Spin Cycle

Longtime Hillary Clinton ally Ann Lewis is contacting Hillary Clinton fans on behalf of the 501c3 called nolimits.org. Of course, with the ex-Senator now secretary of state, this could not possibly be construed as being political group except insofaras political issues are driving it among political allies. But it speaks for itself. From the text, passed along by Newsday's Liz Moore:

"(Nolimits.org is a) social networking site, where you can connect with friends you made along the campaign trail. You'll see many familiar faces!

NoLimits.org isn't a political organization – it's a community. We don't raise money for candidates or political parties; we do raise our voices on issues we care about.

And with your voice, we can be even more powerful!

We are so proud to be part of this new era for our country. Let's keep working for the values and goals we share – a better future for every child, from every family; a world in which No Limits is not just our goal, but a reality.

Sincerely,

Ann Lewis

(New York Magazine photo, with Lewis wearing glasses all the way on the right)

Despite the recession, Nassau Democrats are raising a record $1-million Monday night in their spring fundraiser at Crest Hollow Country Club that will host both former President Bill Clinton and state Gov. David Paterson.

Jay Jacobs, Nassau Democratic chairman, said the party has sold well over 1,600 tickets to the $850-a-head event and expects a crowd of more than 1,400, forcing organizers to squeeze 12 seats to the tables instead of the usual 10 seats.

The party leader acknowledges the recession....

Continue reading "Nassau Democrats report raising a record $1 million " »

State Conservative chairman Michael Long warns that unless his party and Republicans “can get something going” this year to build a 2010 statewide ticket, he’d move toward fielding a separate Conservative slate of candidates.

For decades, Republicans have won statewide only when they had the Conservative endorsement. Long on Friday noted the strong run Conservative Herbert London made in 1990 for governor against Republican Pierre Rinfret and Democrat Mario Cuomo — and Conservative James Buckley’s 1970 U.S. Senate victory without the GOP.

“I have said to a number of people, including Republicans, that unless we can get something going here, I am not going to fall behind a lost journey,” he said Friday. Recalling Gov. George Pataki’s first win, Long said, “there were seven or eight candidates out the year before . . . I don’t know any candidate who’s clearly in the pond now. You can’t put a toe in the water and think you’re going to get elected. You need to get your whole body submerged.”

So far the toe-dippers include ex-mayor and failed presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani from the upper East Side, and ex-Congressman and failed Senate candidate Rick Lazio of Manhattan and Suffolk.

In Giuliani's abortive run for senator nine years ago, there was a complicated dance over whether the candidate was making an effort to win Conservative backing -- having taken key support from the (now defunct) Liberal line in his mayoral bids. Possible 2010 gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio had Conservative support when he fell short against Hillary Clinton later that year.

From a little over a year ago, this is Long on NBC expressing the belief that none of the GOP presidential candidates other than Fred Thompson was consistently conservative:

Blame it on Hillary.

That's how Assemb. Patricia Eddington explained her quietly changing parties back to the Democrats' ranks. "When Hillary [Rodham Clinton] was running in the presidential primary and I couldn't vote, it really hurt," she said.

Originally a registered Democrat, she ran and won in 2000 as a member of the labor-backed Working Families Party. Some insiders say Eddington switched last month because her political ally, Suffolk party chairman Chuck Pohanka, lost his long-running battle with the state party last year and she wants to make sure the minor party cannot withhold her nomination when she comes up for renomination in 2010.

She discounts such talk, saying she backed him as party leader but has no problem with the minor party's state officials and still hopes to win their endorsement. The change does not take effect until after Election Day. Her husband, Jack, a Suffolk lawmaker up for re-election, switched to the Independence Party.

Rick Brand

While most Democrats focused on Martin Luther King Day or the inauguration, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has launched a new political Web site, dubbed “Team Levy” to enlist volunteers, solicit donations and explain who he really is.

The new site, here includes a secure fundraising link that takes major credit cards. Another link is labeled, “Know the facts,” which a Levy release says “is devoted to answering claims made by special-interest groups in recent months who are opposing some of Levy’s reforms.”

The Web site asks visitors to sign up for any one of 21 groups, including “Asian and Pacific Islanders for Levy” and “Engineers for Levy” to “Labor for Levy” and “Latinos for Levy.”

The new site, which cost $4,700, was an in-kind contribution from Future Tech Services Inc. of Holbrook.

“This is a step up,” said Levy, noting that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign showed that Web sites can help candidates raise money, send out a message quickly, and get public input. “It’s the wave of the future.”

The county executive in recent month has faced increased political heat over his....

Continue reading "Barack Who? Suffolk's Levy goes more Web-ular" »

As the Senate swirl goes down to the wire, one underrated line of thinking around the Capitol is that Gov. David Paterson so enjoys the current national buzz that he does not want to let go of the Caroline Kennedy prospect — which has catapulted his replacement for Hillary Clinton into a worldwide will-he-or-won’t-he celebrity drama tied to Barack Obama’s ascent as superstar. This tabloid-glitz approach makes the story “He rejected Caroline!” or “He approved Caroline!” regardless of 2010 political tickets or ability to deliver the state’s share of budget portions.

In that light, here's a warning from a Democratic consultant, anonymous for obvious reasons, when asked about the Kennedy prospect: “If Paterson chooses her he has a problem. He’d be dissing the whole Congressional delegation. As for her being a friend of Obama, well, in politics friends are people you can say ‘No’ to the easiest. Also, it looks like another elitist play. She’s never carried anything, let alone a state ticket. Can the governor really risk naming a novice?”

