Politics on the Hudson blog
WASHINGTON — Freshman Rep. Bob Turner of Queens made an 11th-hour entry Tuesday into the field of candidates seeking the Republican Party’s endorsement to run for U.S. Senate against Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. He beat David Weprin because of Obama's misinformed statement of Israel going back to the pre-1967 six-day War Auschwitz lines. Now they have realigned him out of his district and he thinks he can beat a machine politian like Gillibrand. He will get CREAMED!!!!
Turner’s entry as the fourth party hopeful came only three days before the New York GOP plans to select its preferred Senate candidate at a convention in Rochester.
Until Tuesday, Turner had planned on seeking re-election to Congress and was getting political and media advice from NLO Strategies, the same Manhattan firm that represents another Senate candidate, Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin.
NLO Strategies continues to represent both candidates, but Turner’s spokeswoman there, Jessica Proud, said Carvin was re-evaluating his candidacy in light of Turner’s entry into the race.
“The dynamic of the race has changed now,’’ she said.
Westchester County GOP Chairman Doug Colety said he’s committed to backing Carvin.
“As far as I’m concerned, he’s still in the race,’’ Colety said Tuesday afternoon.
He acknowledged that Turner’s candidacy has caused some Republican officials around the state to reconsider whom they’re backing.
The other two Republicans in the race, Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos and attorney Wendy Long, said they would continue their campaigns.
Maragos and Long were in Albany Tuesday to make a pitch for their candidacies with Republican state lawmakers, crossing paths at one point in a hallway.
“I am definitely staying in the race and I am undeterred,’’ Long said in a telephone interview.
Although Long is the only candidate who does not hold public office, she has the backing of New York Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long (the two are not related).
Michael Long said he told Turner Tuesday that “he came to the table too late.’’
“I believe Wendy has sucked up all the oxygen and energy and enthusiasm from all my leaders up and down the state of New York,’’ Long said in a telephone interview. “And I firmly believe she makes a much stronger candidate for United States Senate.’’
Maragos predicted before Turner’s announcement that he would have the support of delegates from up to 10 counties at the state convention, including Suffolk, Nassau, Orange and Albany. Maragos anticipated receiving at least 30 percent of the vote.
At least two of the four Republican candidates could qualify for a June 26 primary if they pick up at least 25 percent of the ballots cast by party delegates.
Turner announced his entry hours after a federal magistrate released her final proposal for statewide congressional redistricting. Turner’s Queens-Brooklyn congressional district would be one of two carved up and apportioned to surrounding districts as the state’s number of congressional districts is reduced from 29 to 27.
The other district proposed for elimination is the Hudson Valley-Southern Tier district where Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey is retiring at the end of the year.
Turner defeated Assemblyman David Weprin in a September special election to take the seat formerly held by Democratic Anthony Weiner, who resigned in June after admitting he had sent sexually explicit messages to women he met online.
“I ran for the House six months ago as a private citizen fed up with what is happening in Washington,’’ Turner said in a statement. “I could not sit and watch career politicians sink my nation deeper into economic crisis. Brooklyn and Queens voters of all political parties graciously responded by sending me to Congress. It now appears that their district has been eliminated.’’
Brooklyn Republican Chairman Craig Eaton sent a confidential letter Monday to other county chairmen urging them to consider supporting Turner.
“With his name ID, fundraising ability, instant credibility in the press, strong support in the Jewish community — and nationally celebrated status as a Washington outsider — Bob Turner can beat Kirsten Gillibrand,’’ Eaton wrote. “It is my hope that Congressman Bob Turner could unite the Republican and Conservative parties behind a single candidate.’’
Long said she would be the best candidate to unite the two parties.
“I can unify beyond the Conservative and Republican parties,’’ she said. “I can reach out to women and independents and Reagan Democrats.’’
Gillibrand received 63 percent of the vote two years ago in a race against former Republican congressman Joe DioGuardi in which she outspent him $13.4 million to $2.4 million.
Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate in January 2009 after Hillary Rodham Clinton resigned to become secretary of state.
The New York Senate seat is rated by the Cook Political Report as one of the eight safest for Democrats up for re-election this year. Turner’s entry into the race doesn’t change that.
“I am not changing the rating for a guy who has been in the House for 10 minutes,’’ Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report said.
Duffy considers Long the most “intriguing’’ candidate on the Republican side — because she’s not a white male and she has the support of the Conservative Party.
“I haven’t met her yet, but she seems to be doing everything right,’’ Duffy said.
However, Gillibrand is considered a more formidable incumbent than she was two years ago, when she was running in her first statewide race and trying to build name recognition.
In a Siena poll released last week, the percentage of voters who would re-elect Gillibrand reached an all-time high of 58 percent, with only 30 percent preferring someone else.
Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said during Gillibrand’s earlier campaign the percentage of voters who indicated a willingness to elect her over someone else peaked at 44 percent in September 2010. Siena did not ask that question in the final weeks of the campaign.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20120314/NEWS10/303140065/Congressman-Bob-Turner-enters-GOP-field-run-against-Sen-Kirsten-Gillibrand
Topic: Congressman Bob Turner enters GOP field to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (Read 361 times)