Call her the candidate who cried “wolf”. After months of publicly toying with a bid, Carolyn Maloney won’t challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in the Democratic primary after all, according to the New York Times:
Representative Carolyn B. Maloney is expected to announce today that she has changed her mind and will not enter the primary race against Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York’s newly appointed senator.
A person close to Mrs. Maloney, a Democrat from Manhattan, said she made her decision not to run after days of agonizing over the fact that running meant she would have to leave her current job at a point when she had significant seniority in Congress.
Maloney aborting her run clears the last major hurdle for Gillibrand before she clinches the Democratic nomination next year — and also removes a messy, resource-draining fracas from the long list of issues that Democrats will have to grapple with in 2010.
Good deal.
UPDATE: TAP has the full text of Maloney’s statement.
RaceTracker Wiki: NY-Sen-B
She hasn’t been the Blue Dog she was in the House.
I hope King challenges Gillibrand. King would get crushed in the general, and the dems could hopefully get his house seat. In addition to the 2010 special election, Gillibrand has to run again in 2012 to get elected to another 6 year term.
I had hoped she would have withstood the pressure and threats from Washington, Albany and Long Island, but I guess it was too much for her, or else she was bought off in some way. One of the few times I can recall a candidate leading, albeit marginally, dropped out. I’m sure there’s more to the story than meets the eye.
I hope progressive New Yorkers now rally behind Jonathan Tasini’s grassroots campaign. It’s a long shot, but every vote he gets is a vote against blue dogism.
She wouldn’t have won, and this way the House doesn’t lose her very qualified presence.
is she walking out unbowed?
As a result (of Maloney bowing out), CQ Politics changed its rating on the race from “Leans Democratic” to the less competitive “Democrat Favored.” (h/t Political Wire).
1. Jon Tassini is running in the primary against KG. What percentage of the vote will he get? I am looking forward to the guesses in these pages.
2. A Maloney associate told the NYT anonymously “It was a tough decision for her.” I would never have guessed!
3. Maloney had the strong (editorial page) support from the Murdoch tabloid The New York Post to run. Maloney supporters were silent on this.
4. Chuck Schumer engineered Maloney’s exit. He endorsed Steve Levin, chief of staff to Assemblyman Vito Lopez, for City Council. Lopez was one of the few influential politicians Maloney was counting on. Schumer pre-empted her.
Gillibrand is essentially home free.
As a NYer I really like Gillibrand and I am glad Maloney dropped out.
To me, that’s the only down side. I was looking forward to the possibility of a smarter, more liberal member of Congress from Maloney’s district. She made the right call, though. Is she going to endorse Gillibrand against Republican opposition now?
Will she run now? She wasnt running because Maloney was. She said she would step aside for a younger challenger, and now, there is none
If Cuomo runs from governor, than him along with Schumer and Gillibrand will all have landslide re-election wins. This would help protect all the vulnerable democratic house seats in upstate new york. Maybe it would even be enough to get rid of any republican house seats left.
and don’t trust Gillibrand further than I could throw her (though if she actually forces the issue of DADT to come instead of just getting her face plastered all over The Daily Beast once a week with promises, I’ll reassess my position).
That being said, Maloney was blowing this. I don’t think she was the favorite to win and I don’t think she was putting enough distance between herself and Gillibrand on the issues. I would have had to have one of my favorite Rep’s careers go up in smoke.