Tag: NY-Sen

Marist

611 Registered Voters

MoE +/- 4%

Gillibrand (D-Inc.) 49%

King (R) 24%

The poll was taken on January 26th, 2009

http://www.maristpoll.marist.e…

Gillibrand looks set for re-election.  King will need to think he has a hell of a case to  make to New York voters if he is going to put himself out there and run.  

Buchanan met with National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman John Cornyn yesterday to discuss a potential Senate campaign, and was escorted by the retiring Sen. Mel Martinez.  

Buchanan’s biggest asset is his personal wealth: When he first ran for the House in 2006, he spent $5.45 million of his own money into the race.  He would be able to, at least partially, self-finance a Senate campaign.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/…

With people expecting Rubio and Mack to run, this could throw a wrench in the mix.  It could open up some hot territory for Democrats, seeing as FL-13 is only R+4, if third parties don’t plague our chances.    

From PPP

When it comes to whether they would prefer to see Kennedy or Andrew Cuomo

appointed, 58% now prefer Cuomo to 27% for Kennedy.  Cuomo is favored by 65% of

Republicans, 59% of independents, and 54% of Democrats.  A PPP survey conducted a

month ago showed Cuomo as the top choice for just 23% of Democrats, compared to

44% who wanted Kennedy.

“When Caroline Kennedy was first mentioned as a possible Senate appointee there was a

lot of enthusiasm among New York Democrats about her,” said Dean Debnam, President

of Public Policy Polling.  “Her reputation has taken a pretty clear hit over the last month,

and if Governor Paterson does end up appointing her she’s going to have some work to

do to overcome this bad first impression she’s made on New York voters.”

57% of New Yorkers view Andrew Cuomo favorably with just 20% having an

unfavorable opinion of him.  For Kennedy the numbers are 44% favorable and 40%

unfavorable.

PPP surveyed 700 New York voters on January 3rd and 4th.  The survey’s margin of error

is +/-3.7%.  Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce

additional error that is more difficult to quantify.  

http://www.publicpolicypolling…

EDIT:

New York State voters have cooled on Caroline Kennedy and more voters now prefer State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo 31 – 24 percent for Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate seat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney gets 6 percent, with 5 percent for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, 2 percent for U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, 18 percent for someone else and 14 percent undecided.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x128…

The most striking thing in this poll to me is the lowering of Kennedy’s favorable from a previous poll, and the rapid increase in Cuomo’s favorables and choice of New Yorkers’ of him as the next Senator.

Doesn’t this mean that Patterson should move quickly to appoint, given that he has interviewed about 15 people and because the public is so far in one person’s corner.  

EDIT: Also look at the q poll which shows a smaller margin.

Or is Cuomo not the right person?

So Caroline Kennedy (or rather her spokesperson) sent over written answers today to some 15 questions posed by the eb. It’s the first time we’re getting a real feel of her specific political views. The answers are IMO overall mixed leaning positive.

Here are some that stand out:

Q. Does she support state or federal legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage?

A. Caroline supports full equality and marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

EXCELLENT. So she starts off to the left of most of the Dem caucus on this one.

Q. Has the North American Free Trade Agreement worked?

A. Caroline believes that Nafta has had unintended, negative consequences in some regions of New York, and that is why she agrees with President-elect Obama that we need to take a careful look at the agreement and pay particular attention to its impact on jobs and wages in American manufacturing communities. She also believes that we must ensure that American communities and workers benefit as we craft new trade agreements.

Eh. She could have made her opposition to NAFTA stronger but ‘protectionist’ is now seen as a dirty word even in Dem circles.

Q. Do you support any federal or state restrictions on gun ownership? If so, which ones?

A. Caroline Kennedy is a strong supporter of gun control. She supports New York City’s and New York State’s gun control laws. On the federal level, she support the Brady Law, and other measures to keep guns out of the hands of minors and criminals.

Oh yes, I’m sure this will endear her to upstaters she so desperately wants to win over. throws up

Q. Do you believe that an undivided Jerusalem must be the national capital of the State of Israel?

A. Yes, Caroline believes that an undivided Jerusalem must be the national capital of the State of Israel.

Pander pander.

Q. Do you support the federal Employee Free Choice Act, otherwise known as the “card-check” bill?

A. Yes, Caroline supports the federal Employee Free Choice Act.

Ah finally! Something good.

Rest of the questions at the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12…

Support for mayoral authority of public schools is probably a consequence of being besties with Bloomberg. She also gives a big fat no to vouchers for private schools. Take that Lieberman!

Up until this point this story has involved a lot of speculation and not a whole lot of real facts.

It now appears that she is indeed interested in the Senate seat and is taking all of the steps that someone who was seeking a seat like this would take, including reaching out to political figures in New York.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12…

Like I’ve said before, with her now seeking the seat, I think its going to be difficult for Gov. Patterson to appoint someone like Suozzi or Gillibrand, people whose name ID outside of their constituencies is virtually nil.

I’m SHOCKED, SHOCKED that this story which has spread like wildfire the past few hours has yet to be discussed on the site.

For those who haven’t heard, and according to Countdown Gov. Patterson just confirmed it, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK, has spoken to Gov. Patterson about being Hillary Clinton’s replacement.

I feel like with someone like her in the mix a lot of the things we said Patterson would look for like geography, race, gender kind of become secondary.

Not to necessarily take a position on this, but I just feel like it would be difficult for Patterson to choose someone like Brian Higgins or Tom Suozzo over Caroline Kennedy.

The AP:

Sen. Charles Schumer said Monday he is giving up his job running the Senate Democrats’ national campaign efforts after two successful elections.

“We’ve had a great run,” said Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee since the 2006 campaign, when he helped engineer a 6-seat gain that gave his party a slim 1-vote majority margin.

Chuck had one hell of a run, and it’s a shame to see him go. It looks like New Jersey’s Bob Menendez, a current DSCC vice-chair, will likely take over the reins. Let’s hope he can make some inspired recruiting moves like Chuck was able to do on more than one occasion.