Insiders anticipate Karen Persichilli Keogh, who’s been New York state director of Hillary Clinton for President and has emerged in recent years as a knowledgeable statewide strategist, will stay relevant among Democrats here. Party Chair June O’Neill last week praised KPK, as she’s known to her colleagues, but said a role is still to be settled.

If Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) runs for U.S. Senate in 2010, “there is not going to be a shortage of people interested” in running for his vacated Congressional seat, says Jay Jacobs, the Nassau Democratic chairman.

Among them may be current county legislators David Mejias who lost to King in 2006 and David Denenberg, according to Jacobs. But the vacancy is not yet guaranteed.

Five years ago King skipped challenging Sen. Charles Schumer, saying “To have a chance of winning, I’d have to raise $30 or $35 million [while] campaigning all over the state. I couldn’t do that and even begin to do my job as a congressman.”

Today, King is front and center portraying Caroline Kennedy as less than qualified for the job. Such talk might not irritate Hillary Rodham Clinton, with whom King has had cordial political relations.

Kennedy gave President-elect Barack Obama that big primary endorsement against Clinton. King said of Kennedy on NBC's "Today" show with Matt Lauer last week: “She’s never held a real job. You mentioned Jon Corzine, he worked on Wall Street. You mentioned Hillary Clinton, she was first lady for eight years, testified before Congress, and she campaigned for two years before she was [elected Senator].”

In debating the qualifications of Caroline Kennedy, it is worth noting only one of the last five occupants of the Senate seat to which she aspires held previous elected office:

-- Republican Charles Goodell was a congressman when Gov. Nelson Rockefeller chose him to complete the unfinished term of Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968.

-- Kennedy had been attorney general in his brother President John F. Kennedy’s administration before his election as senator in 1964.

-- James Buckley, brother of conservative icon William F. Buckley, Jr., was elected in 1970, having been a lawyer who worked in the family oil and gas business and run for senate two years earlier.

-- Democrat Daniel P. Moynihan was a university professor, United Nations ambassador, and presidential policy adviser before unseating Buckley in 1976.

-- After retiring in 2000, Moynihan was succeeded by Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former first lady, who’d never run for office on her own.

In a gala fundraiser last night, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton told guests she's not going anywhere despite her anticipated new role as top U.S. diplomat. She's been trying to raise cash for debt from the campaign before it's barred when she becomes secretary of state.

Capacity was 1,200 in the Manhattan Center in midtown event which was closed to press. She told everyone she's still a New Yorker. said one source with knowledge of the event. She and former president Bill moved to Chappaqua in 2000 for her first Senate run.

In the Daily News, Dave Saltonstall describes what spectators said.

Of course if she keeps the same consistency to her stated position that she held on the NAFTA issue, the Clintons ought to be posting a for-sale sign in Chappaqua any week now. Given the record, take a wait-and-see stance on this one.

Huntington Supervisor Frank Petrone (in photo) hosts a mininum-$500-per-head breakfast fundraiser Monday in Commack for Rep. Steve Israel. In an unusual invitation, Petrone plays up Hillary Rodham Clinton soon leaving the Senate — and says “we have an opportunity to deliver our homegrown son...to that office.” It suggests the Senate vacancy prompted the event. But how? Israel (D-Huntington) said through a spokeswoman he hadn’t seen, and couldn’t explain, the wording — but added it’s a Congressional fundraiser “consistent with what he (Israel) has always done.” Petrone was unavailable when a spokeswoman was contacted on Friday.

Some wording from the invite: "With the appointment of Hillary Clinton as secretary of State, ther will be a vacancy in the office of US Senator from New York. We have an opportunity to deliver our home-grown son Congressman Israel to that office and continue the great work he started on the local, state and national level. This is why I and Friends of Frank Petrone are hosting a breakfast fundraiser on Dec. 15...at 8:30 a.m. at the Hamlet Golf & Country Club...."

"Please join us as we continue to make history and help deliver Congressman Israel to the office of U.S. Senator....Contribution $500 per person//$1,000 event sponsor."

New York has lots to learn from this huge statehouse scandal in Illinois. And pronouncing Blagojevich as “Blah-goya-vitch” is the least of it. Gleaned from the advice of consultants in the Empire State we offer five important lessons for New York politicos:

1 Cash for jobs is a cliché. Be creative. Sure a Senate seat is a thing of value. With Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton vacating hers, Gov. David A. Paterson has the same opportunity as Blagojevich, but you trust or hope he isn’t expecting a suitcase full of hard currency. Still, as a man who’s always displayed a developed sense of irony, Paterson could extract amusements. If, say, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy expressed interest, Paterson could set as a condition that he first attend a weeklong Suffolk PBA retreat — maybe in Nassau — and put the whole experience on YouTube. Or in the spirit of reality TV, he could ask Caroline Kennedy and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to compete in a bowling tournament.

2 You can get into trouble even without extramarital sex. For Eliot Spitzer, it was hookers. For Jim McGreevey over in New Jersey, it was being secretly gay. But by comparison, the transgressions of fellow Democrat “Blago” have the trappings of traditional family values and spousal solidarity. After all, his wife, Patricia (right), egged him on, the feds say. She’s heard in the background of one recorded conversation advising the governor — in rich profanities — to hold up an aid deal for the Chicago Cubs, owned by fellow profanitarian real-estate operator Sam Zell, whose Tribune Co. this week filed for bankruptcy protection.

3 Consultants must keep their resumes fresh. Resume entries can be a little like the stock market. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s campaign manager Brad Tusk was a Blagojevich deputy governor between 2003 and 2006. (Bloomberg, of course, sells himself as a nonpolitician). President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign guru David Axelrod once had Blagojevich as a client too. . . .

