Note: This digest was written entirely by DavidNYC.
Tag: NY-13
SSP Daily Digest: 5/28 (Morning Edition)
Steve Womack (R): 53
Cecile Bledsoe (R): 24
Undecided: 23
(MoE: ±4.9%)
NY-13: Vito Vetoes a Comeback
Vito Fossella, who’s set to hold a news conference outside his office at 1:30 p.m., has started dialing top state Republicans in New York to tell them he’s not going to accept the GOP nomination for his old NY-13 seat, according to sources familiar with the calls.
I guess his families weren’t thrilled with the idea.
UPDATE: Some more detail, from his presser:
In an announcement outside his Manhattan office, the Republican said he decided against taking another shot at Washington after weighing his options.
“I’m where I need to be, where I want to be” Fossella said, adding that he’s “honored and humbled” that he was endorsed by Republican officials.”As a result… I will not seek election to congress this year.”
Fossella, in a surprise decision, was endorsed last Thursday by the Staten Island GOP executive committee to run a primary in September. He said he did not request the endorsement and said he doesn’t know if he’ll support any of the other candidates in the race.
It looks like we won’t have NY-13 to kick around anymore as the nation’s craziest race. Oh well.
SSP Daily Digest: 5/21 (Morning Edition)
Meanwhile, Michael Allegretti, one of two candidates (not including Vito Fossella) seeking the GOP nomination to take on Rep. Mike McMahon, says he plans on staying in the race regardless of what Vito does. There had been some chatter that local Republicans wanted him to run for the state Assembly instead, but that would be a pretty sucky alternative, to say the least.
NY-13: Staten Island Republicans Nominate Vito Fossella to Challenge McMahon
What on earth is going on here?
I just confirmed with a source who was at tonight’s executive committee meeting of the Staten Island GOP that both Michael Allegretti and Michael Grimm were turned down for the nomination for ex-Rep. Vito Fossella’s old seat (now held by Democratic Rep. Michael McMahon) in favor of… Vito Fossella.
The ex-rep was not present at the meeting, but his name was put up by Chairman John Friscia, the source told me. …
Both Allegretti and Grimm went through the interview process before Fossella was nominated in absentia, the source said: “There was no explanation. Everybody walked out with their mouths, like, hung open. [Fossella] didn’t ask for our endorsement or our support. John Friscia did.”
Fossella has, in the past, said that he has no plans to run again this cycle, but at the same time, we haven’t heard anything definitive out of him… and we have heard persistent whispers that he’s trying to find some way to plan a comeback. If there was any doubt, it now looks like Fossella is trying to muscle Allegretti and Grimm out of the field. I don’t know what’s more surprising: the fact that Fossella is apparently pulling the trigger on a comeback so soon, or the fact that the Staten Island GOP is so eager to lend him an assist.
For his part, ex-Rep. and ex-Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari is fuming mad:
“I’m deeply troubled. I think the status of the Republican Party on Staten Island has reached a new low tonight. Fossella has been playing his usual game at the expense of two other candidates, Michael Grimm and Michael Allegretti,” Molinari said.
“I have a difficult time that Fossella would put his own personal ambitions above his family. His family has been through enough and I couldn’t believe that he would be willing to put them through all of that once again. If Fossella were to win, the investigation that was dropped when he (chose not to run for reelection) would be reopened. I am told that there are other matters that would be brought to the surface if he were to win again.”
Asked if he believed Fossella had any knowledge of the Executive Committee’s plans, Molinari said bluntly: “There’s no way this would have been done tonight without his knowing it.”
Added Molinari: We have a fine candidate in Michael Grimm. I welcome a primary with Fossella…It’s going to be ugly, it’s going to be nasty, but he has to know that would come out in the course of a campaign…Everything he has done will be brought to light by me in this campaign.”
Wow. Let the games begin.
(Hat-tip: GOPVoter)
SSP Daily Digest: 5/17 (Afternoon Edition)
• AR-Sen: The White House hasn’t given up on trying to put Blanche Lincoln over the top tomorrow; they’re out with a new Barack Obama robocall on her behalf, saying she’s “standing on the side of workers.” Greg Sargent’s head is busy exploding from all the logical disconnect, since Lincoln’s main argument is that Bill Halter’s union support is an indication of how he’s a tool of Beltway liberals.
