This is a truly astonishing race — one that has proved extraordinary in its ability to keep getting weirder by the week. The latest curveball:
Don’t count out disgraced Rep. Vito Fossella just yet.
Four months after a DWI arrest and revelations about an out-of-wedlock child forced him to forgo a run for reelection this fall, the shamefaced Staten Island Republican is looking for a way back on the ballot.
“It’s absolutely true,” a source close to Fossella said of rumors that Fossella and his allies are quietly plotting his comeback.
Voters in the 13th Congressional District got polling calls about Fossella this weekend, the Staten Island Advance reported Sunday.
The only problem for Vino Vito? The ballot is already set. Just like Jon Powers on the Working Families Party line in NY-26, Robert Straniere, Paul Atanasio, and Carmine Morano have the Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines locked. As the NY Daily News writes, the only way to pull a switcheroo would be for one of these candidates to get nominated to run for a judgeship (or move out of state or pull a Frank Powers). The Straniere campaign says “no way”, and I’m inclined to believe them. After being tarred and feathered by the Staten Island GOP establishment repeatedly, does the hot dog king of Manhattan strike you as being a team player? Didn’t think so.
(H/T: Jeremiah the Messiah)
UPDATE: Fossella says that he’s “not a candidate“, but The Hill calls this an “ambiguous denial”.
SSP currently rates this race as Likely Democratic.
they need to turn this into an episode of law and order.
Even if Fossella got on the ballot, would it matter much at this point? Seems to me that this seat would remain Democratic-favored regardless.
Give the guy a break. Did anyone consider that maybe he might just be drunk again?