Continue reading "For N.Y., five big lessons from the Land of Lincoln" »

That's right, he is not known for having the pizzazz of a Kennedy, but he has served in the U.S. Congress. He does not belong to a traditionally underrepresented minority, but he has deep roots in the part of the state that's way more Midwest than Eastern Seaboard.

He's 69, but so was Ronald Reagan when he became president. He pushes these days for school district consolidations as head of a special state local-government panel. He would have been governor if Mario Cuomo hadn't left that plane idling on the airstrip.

He has served as the geographic balance to downstate-heavy Democratic state tickets before. And he hails from Jamestown, which is in Chautauqua County, which you might confuse with the name Chappaqua, which is where the current junior U.S. Senator lives.

So in a period in which it requires no evidence or even rationality to hype candidates, or to speculate on their motives for being candidates, or to knock them down the same way, why not try to drag Stan Lundine, left, out of retirement and into the gossip vortex for the Clinton Senate seat? There are worse prospects who are actually lobbying for the job.

And if someone tried to do a Blagojevich on the guy and subtly shake him down for a quid pro quo, nobody who knows him believes he'd bite.

Legendary Long Island Republican boss Joseph Margiotta (right) passed away at 81.Coverage from Newsday's Sunday spread here and here.

President-elect Barack Obama has scheduled a big press conference for tomorrow where he is expected to name Hillary Rodham Clinton as his secretary of state as well as other appointments, setting in motion a Senate appointment by Gov. David A. Paterson.

Despite predictions of a pending downfall, Joe Mondello, the state and Nassau GOP chairman, says he isn't going anywhere, Rick Brand reports.

Regional residents killed in the Mumbai terrorist attacks are mourned in Brooklyn.

Gov. David A. Paterson issued some Thanksgiving vetoes, including one aimed at dealing with a decades-old issue -- the potentially-abused law-enforcement powers of chartered societies for the prevention of cruelty to children.

The top people in the Bloomberg administration were so hungry for privileges at the new Yankee Stadium that, the Times reports based on e-mails obtained by Assemb. Richard Brodsky, "the mayor’s aides pushed for a larger suite and free food, and eventually gave the Yankees 250 additional parking spaces in exchange."

The national spotlight may be swinging back to Sen. Hillary Clinton, but inside the state, alumni of Charles Schumer’s Senate and Congressional offices have come to occupy a slew of political and public posts.

Now, 10 years after Democrat Schumer ousted Republican Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, the political Seed of Chucky may be growing.

On a short list for U.S. Attorney in Manhattan is Preet Bharara, chief counsel to Schumer on the Senate Judiciary Committee and visible player in the probe last year of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ office.

This fall Schumer backed a primary by the co-author of his book “Positively American,” Daniel Squadron, who ousted veteran Sen. Martin Connor in Brooklyn. One Democratic source mentions ex-aide Chris Hahn, head of United Way on Long Island, for a run for Brookhaven supervisor, though at least one other candidate seems right now to have stronger chances.

Schumer’s three-year man on Long Island, Matt Cohen, now directs government relations for LIPA.

One-time Schumer aides, now elected, include: Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens), Assemb. Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island), Assemb. Alan Maisel (D-Brooklyn), and Brooklyn City Council members Michael Nelson and David Yassky.

Among the well-connected private consultants formerly in Schumer’s employ: Michael Tobman of the New York City firm Hudson TG. There’s also Josh Isay, of the Knickerbocker division of Squier Knapp Dunn Communications — which even carries on its Web site a friendly plug from Schumer: “If you need television advertising, direct mail or communications advice, I can think of no better place to go.”

In a new book “You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America,” John R. MacArthur happens to quote Rep. Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama’s chief-of-staff-to-be, on getting funds earmarked for an Illinois bridge.

“Does that make me an ‘earmark thug’ or a congressman who took care of a critical need...?” Emanuel asked in an op-ed piece in 2007.

MacArthur writes: “Emanuel is well known for his talents as a political enforcer — indeed, something of a thug — for his party’s bosses, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.” Emanuel earlier in his career played a role in pushing for passage of NAFTA -- you know, that controversial treaty that the Obama campaign during the primaries tried to pin as much as possible on rival Hillary Clinton.

On the eve of this political judgment day, reviews have already begun of what could have been done and what should or should not have been said. To begin honoring the wrapup of this longest-ever, costliest-ever national campaign, here's a bipartisan sampling of statements that our power players would like to have worded differently, or not made at all, or later apologized for, or would just as soon have everyone forget:

Sen. Barack Obama (April 2008): "In some small towns in Pennsylvania [with high unemployment] ... they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Sen. John McCain (December 2007): "There are more and more questions at the town-hall meetings about the economy. ... The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. ... I've got [former Fed chairman Alan] Greenspan's book."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (February 2008), comparing herself to Obama: "Speeches don't fill up your tank, speeches don't fill your prescription, or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night. ... I offer solutions. It's one thing to get people excited; I want to empower you."

President George W. Bush (July 2003): "There are some [in Iraq] who feel like uh, that if they attack us, that we may decide to leave prematurely. ... My answer is, bring 'em on. We got the force necessary to deal with the security situation."

Gov. David A. Paterson (March 2008), on past affairs: "Several years ago there were a number of women. ... I was pretty upset and I was kind of just angry and for a period of time I was using poor judgment."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (January 2004), of diet doctor Robert Atkins, killed in a fall on an icy sidewalk: "I don't believe that -- that he dropped dead slipping on a sidewalk. Yeah, right. ... The guy was fat - big guy - but heavy."

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (January 2008), on Obama, in support of Clinton: "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Rep. Charles Rangel (September 2008), on how he misunderstood the taxing and finances on his Dominican Republic house in conversations with partners: "Every time I thought I was getting somewhere, they'd start speaking Spanish."

