« on: January 26, 2010, 11:54:10 AM »
Hey, neighbor(s) in New York--lookie here!
The Next Martha Coakley?
by Steve Kornacki
The shocking GOP upset in Massachusetts has put Democrats on notice: Lackluster candidates are vulnerable, even in the bluest states. Steve Kornacki on Kirsten Gillibrand’s weaknesses.
When a Democratic Senate candidate loses in Ted Kennedy’s backyard, it’s cause for alarm for every Democrat up for reelection—especially those who thought they were insulated by the Democratic bent of their home state. Case in point: Kirsten Gillibrand.
To date, Gillibrand’s political career has been the definition of a charmed ascent, typified first by her campaign for the House in a can’t-miss year for Democrats (2006) against a Republican opponent who had to answer 11th-hour charges of spousal abuse, and then by her gubernatorial appointment to the U.S. Senate two years later.
And the breaks kept coming after she joined the Senate, as one ambitious New York Democrat after another took a pass on challenging her in the 2010 primary—from Steve Israel to Jerry Nadler to the two Carolyns (McCarthy of Long Island and Maloney of the Upper East Side) and even Bill Thompson, all of them cowed by Gillibrand’s deep pockets and some old-fashioned strong-arming from Chuck Schumer and the Obama White House.
Sure, there was the emergence of Harold Ford this month. The former congressman and Senate candidate from Tennessee, though little-known to New Yorkers, has become a useful vehicle for the considerable number of liberal bundlers and party regulars—to say nothing of the bored New York press corps—who have been disappointed by what Gillibrand has been able to offer so far, and who have expressed interest in backing Ford.
Ford, a far more natural and nimble politician than Gillibrand, has delighted in portraying the incumbent as a hothouse flower who owes her survival to the intercession of party bosses. His Blue Dog track record, coziness with Wall Street, and tone-deaf boasts of a pampered Manhattan lifestyle all do serious violence to his plausibility. But Ford’s taken a leave of absence from his day job, and has begun blasting Gillibrand in a series of op-eds—a drumbeat of criticism that can only weaken her position, even if it doesn’t help elect Ford.
This is gonna be
good!The best part of this is that Chuckie Schumer (the "puppeteer," according to a lot of people) is vulnerable, too . . .
The rest of the article, which I found on
Real Clear Politics, is at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-25/the-next-martha-coakley/?cid=hp:mainpromo5
Logged
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
"All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it - walk!" -Ayn Rand
"Those that trust God with their safety must yet use proper means for their safety, otherwise they tempt Him, and do not trust Him. God will provide, but so must we also." - Matthew Henry, Commentary on 2 Chronicles 32, from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
"These anti-gun fools are more dangerous to liberty than street criminals or foreign spies."--Theodore Haas, Dachau Survivor
Chase her.
Chase her even when she's yours.
That's the only way you'll be assured to never lose her.
