Left Behinds: Interesting.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Interesting.

Bill de Blasio is considering challenging Vito Fossella for the 13th District Congressional seat, which includes Staten Island, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, and Gravesend. In other words, the whitest parts of white ethnic New York City.

If he does this, he's have some pretty formidable weight behind him (he managed Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign). He'd also face the relatively minor problem that he doesn't actually live in the district, but a few miles up-swank in Park Slope (my neighborhood). Plus white ethnic New Yorkers have a definite history of racism, and while de Blasio himself is white as they come, his wife isn't, and with Staten Island, you never know.

Vito Fossella is a very conservative Republican for someone representing a New York City district. He has a pretty rotten environmental record, an 86% on the National Right to Life Committee Scorecard, and a lifetime score of 5% from the ACLU. I'd love to get a serious shot at him, and this sounds like it could be just that.

More on Bill de Blasio from the Swing State Project. For the future, here's a smart local blogger covering the district.

Solomon, you said you were weighing where to spend your time and energy this election season. This looks to me like a better bet than Ned Lamont. If de Blasio does get in the race, I'll certainly make a donation.

Tags: New York politics, Bill de Blasio, NY-13, Vito Fossella

5 Comments:

At 9:16 AM, Solomon Grundy said…

To most Staten Islanders, the NY Democrats are seen as the party of the NY Times reading Upper West Side, Al Sharpton, and ACTUP.

Heh, so they're scared of Jews, blacks, and gays. Probably not a race for me to get involved with, especially since I support the secession of Staten Island.

I didn't know DeBlasio had a black wife. Bad for a race in racist SI, but it would play very well in a city-wide election. Certainly better than Quinn's lesbian partner.

Over on that site, someone who seems to know what they're talking about says

I think we have a much better shot at Boehlert's seat (NY-24) than Fossella's and that is where I am planning to spend my money and effort.
At 9:24 AM, Solomon Grundy said…

Have you ever been to Bay Ridge (in the Brooklyn part of the 13th district)? It's kind of interesting, because everybody seems to have walked off the set of the Sopranos, but half the guys are gay. Seriously. A construction worker Bay Ridger I dated calls it Gay Ridge. He used to love going to that disco from Saturday Night Fever with all his androphile buddies.
At 9:28 AM, Solomon Grundy said…

For instance. (just the sleazy part of the Gay Ridge scene, but a fairly good proxy for how gay a neighborhood is -- all of Staten Island only has half as many sleazy ads)
At 1:18 PM, Antid Oto said…

It would probably be better if there were a well-funded Democrat from Staten Island, but that's not going to happen. And check out this analysis from a few months ago on how much better a decently funded challenger (still outspent 3:1) did in the district than the usual. And if de Blasio has anything going for him, it's money. It's a fluid district to some extent too--it went for Gore in 2000, Bush in 2004, in neither case by big margins.

I agree that Boehlert's open seat is probably a better shot, not just because open seats are easier anyway but because the Republicans look set to run someone much more conservative to succeed him. But though this is a longer shot, I think it's worth contesting hard. It's also a hell of a lot closer than Syracuse.

Otherwise, I can't remember where I saw this, but Fossella could end up running for Mayor in 2009. And yuck.
At 1:35 PM, Solomon Grundy said…

I assumed that's what they were talking about on that site when they said Fossella wanted to save up his money for a couple years from now. There is no way he would win the Mayoral race. Come on, Bloomberg only gets away with being nominally a Republican because he's a RINO. In a way, a rightwingnut running could allow room for a more progressive Democratic nominee.

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Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Interesting.

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