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (August 2004): "And thank God that Dick Cheney, a man with his experience and his knowledge and his strength and his background, is our vice president."

Sen. Joseph Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin: Where to start?

Most of these can be categorized as statements that became invonvenient to have uttered. For flat-out flubs let us not forget the world's champion: the man from the Republican power elite who could make all Americans feel good about their own critical abilities, former Vice President Dan Quayle. For you kids watching at home, take a look at why Quayle was legendary:

Immigration policy has drawn remarkably little mention in this huge general-election campaign — and some want to see the presidential candidates confront the issue in their final debate Wednesday at Hofstra University.

One year ago, nothing in politics was as explosive as Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses. The perceived presidential front-runner, Democrat Hillary Clinton, caught heat for her qualified support. But rival Barack Obama also expressed support — and it seemed then as if any GOP candidate would certainly be using this to drub the nominee this fall.

But John McCain faced fire from within the GOP for having supported President George W. Bush’s sweeping immigration bill last year. Condemned by foes as amnesty for illegal aliens, the bill died in the same type of backlash that killed Spitzer’s license proposal.

“It’s interesting,” says Patrick Young, director of the Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood. “Essentially, you had the two most pro-immigrant candidates win each of their parties’ nominations.”

On the GOP side, he said, “I think it’s been kept off the radar screen to give McCain some sense of cover.” As for Democrats, he observed, “Obama has made maybe only three statements on immigration since he became the nominee apparent in June.”

“They have the mainstream immigration-rights position,” said Young, who follows the issue closely and writes blog posts on it. “Protect the border, legalize those who are not criminals, deal with the future flow.”

An active Republican, who declined to be identified, believes...

Dan Janison

Continue reading "LI debate: Last chance for Obama-McCain 'illegals' clash" »

She went with the orange pants suit, Bill Clinton's eyes were red-rimmed, the intro film was a big hit for its touch of humor, Michelle Obama stood and applauded, people on the convention floor wept.

And the drama of the moment and electricity in the hall could not be denied.

HIghlight lines: "Were you in this campaign just for me, or..." for the causes cited.

"We need leaders once again who can tap into that blend of Ameircan confidence and optimism..."

She gives a hat tip to Bill and his success with the economy.

She calls Michelle "a great first lady for America." She hails Biden as "a good man who understands economic stresses at home and challenges abroad."

John McCain "my colleague and friend...but we don't need four more years of the last eight years..."

She rips his positions and record.

"These days," she says, Bush and McCain "are awfully hard to tell apart."

Rudy Giuliani, in his established role as a traveling flack for John McCain, is now speaking with tremendous respect for "his senator," Hillary Clinton, whom he had expected to run against, and who turns big star as we post.

Very subtle.

There's speculation in GOP circles that Giuliani Partners could do well under a McCain presidency, say with fat contracts. Or, if Obama wins, and then looks vulnerable enough in 2012, Giuliani could give the presidency another try.

But of course the ex-mayor was against Clinton before he was for her, as shown by the sample dispatches below. Emphasis, of course, added.

In a dispatch filed yesterday by CBS Giuliani says: "Well, I think it's actually weakness. I mean is it 'tough' to turn down the person that gives you the best chance to win because it unites the party or is it some kind of difficulty in dealing with one of your rivals? I mean honestly, I am just speculating, I don't know," said Giuliani from the beach resort town of Sag Harbor on Saturday.

And this is from September 17, 2007: (AP) Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani denounced Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for challenging the Capitol Hill testimony of the top U.S. military commander in Iraq.

"Hillary Clinton, questioning Gen. (David) Petraeus, said you had to suspend disbelief," Giuliani said after a brief campaign stop at an Akron restaurant. "Why would you say that about an American general?"

The New York senator appeared skeptical Tuesday of the positive spin Petraeus put on improvements in Iraq, saying, "The reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief."

Giuliani said Petraeus was doing "the best that he can." He also criticized the liberal anti-war group MoveOn.org for running newspaper advertisements that asked "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?"

"I can't imagine why we can't get beyond maligning other people's motives nowadays in politics," said Giuliani, a former New York City mayor.

"There is no reason to do what MoveOn.org or Hillary Clinton have done - which is to make personal attacks on the general." Giuliani had a private fundraising event arranged in Akron but no details were disclosed by his campaign staff.

He arrived in Ohio - expected to again be a key political battleground in 2008 after clinching President Bush's 2004 re-election - following a fundraiser earlier in the day in Morgantown, W.Va. He was to travel to Canonsburg, Pa., and Bluffton, S.C., after the Akron visit.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech to the United Farm Workers in California was interrupted by a fire alarm at the very moment she was praising Sen. Joseph Biden, the presumptive Democratic vice-presidential nominee and urging union members to support him.

"An emergency has been reported in the building," the loudspeakers suddely said at the climax of her speech. "Please proceed to the nearest exit." Several hundred people were inside the civic center for the event.

Eventhually she stopped speaking and looked around.

"I think that’s from the Republicans," she said, prompting laughter.

Chants began.

"There's no stopping us, you know." she said -- as Democrats were gathering in Colorado for the convention which she joins up with starting Monday. "They won't stop us and they won't silence us, we will keep working and fighting until we are successful." She got a big standing ovation -- and then returned to her speech urging people to work for Obama.

- Elizabeth Moore in Fresno, Ca.

Hillary Clinton's staffers have organized an unusual 40-member "whip team" to quell embarrassing displays by her supporters on the convention floor at next week's Democratic convention in Denver, blasts brother Thrush at Politico.