• AZ-Sen: I know, I know, people pick up and move on from jobs all the time, and you shouldn’t read too much into it. But when your campaign manager and deputy campaign manager depart on the same day, in the middle of a dogfight against an insurgent primary opponent, it’s going to always send up red flags. John McCain’s camp maintains they weren’t fired but are moving over to the national GOP’s fundraising operations.
• CA-Sen: This isn’t a good time for Tom Campbell to be cutting back on advertising, with the June 8 GOP primary fast approaching and Carly Fiorina still within striking distance and pitching in a few million dollars of her own. He’s cutting back on TV ad buys for the campaign’s final two weeks (although certainly not going dark) and will be focusing on direct mail instead. This could mean he’s running low on money, feeling confident enough in the primary to start marshaling general election resources… or both.
• IL-Sen: I don’t know if it’s much of a sign of strength to release an internal poll that shows you tied, but it seems like the Alexi Giannoulias camp is eager to push back on the meme that he’s somehow been fatally wounded by the Broadway Bank saga. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds Giannoulias and Mark Kirk tied at 44-44. For comparison purposes, they also let it be known that their previous (unreleased) poll, immediately after the Feds’ seizure of the bank in late April, had Giannoulias in much worse shape, down 43-37, so it’s possible the worst of the damage has passed as the story slips down the memory hole.
• KY-Sen: Wow, turns out not only Democrats get to whine about Fox News’ selective treatment of the news. Trey Grayson is getting in on the act, griping about Rand Paul’s constant presence on the network and the softball questions he gets thrown. That’d be fine if he were, y’know, not trying to win the GOP primary, where questioning the almighty Fox is an act of heresy. (Ironically, at the same time Grayson was having his press conference to level the charges, Rand Paul was busy appearing on Fox.)
• CA-Gov: In the Fix endorsement hierarchy, this probably slots in as “12) The “Oh shit, do I have to accept this endorsement?” Endorsement.” Meg Whitman just got Dick Cheney’s endorsement, fittingly in an op-ed in the Orange County Register. Meanwhile, a new poll from M4 Strategies (on behalf of the Small Business Action Committee) finds Whitman in better shape than the last few polls have: they say she leads Steve Poizner 49-32.
• CT-Gov: Yet another pre-convention dropout, as the minor candidates jump out of the way. This time it was on the Republican side, as Danbury mayor Mark Boughton plans to pull the plug on his campaign and sign on as Lt. Governor Michael Fedele’s running mate.
• NM-Gov: The Albuquerque Journal polled the Republican gubernatorial primary, which, like many other primaries, has moved into “fast-approaching” territory (on June 1). They find a two-way duel at the top, between former state party chair Allen Weh and Dona Ana County DA Susana Martinez. Weh leads 31-30, while Pete Domenici Jr. has discovered that you’ve gotta have something more than name rec as a reason to run; he’s lagging at 10. Martinez was also the latest female politician to get the endorsement of Sarah Palin this week, so we’ll have to see if that gives her some momentum to break away.
• NV-Gov: Mason-Dixon, for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, also looked at the Republican gubernatorial primary in their most recent poll. (Recall they released the surprising results of Sue Lowden 30, Sharron Angle 25, Danny Tarkanian 22, John Chachas 3, and Chad Christensen 2 in the Senate primary last week.) They find, to no one’s surprise, that Jim Gibbons’ time is about done. Brian Sandoval leads the incumbent Gibbons, 45-27, with Mike Montandon clocking in at 6.
• OR-Gov: One more Republican gubernatorial primary, and this one actually is a surprise: while most pollsters (especially SurveyUSA) have given Chris Dudley a significant edge in Oregon, Eugene-based Lindholm says that Allen Alley is narrowly in the lead. Alley is ahead of Dudley 29-26, John Lim is at 10, and Bill Sizemore is at 4. One caveat: I’ve never heard of Lindholm before today, although they do maintain they aren’t working for any of the candidates in the race. At any rate, maybe there’s some potential for a surprise tomorrow.
