By Hunter Walker 6/27/12 1:52am

Ideological Differences

Wendy Long

NY Dems Label GOP Senate Nominee Wendy Long A ‘Far Right’ Extremist

Shortly after Wendy Long emerged victorious in New York’s three-way Republican Senate primary, the New York State Democratic Party sent out a press release entitled “Who Is Wendy Long?” showcasing the “Top 10 Things The Republican Party Hopes You Don’t Know About Their Extreme Candidate For U.S. Senate.” The statement described Ms. Long as wanting to end “Medicare as we know it,” “beholden to the D.C. lobbyist Grover Norquist’s tax pledge,” proud of “her association with the racist, anti-semitic homophobic Dartmouth Review,” a leading opponent of “America’s first Latina justice to sit on the Supreme Court” Sonia Sotomayor, “anti-choice,” an opponent of same-sex marriage and an enemy to consumers, among other things. Read More

By Colin Campbell 6/18/12 10:06am

don't send her the invite

The three candidates last night.

Wendy Long Would Refuse to Attend A Gay Wedding

The three candidates seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand debated last night and several interesting moments came up when discussing the same sex marriage New York enacted last year.

Notably, when one of the candidates, Wendy Long, faced a question as to whether she would, on principle, refuse to attend a same-sex wedding, she answered with a firm “yes.”

The line of questioning appeared to move on before George Maragos could answer the question, but for his part, Bob Turner said, “I would not refuse, no.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 6/12/12 10:11am

rolling with rudy

(Photo: Getty)

Bob Turner Advertises With Giuliani

Congressman Bob Turner certainly isn’t done showcasing his endorsement from former Mayor Rudy Giulaini as he seeks the Republican nomination to battle Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the fall.

“Bob Turner is a businessman and a patriotic New Yorker,” Mr. Giuliani declared in a radio ad released by Mr. Turner’s campaign this morning. “He’s fed up with what’s going on in Washington. And he’s running to help get our economy moving again. Bob Turner knows how to create jobs. He’s been creating them all his life.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 6/11/12 10:15am

attacks

(Photo: Wikimedia)

Wendy Long Sneaks in Dig at ‘Jerry Springer Culture’

Attorney Wendy Long, campaigning for the Republican nomination to take on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, blasted City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott for backing a switch up of the songs at a kindergarten graduation, and in doing so, slipped in an attack on one of her rivals, Rep. Bob Turner. Mr. Turner helped create the Jerry Springer Show and Ms. Long blasted the replacement of “God Bless the USA” for Justin Bieber’s “Baby Love” as “replacing civic education with Jerry Springer-like popular culture.”

“It seems that the New York City Schools Chancellor approves of replacing civic education with Jerry Springer-like popular culture,” Ms. Long declared in the statement. “This is a big problem in a country whose survival depends upon the success of self-government, of citizens who love this country and understand and defend it.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 6/06/12 10:04am

Endorsements

Steve Forbes (Photo: Wikimedia)

Forbes for Long

This morning, Wendy Long continued to roll out endorsements in her campaign for the Republican nomination to take on Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. First it was Grover Norquist, and now she added Steve Forbes to the list.

“Wendy would also support a stable dollar that doesn’t swing wildly against gold,” Mr. Forbes said in a somewhat wonky statement. “The last decade of dollar gyrations contributed to the bubbles of recent years and to our continued economic weakness. Wendy will push for a return to sound money and exchange rate stability.” Read More

By Colin Campbell 5/16/12 8:26am

spiels

Bob Turner (Photo: Getty)

Bob Turner and Hakeem Jeffries: On The Hunt for Orthodox Votes

The Wednesday edition of the Orthodox newspaper Hamodia is the most circulated, and two federal candidates of opposing political persuasion took advantage of that fact today to make their pitches for why Jewish voters should prefer them.

Republican Senate hopeful Congressman Bob Turner even made the front page. Featured was his appearance at  a fundraiser in Midwood, a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood that helped carry him to an upset win in a special election last year. However, his quoted messaging was largely broad criticisms of the Democratic incumbent, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, without a local angle on her flaws. Read More

By David Freedlander 5/14/12 2:18pm

negative campaigning

Protestors Gather Outside UN As Ahmadinejad Addresses Nuclear Conf.

GOP Attacks Gillibrand As All Talk, And Silent

A Siena poll out this morning had some good news /bad news for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The first-term senator led her three possible Republican opponents by 34 points even as her favorability ratings dipped below 50 percent again.  Seventy-to-eighty percent of Republicans had now opinion of either Wendy Long, Bob Turner or George Maragos, while 54 percent of respondents think she should be re-elected, four points off her highest marks. Read More

By Hunter Walker 5/14/12 9:00am

Survey Says

(Photo: Wikimedia)

New Poll Shows Cuomo’s Approval Rating Taking a Slight Hit

A new Siena Research Institute poll of voters in New York State shows that, while still high, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s favorability ratings are at their lowest since he took office in 2011. The poll also showed President Barack Obama up 20 points over Mitt Romney in the Empire State, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand way ahead of her three potential opponents, displeasure with Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party, strong support for raising the minimum wage and high favorability ratings for the Legislature.  Read More

By David Freedlander 5/09/12 3:49pm

Love and Marriage

Kirsten+Gillibrand+Obama+Attends+Wreath+Laying+4us3BUIDdJGl

Gillibrand’s Crystal Ball: Predicted Obama’s Marriage Turnaround Last Year

In wake of President Obama’s announcement that he now supports same-sex marriage, a reader reminded us that it was almost a year ago to the day that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand predicted such an event would come to pass prior to the 2012 election.

In an interview with the gay newspaper The Advocate, the junior senator was asked directly if she thinks Mr. Obama will  come out in support of marriage equality.

“Yes,” she said.

Before the 2012 election, the newspaper asked?

“Definitely,” the junior senator responded: Read More

By David Freedlander 5/09/12 6:28am

The Future Is Now

Drawing by Fred Harper

Are We There Yet? Will The 2012 Campaign Get Pushed Aside For The One In Four Years?

Not long ago, the political and media cognoscenti maintained a strict code of conduct: never—except in the privacy of a late night bar stool, after all the recorders have been turned off and the stories filed—should the next presidential election be speculated upon before the current one concludes. Eventually, after the last of the ballots were counted, some poor pundit would find himself on cable news, and with the newly completed campaign season no longer able to stomach more blather, he would gamely look ahead to the campaign four years hence.

And the world, it seemed would emit a loud groan. Too soon! We are politics-sick! No more horse-race frivolity!

Not so in 2012. Read More