They're planning to hand out placards to wave in front of any troublesome delegates.

Darragh Murphy, founder of the anti-Obama group PUMA (Party Unity My A--), which is planning a candle-lit "Beautiful Protest and Rise" at Denver's Cheesman Park Monday, says she has heard from a lot of Hillary's delegates and doubts anyone can prevent them from making a ruckus. "I think they'll try to do what she wants, but the delegates at this point have a mind of their own," she said.

Liz Moore

With polls tight, the Dems are counting on a Kumbaya windup to the contentious primary season a week from Thursday with Obama, his former rivals, and 76,000 adoring voters at Denver's Invesco Stadium. We'll be looking for that love this week. Not a lot of it out there at the moment, from what we can see.

On the Obama side, even a really nice guy like Jon Cooper, his Long Island chairman, is irritated by the deal to allow Hillary's name to be placed in nomination, a move he calls "a distraction."

"If this is what the die-hard Clinton supporters need to get past this and allow them to get behind Sen. Obama, then so be it," he said Friday. On the plus side, the drama....

Liz Moore

Continue reading "Catharsis watch: Still plenty of irritation to go around" »

Unlike 2004, when Suozzi angered some with his "Fix Albany" campaign, and Speaker Shelley Silver (D-Manhattan) retaliated by trying to bar Suozzi from the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Suozzi has Silver’s blessing this year and is a vice chairman of the state delegation going to Denver.

A staunch Hillary Clinton supporter during the recent Democratic primary race, Suozzi said he would not oppose having some kind of show of respect for her at the convention. “I like Sen. Clinton, and I’m going to look to her campaign people to see how they want to conduct the whole thing,” he said. “But both Senator Clinton and I will be voting for Senator Obama.”
Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs, who's said to have raised more than $500,000 for Clinton’s campaign, is also a delegate to the convention.

Sid Cassese

This could have come into play if things had gone otherwise, but of course, it is not to be...unless the Denver convention turns into one wild and crazy event as some Hillary-hypers would like.

Obama meets on energy issues with T. Boone Pickens, who backed the "Swiftboating" of John Kerrry.

In California, McCain sticks to stock answers against an evangelical pastor's admonishment.

But a partisan commentator puts the appearance in the McCain column for the "gravity and poignancy" of his answers.

Close race intensifies, heading into the final two-and-a-half months.

Obama beats McCain in fundraising for the last month, $51 million to $27 million.

Evan Bayh, center of some VP speculation, slams McCain as too war-hungry, dissecting the candidate's "We are all Georgians" impulse.

McCain calls for greater volunteerism and sacrifice.

Sen. Clinton visits south Florida later in the week -- and Sen. Cardin urges her supporters to get on board with Obama.

Democratic keynoter Mark Warner, who's running for Virginia's open U.S. Senate seat, has been collecting big-time funds from Beltway lobbyists, leading one blogger to ask if this is "change we can believe in."

Minnesota's Pawlenty would have to "watch his tongue" as an attack dog if he becomes McCain's running mate, warns this analyst.

Obama ad whacks McCain on the economy. Video below:

Some rightward commentators and fans are in a tizzy over this piece on Newsday's op-ed page by Jenna Kern-Rugile. A member of the Unitarian church herself, she speculated on a causal link between radio talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, Long Island-raised Bill O'Reilly, and Mike Savage (never mind that Savage refers to Limbaugh as 'Hush Bimbo') and an attack by 58-year-old Jim D. Adkisson, who walked into the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville and opened fire, killing two people and seriously wounding seven others. The man was quoted by police as saying he'd gone after the Unitarians "because of its liberal teachings and his belief that all liberals should be killed because they were ruining the country, and that ... the Democrats had tied his country's hands in the war on terror and had ruined every institution in America with the aid of media outlets."

Kern-Rugile, a frequent contributor, expressed this opinion: "Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Rush Limbaugh say that "liberalism is the greatest threat this country faces" and "the Islamofascists are actually campaigning for the election of Democrats" and that riots at the Democratic Convention would be 'the best damn thing that can happen to this country'? Might the shooter have heard talk-show host Sean Hannity say in 2006, 'There are things in life worth fighting and dying for, and one of them is making sure Nancy Pelosi doesn't become the speaker'?"

This struck a nerve, generating many hundreds of e-mails to the newspaper. Brent Bozell III, president of an organization called the Media Research Center, fires back with a letter to Newsday Publisher Tim Knight demanding an apology for the August 13 column. "She inexplicably and noxiously links the contemptible July 27 murders... to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly," Bozell said.

Bozell also demanded "that Ms. Rugile never again appear on the pages of Newsday." His Web site posting is here.

As you can surmise from the CBS report embedded below, the pro-Obama forces now write this as a story of party unity and strength under his aegis rather than his having jerked the knee to rid himself of a certain annoying reality, and the Clintonistas go with the narrative that she perseveres and will not be denied, at least totally, the place to which she's purportedly entitled based on the primaries. Meanwhile the Republican fuglemen lead that popular musical chorus number, "Democrats in Disarray, Disarray, Disarray..." with this year's version subtitled "The Clintons Have Hijacked the Convention." The beauty part: All three have a bit of truth, though the question is how you cut up the shares.

For those watching the horse race in the Northeast, a lot of the attention focuses on the prospect that John McCain can peel off Democrats to win key states, most likely from those who preferred Hillary Clinton in the primary. But in the Midwest today, Jim Leach, a former Republican Congressman from Iowa, endorsed Barack Obama -- and specifically cited foreign policy, calling for "a new approach to our interaction with the world." That could play among centrist Democrats, but it's more damaging to McCain if members of the GOP out in America defect or stay home on Election Day. In this wire-service account, Leach says he's never known a time when the "American brand" was in worse repair. (Photo's from Princeton University, where Leach teaches).

