outskirts of Phoenix and Tucson to make it big enough (and to make a more competitive district, since the rural areas on their own are fairly Democratic overall).  For some reason the best the Republicans can come up with is a bunch of guys from those suburban outskirts, rather than real rural candidates.  The reason this is important is that Mesa Republicans are extremely different from rural Republicans.  Rural Republicans tend to be more moderate on social issues, more fiscally conservative, less happy with preemptive war, more libertarian, and extremely anti-environmental; suburban Republicans are your typical family-values conservatives.  Ann Kirkpatrick is actually a pretty good fit for the rural conservatives, and I can easily see them voting for her over someone like Bowers.

To our credit, state and national Dems have always recognized the rural nature of the district.  Except for Fred DuVal, every major Dem candidate who has run for that seat since 2002, including Steve Udall, George Cordova, Diane Prescott, Paul Babbitt, Jack Jackson Jr., Mary Kim Titla, Howard Shanker, and Kirkpatrick, have all been solidly rooted in the rural parts of the district.  Even Ellen Simon lived in rural Sedona, although she had a more urban profile.


[ Parent ]
Uh
Konopnicki lives in Safford and represents LD-05, which is rural in character and entirely within AZ-01. People out in those parts wouldn't take too kindly to being referred to as "outskirts of Phoenix."
Also, Mayes has basically moved to Phoenix and seriously considered running for AZ-03 last cycle during the brief period in which it was open. Tobin, on the other hand, lives in Paulden, which is in rural northern Yavapai County.

Your broader point in correct though; they need someone who can kick ass and take names in the rural parts of the district, especially the east. The fact that there's a lot of Flagstaff-based disappointment with Kirkpatrick (mostly because of her disappointing record on the environment; we can accept that she can only do so much on economic and social issues because of what she has to deal with in the rest of the district, but there's no excuse to be bad on environmental issues in this district as those are often popular even in the more conservative areas) could give the GOP an opening, particularly if they found someone halfway decent on the environment. As long as she continues to get the Navajo endorsement, though, she'll probably ok.


[ Parent ]
Tom Hansen
had the perfect profile last cycle.  Thankfully for us, the GOP didn't see fit to let him through the primary.

[ Parent ]
I don't follow Buffalo politics
But it looks like the Mayor is in danger of being knocked out in the primary.  

New York City Comptroller
I have negative feelings toward Yassky because of the apparent push poll I was subjected to, but I don't know much about Melinda Katz, other than that former Mayor Koch endorses her in the mailer I got today and that John Liu is from what I know an active and good City Councilman representing the district that includes Flushing, Queens. I guess that means I'm leaning toward Liu. I am suspicious of anyone Koch wants me to vote for, because he's become so conservative. Do any of you have more information or thoughts on this race?

Back when Carolyn Maloney
was hell-bent on taking on Kirsten Gillibrand, Katz was talked about as a slightly more left-wing successor in her "silk-stocking" district.  So, she seems progressive.  But, I agree, anything associated with Koch scares me to death (maybe it's just because Katz is a Manhattanite?).

[ Parent ]
I'm also a Manhattanite
But look at what's in the flier I got from Melinda Katz?

"Trust me. Manhattan needs Melinda Katz."

MAYOR ED KOCH

The flier continues in the same vein, pointing out that Katz lives in Queens, but concentrating on what she's done for Manhattan.

Does she think that people in the "Outer Boroughs" won't get wind of this campaign strategy? If the Comptroller favors one borough over the others, that's a conflict of interest - essentially, a malpractice that renders her unfit for the job. I definitely will not vote for her.


[ Parent ]
I want to apologize
for the stupid remark I made above. I reread the flier, and it does give a parochial appeal designed for Manhattanites, which might or might not be impolitic, but the main point really seems to be that Katz would be so good for the city that Manhattan would be among the beneficiaries. It would be very foolish for me to exclude her from consideration just because I'd prefer for them to present a more whole-city strategy to me in direct mail.

[ Parent ]
DAVID YASSKY FOR NYC COMPTROLLER
For New York City Comptroller  - NYT                                                             New York City's comptroller has one of the most important and least recognized jobs in the city. The comptroller is the city's accountant, the official whose job it is to make certain budgets are balanced, contracts are valid and workers' pensions are safe. The sums involved are huge. The comptroller oversees the city's $60 billion budget and $83 billion in pension funds for city workers.

Four strong Democrats are running for the nomination in the Sept. 15 primary. The one most suited to do the job, with skill, intelligence and independence, is David Yassky, a City Council member from Brooklyn.

We are particularly impressed with Mr. Yassky's ability to think creatively and then implement his ideas. Mr. Yassky, who taught at Brooklyn Law School earlier in his career, has a somewhat professorial manner. But in his years at City Hall, he has successfully fought to control guns in the city, to lessen pollution from taxis and to ban illegal dumping in the waters around the city.

He has pushed for help for small businesses and for more affordable housing. His campaign has set up an inventive Web site - ItsYourMoneyNYC.com - that opens the city budget to more scrutiny, a preview of his promise for more transparency for city finances.

The other main Democratic contenders are Council members from Queens, and all have sound records. David Weprin, who runs the Finance Committee, has been an able Council member but is less creative in his thinking about how to do this job effectively. John Liu has represented his constituents intelligently and with great eloquence, but too much of his strength is at the microphone. Melinda Katz has been a smart, dynamic leader of the Land Use Committee, but we are less enthusiastic about her connections to the real estate community.

Of the four, Mr. Yassky makes the best case for making better use of the powerful tools handed a city comptroller. He promises to use the audit powers - including new ones overseeing the city's education contracts - to increase productivity and efficiency.

We have seen in New York State the temptations and corruption that come with managing a multibillion-dollar pension fund - with huge fees handed out to political cronies and contributors. Mr. Yassky has promised to stand up to special interests and has embraced new S.E.C. rules that would block campaign contributors from doing business with the fund. For all of these reasons, we endorse David Yassky for comptroller.        http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08...


[ Parent ]
He sounded good
But he had me push-polled, so I don't want to vote for him.

[ Parent ]
I prefer DeFazio
However, both DeFazio and Kitzhaber have excellent credentials as progressives.

DeFazio has the distinction of being a real progressive who wins big in a swing district.

DeFazio probably has one of the toughest commutes of our voting members of congress - with the exception of those from Alaska and Hawaii, as he has to drive at least a couple of hours to get to a major airport, and then still take a couple of flights.

Yes, a race to succeed DeFazio would be at best lean D.



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