• NY-13: Here’s some interesting cat fud in the primary in the 13th, where GOP state Sen. Andrew Lanza was seen going after GOP candidate Michael Grimm over campaigning at a Memorial Day event. Lanza had been associated with running for the seat himself, and says he’ll back ex-Rep. Vito Fossella in case the odd rumors about a comeback come true.
• NY-24: After refusing to commit to his re-election bid back in April after getting pressed from all sides on his HCR conduct, Dem Rep. Mike Arcuri announced today that he will indeed be seeking a third term. (J)
• OR-05: After some earlier suspicions that moderate state Rep. Scott Bruun, the NRCC’s preferred recruit, might not even get past teabagging businessman Fred Thompson (no, not the Fred Thompson), SurveyUSA polled the GOP primary and found that Bruun is very likely to prevail. Bruun leads Thompson 46-25, including 52-30 among the “already voted.”
• WV-01: Political scientist Boris Shor has attracted some good notices, at 538 and similar places, for his work on extrapolating DW-Nominate-type scores into the state legislatures. Looking at Mike Oliverio’s votes in the West Virginia state Senate (where he’s about as conservative as the average WV Senate Republican), Shor projects Oliverio as the most conservative Democratic member of the House, more so than even Walt Minnick.
• CfG: Speaking of Walt Minnick, he was one of only three Democrats to get the seal of good housekeeping from the Club for Growth. Minnick, Gene Taylor, and Bobby Bright all managed to break 50% on the CfG’s scoring system; in fact, Bright got up to 64% positive.
• Polltopia: PPP wants your input on where to poll next: California, Iowa, Michigan, South Carolina, or Washington? PPP’s Tom Jensen is also teasing that another NRSC-backed candidate is in some trouble, in a poll to be released tomorrow. Don’t leave us hanging, Tom!
SSP Daily Digest: 5/11 (Morning Edition)
SSP Daily Digest: 5/4 (Morning Edition)
An all-House digest today – and it’s an hour earlier than usual! Remember, today is primary day in IN, NC & OH, so be sure to check out SSP’s handy election guide.
Frank Kratovil (D-inc): 36
Andy Harris (R): 39
Richard Davis (L): 6
Other: 1
Undecided: 18
(MoE: ±4.9%)
Two things about this poll: First off, in contravention of appropriate practice, POS asked all kinds of axe-grindy issue questions (“Gov. O’Malley raised taxes by $1.3 billion”) before getting to the horserace question. This does damage to POS’s reputation as a supposedly respectable pollster. Secondly, the weird thing is that Harris switched pollsters – and his last survey, from the Tarrance Group back in November, had him up by a whopping 52-39. While it’s not a proper trendline, you gotta wonder – is Harris slipping? Or is he getting snowed by his various pollsters? (Update: D’oh! Our mistake — this poll was not done for Harris, but actually the right-wing consortium of douches known as the Americans for Prosperity.)
Meanwhile, we missed a Welday internal poll from a couple of weeks ago (taken by Mitchell Research & Communications), which had Peters leading by just 44-43. The poll sampled just 300 LVs, though, and according to the Hotline, was in the field at two discontiguous times. Peters’ camp attacked the poll’s sample composition, but Steve Mitchell says he used the same methodology as he did in September of 2008, when (according to the article), ” he declared Peters was going to defeat Joe Knollenberg.” Is this hindsight proving to be 20/20? Mitchell’s poll from back then had the race tied.
Mike McMahon (D-inc): 56
Mike Allegretti (R): 24
Undecided: 20Mike McMahon (D-inc): 56
Mike Grimm (R): 23
Undecided: 21
(MoE: ±4.9%)
Mark Critz (D): 43
Tim Burns (R): 41
(MoE: ±4.9%)
Kirkland, of Jackson, referred to his Army training during the Vietnam War and said: “I can tell you if there were any homosexuals in that group, they were taken care of in ways I can’t describe to you.”
Smith, a chef from Mercer who served in the Navy during the Gulf War, said: “I definitely wouldn’t want to share a shower with a homosexual. We took care of that kind of stuff, just like (Kirkland) said.”
These sick bastards have serious issues.