Back in 1992, when Hillary Cllinton and Tipper Gore were up on that stage dancing mildly with spouses Bill and Al at the Democratic convention in New York, the sound system pumped out Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," the theme of that first campaign.

Now, the question for second-term Sen. Hillary Clinton is which of a number of possible tomorrows she won't stop thinking about. The Democratic convention opens in 13 days, and the public position is that she still may or may not have her name entered into nomination at the parley. If she does, as one analysis notes: "It would be the first time in the modern era of presidential primaries that a losing candidate has so visibly endorsed an opponent so many months before the convention, and then gone on to have his or her name placed in nomination."

Supporters today are still pushing her to push the envelope.

For today, the questions that for many reasons remain unanswered include: Does she think there's a tomorrow for her in 2012 if Obama loses to John McCain? And if Obama wins, does she even choose to stay in the Senate? These questions could figure in her thoughts of the more immediate tomorrow, but right now, the speculation buzzes on about whether this year's retro song by the same band should be, "Allow Me One More Show."

If anyone needed any indication that Hillary Clinton won't be running for VP on the Barack Obama ticket -- and that her staffers went full-throttle to cut down Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee -- there's this: Our reporter Nia-Malika Henderson sees significance in the Senator's flak Howard Wolfson saying if John Edwards had come clean, she'd have won Iowa and very possibly the nomination.

"If," of course, is a big and iffy term, as Wolfson will be the first to tell you. But Obama fans worry that such speculation could -- hypothetically -- help undermine the Obama enterprise in real time and inure to McCain's benefit.

The statements happen to follow a story in the Atlantic reporting that top strategist Mark Penn advised Clinton to try to portray Obama as only marginally American.

As he tells abcnews.com here
Wolfson, who serves Fox News as a political analyst (fresh off his full-fledged bulldog mode for the former First Lady), said: "Our voters and Edwards' voters were the same people... They were older, pro-union. Not all, but maybe two-thirds of them would have been for us and we would have barely beaten Obama."

Uh, well, but, now... In Iowa, Clinton wasn't exactly positioning herself against corporate America like Edwards was -- what with having Penn, still serving corporate clients, like the ones who sometimes fought union organizers, as her top strategist. Wouldn't Iowans have seen a rather stark distinction between the politics of these candidates? And how many of those Edwards voters were as anti-Hillary as a lot of other Americans - or maybe just thought Edwards would be more likely to beat the Republican? What about that little matter of the Iraq vote, and how Edwards had a whole different take than she did on his own change of position?

Of course, this was all before New York's junior senator declared she had "found" her "voice."

Anyway, Wolfson says the Clinton camp knew about the Edwards affair. How? He tells us, it was in reports in the Huffington Post around that time. He also says any rival who tried to throw it at Edwards would have had this backfire. That much is undoubtedly true -- for many reasons.

Saying she wants a "catharsis" for her supporters in Denver, Hillary Clinton speaks here to some of them about what happens at the convention. Plenty to debate and discuss about what message she is sending....Take a look and share your take...

Decades ago in New York, there were bigtime night-club owners who'd bring together celebrities for events that won faithful notice in the social columns of the newspapers. They'd promote celebrities by offering a stage and booking their acts. Last night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his capacity as the well-heeled mayor to turn Gracie Mansion into a political night club where he honored Sen. Hillary Clinton.

She responded in kind with show-biz humor -- teasing Bloomberg about his own political ambitions with an extended one liner that drew laughter from the everybody-who's-anybody audience. As this account records it, for example, she said:

“I was very touched by Mike’s concern for me over these last months, every since the campaign ended, and you know I was really moved that he wanted to talk about the campaign,” Clinton deadpanned. “What happened, how it happened, how you did it, what was the reaction that you got, what was effective and what wasn’t effective, you know, what worked in advertising and in direct mail, and I mean he was so interested in me that I was just transformed.”

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), a possible governor candidate who has never been one of his party's Clinton-o-phobes, was on hand along with Barbara Walters.

Continue reading "Mike Bloomberg, the Toots Shor of NYC politics, lauds Hil" »

After an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said from the outset that Monday night's soiree at Gracie Mansion for Sen. Hilary Clinton would be to welcome her back as a full-time senator -- not to raise money to pay down her enormous campaign debt.

"I did not plan to help Hilary Clinton with her campaign debt. She did not ask me," the mayor said. "I don't plan to do that." But he said Clinton deserves a proper welcome and to be recognized for her tenacity on the campaign trail and her work to help New Yorkers.

Bloomberg said, "Every time I ever called her she returns the call virtually instantly... I just thought it's a nice ways (sic) to welcome her back, cause you know she worked her heart and soul out in a presidential campaign, (it) didn't turn out the way she would've liked, and lots of people would've liked. But now she's back being a full-time senator and I thought its just a nice ways to say thank you to her."

The mayor's thanks won't be in a form of check: "... I have no intention of helping her or anybody else out with their campaign debt," Bloomberg said, adding that he was happy to pick up the tab on the party.

Besides, Bloomberg, who flirted with a 2008 presidential run, said he has his own debt to worry about.

"I spent a lot of money on campaigning," the multibillionaire quipped.

Michael Frazier

Former President Bill Clinton, on his foundation's trip to Liberia, tells ABC News that Sen. Hillary Clinton "has always been a great public servant but she became a great political leader in this campaign..."

He denies he's angry, and with a bit of the trademark finger-wag style, says he was never angry at Sen. Obama, and "I'd be the last person to ever begrudge anybody their ambition...It's a contact sport..." He angrily protested any suggestion that racism had a role in his controversial South Carolina remarks during the primrary fight.

When he was asked about complaints from "supporters" that he brought her down, he challenged the premise, and said: "Go get yourself a map, look where I went and look what the vote was, in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky...not just rural places, cities..."

“I got bad press. Why? Because I told the truth, that there was a different standard applied to the finest candidate I ever supported...”

(Flashback: We won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more...)

Regrets? "Yes," says the former first lady's spouse, "but not the ones you say. It would be counterproductive for me to talk about it." He indicated he'd elaborate in January.

Full video clip is here.

In the end, it would make little sense to push a symbolic roll-call vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in three weeks as some suggested — especially since she’s now due to deliver the keynote address, several of her home-state supporters said last week.

“It would be unnecesary and distasteful,” said one New York Democratic operative. “It would backfire. She’d be seen as dividing the convention. She’s very much been taking the high road on unity.”

A veteran Clinton-campaign aide added Friday: “From what I can tell, the Hillary world is pretty resigned to her not being the vice-presidential candidate. An interesting question, in retrospect: Why would she have made a deal with [Barack] Obama to help relieve her campaign debt if she was going for VP?”

“Now you’ll probably see her be overtly and hyperactively supportive, being the visible good soldier, trying to squash negativity or disunity and make up with the left, the African-American world, and other places she’s got making up to do,” the backer said. “And you’d presume Obama makes it, but if he doesn’t, that might mean she could come back there in the future.”

Some dissent from hard-core Hillary supporters has been voiced, and any demonstration in her favor at the convention site in Denver would draw media attention. Her prime-time speech on day two is expected to paste over the hard-fought differences of the primary fight that divided the presumptive nominee and the runner-up over Iraq, health insurance, and “change.”

“I don’t think it was ever a realistic option to place her name in nomination,” added a Long Islander on the Clinton team. “Ultimately, it was a matter of how she’d repackage the brand.”

(Photo of Hillary among some NY supporters, previously published in Newsday. That's Manhattan Democratic activist Trudy Mason with her at right.)

Dan Janison

Several Clinton-turned-Obama New Yorkers privately express distaste for the prospect of Obama tapping for running-mate Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, whom they consider light on national-security credentials.

Here's Kaine's official bio, which emphasizes business and education.

One pro-Hillary blogger, who we realize is not alone on this subject, argues Democrats need not fear a John McCain presidency. “He’s liberal on campaign finance reform, immigration, climate control, (has) an F minus rating with the Gun Association of America... voted against the Bush tax cuts several times, invoking class warfare...” The full text is here.

Imagine McCain trying that pitch at the GOP convention this summer in Minneapolis.Points sound more like what Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo (photo left) were saying during those debates a few months back. Let's see...Their enemy's enemy is friendly with...Never mind.

Dan Janison

Party unity means never having to say you're sorry - or that you even remember what you might have been sorry about.

John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who ran to the left of Barack Obama in the Democratic primary and landed third, toured a soup kitchen in East Harlem the other day as part of his campaign to address poverty.

He was asked about Senator Obama's recent tacking to the right. Edwards alertly stayed on message for his party's nominee, saying Obama "gave me his word that he will make economic fairness, equality and ending poverty central both to his campaign and to his presidency, and I believe him."

At that moment, Obama was preparing to vote in Washington in favor of controversial legislation expanding the government's surveillance powers as requested by President George W. Bush. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton voted against it. One sharp observer remarked: "Now Hillary Clinton is moving left and becoming Barack Obama, and Barack Obama is moving right and becoming Bill Clinton."

Do some of the leftier Democrats now feel they invested extravagant hopes in Obama? Maybe. Others are so intent on ending the Bush-GOP years that they applaud Obama's transparent tactics, given how toxic the "liberal" label has proved in the swing states.

The mix of complaints and cheers could be heard after Obama spoke up for the Second Amendment when Justice Antonin Scalia led the Supreme Court's voiding of a Washington, D.C., gun ban.

Similar fallout from his base greeted Obama's admonishment of African-American men on Father's Day to be responsible parents - which led to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's anatomically-salted outburst about Obama "talking down to black people."

We heard it when Obama retooled his war stance...

Dan Janison

Continue reading "Unity=Amnesia as Obama moves rightward" »

Upon winning a top political post, you start taking for granted your base — the people who first put you there.

Next, you try to butter up those who come from outside that base, in order to expand your power.

So goes the unwritten rule.

This month, in his first legislative session as governor, David A. Paterson — who in 2006 was representing a Manhattan Senate district — touted a property-tax cap, a measure to help homeowners outside his city.

As the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama clearly is trying something similar with his message to win Hillary Clinton backers.

As state Senate majority leader, lifelong upstater Joseph Bruno last year made a high-profile stand against Gov. Eliot Spitzer to boost Long Island school aid.

Now, Bruno’s successor Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) — who surpassed upstaters Thomas Libous and George Maziarz for the top job — reaches out to the north and west.

With his majority facing a fight for its life in November, Skelos plans to travel this week and next to Buffalo, Rochester, Binghamton, Syracuse and Utica to meet with community groups, editorial boards and others.

John Durso, president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, who counts Skelos as an ally, noted during an interview Friday: “Dean makes sure Long Island gets its fair share. Now he has to worry about the entire state.”

That will mean staying in the majority past December, of course.

Dan Janison

If Sen. Barack Obama is an agent for change, his rivals old and new might want to ask him to spare some.

Today Obama plows ahead with the title of front-runner-flush-with-funds while the vacationing Sen. Hillary Clinton settles into her Democratic Party status as proud-runner-up-in-the-red.
Their financial role reversal from less than a year ago remains a stunning force in the presidential race.

Last week, Clinton e-mailed a poignant and colorful campaign “photo album” to her supporters that includes her key concession quote: “Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.”

This was as much a pitch as a consolation. Below the album a big “Contribute” button links the supporter to the Web site of her campaign, which ended millions of dollars in debt beyond the $11 million in loans from her personal funds. Clinton’s backers tell Newsday that as long as she remains a New York Senator she should have little trouble eventually raising the funds.

All this served as an ironic backdrop last week as Obama decided to blatantly break a public promise he made last November to “aggressively pursue an agreement” with the Republican nominee “to preserve a publicly-financed general election.” Obama, who it turns out vastly out-raised John McCain, clearly calculated that this advantage, derived from donations modest and large, will offset the moral blowback from, among others, a foe who waved the flag of campaign-finance reform long before Obama joined the Senate — even as the GOP didn’t.

Dan Janison

People who run political parties are famously wary of newcomers who show up to take part but not to take orders.

So at least some of Barack Obama’s earliest New York supporters on Friday will carry pride laced with a little suspicion into a Manhattan meeting conducted by the state Democratic committee to plan for the national convention in Denver.

It may have the feel of a shotgun wedding.

Four months ago, on the Super Tuesday supposed to seal her nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton easily won most of the delegates in her home state.

If you had any doubt the party organization pushed for its favorite daughter, remember that many of her campaign’s offices for the primary were lodged inside the headquarters of various local Democratic committees.

“Obama has a lot of community-based groups, like Queens for Obama, Brooklyn for Barack, and those groups aren’t going to disappear,” said Arthur Z. Schwartz, who was elected as an Obama delegate from the city’s 8th Congressional District. “They haven’t yet figured out how they’ll coordinate with the regular Democratic Party ....

Dan Janison

Continue reading "Can NY Dems mesh Obamites with Clintonistas?" »

Sorry Hillary, they’ve got other plans.

The vast majority of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s congressional supporters in New York will be skipping her Saturday drop-out announcement in Washington – citing reasons ranging from town halls back in their districts to campaign obligations to the observation of the Jewish sabbath.

"It’s shabbos, we're not going to be here!" said Queens Rep. Gary Ackerman (left), who baked under the sun during an outdoor Capitol Hill press conference today whose purpose was to give 19 pro-Clinton, no-shows a chance to pay their respects.

Ackerman is Jewish but delegation dean Charles Rangel, who isn’t, added: "It's a Jewish holiday -- enough said."

Ackerman later elaborated: "She scheduled this event late yesterday – we all have complicated schedules and obligations back in our districts to meet with our constituents."

Many delegation members, who planned to leave Washington for New York today, were miffed that Clinton didn’t make her announcement sooner to accommodate their schedules, a person familiar with the situation said.

Three African-American representatives – Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns for Brooklyn and Gregory Meeks from Queens – privately informed Clinton they had endorsed Obama early yesterday. Clinton staffers have cited skepticism from some New York reps as the reason Clinton backed out when she did.

In an unusual move, about 20 of them gathered at party headquarters to announce they were supportive of Clinton’s decision to drop out of the race – without officially backing Obama.

In what may be the longest negative RSVP in recent memory, Rangel announced: "Because we are not going to be in session, because of the difficulty in arranging our legislative and political schedules… we thought it would be in the best interests of showing the unequivocal support of what she’s doing… [by] going to our congressional districts this weekend and working hard for the endorsement of the Democratic nominee of these great United States of America."

Rangel was referring to Obama -- whom he won't formally endorse until Clinton bows out.

Eight other reps, most notably Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn), were no-shows at the no-show presser and plan to attend.

Glenn Thrush

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's second-place finish will leave some distressed New York Democrats reluctant to rally behind Barack Obama - although loyal insiders predict an orderly transfer of support.

"The political community, and political activists, will unite proudly behind Barack Obama" once the moment arrives, said Robert Zimmerman, a Clinton supporter and Democratic national committeeman from Nassau County. He added: "The constituency that is for Clinton will have to be reached out to by Senator Obama and his campaign."

"Do not assume that the constituency that votes for Clinton automatically falls into place," Zimmerman cautioned. "Every nominee has to work hard to appeal to the voters."

They've had time to brace themselves. But for exhausted soldiers and officers in her home-state army - and those momentarily electrified by her declaration in Manhattan, "I'll be making no decision tonight" - the wounds remain too fresh for today's "unity" talk to sound convincing.

Among New York's major party players, the promise of a new Clinton White House had offered the happy side effect of opening up a U.S. Senate seat that would be filled by a Democratic governor. Assuming this appointee would have been vacating another elected office, there would be other opportunities - a chain reaction of vacancies - not to mention the jockeying for juicy federal appointments.

So Clinton's hopeful signal that she's open to an offer of the vice-presidential slot drew welcomes from some of those looking to move up.

Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington), a leading Long Islander for Clinton, said following her conference call with supporters: "I have long believed that having Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the same ticket would ... guarantee the election for the Democrats."

She would help make John McCain "very, very queasy" and bolster the ticket's national security credentials, Israel contended.

Pollsters seem to agree that with or without Clinton, New York State should be winning terrain for Obama in November. But "purple" parts of the state like Suffolk could become McCain country. A Clinton team member on hand at her end-of-primary gathering in Manhattan last night, who declined to be identified, specifically foresaw difficulties for Obama "in Suffolk, Staten Island, parts of upstate."

Pennsylvania and New Jersey could be in play,,,

Dan Janison

Continue reading "NY's Clintonites: Unready to sing a 'unity' chorus" »