3-1: Thomas Suozzi. Suozzi is known nationally (to the extent he is known at all) as the guy who ran a quixotic primary challenge against Spitzer in 2006. With two years of hindsight, however, Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, looks better and better. Suozzi's geographic base (Long Island) is appealing for Democrats looking for a statewide winner, and Bill Cunningham, the top political aide to Paterson, is also extremely close to Suozzi.
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Points in Suozzi's favor:
1) He's from Long Island. This traditional base of power for Republicans is shifting to the Democrats, and perhaps appointing Suozzi will bring more independents into the Democratic fold. Winning Long Island would reap huge gains for the Dems, especially in the State Senate.
2) He's a recognized, known voice but also an outsider to D.C. There's certainly a fear of stagnation by putting a Congressman up for Senate. A lot of people know Suozzi from 2006 but he'll come across as a fresh-face.
3) Ambition? I wonder if Paterson is worried about another "quixotic" primary campaign from Suozzi.
Points against Suozzi:
1) All of Suozzi's experience and interest points to executive roles of power. After all, he could have run against Peter King in either 2006 or 2008 if he was really interested in Congress. It's more likely that Suozzi still wants to be the governor and could wait until 2014.
2) Suozzi's major issue is the property tax cap (as per the current front-page article among other sources). While he'd certainly have a voice on property taxes, Suozzi would have to give up chairinig on his pet issue. He'd be too busy legislating on national issues to focus directly on New York property taxes.
I still lean against Suozzi as Senator. I do think he'd be a great Senator and I'll be happy if he's chosen, but I think he's too focused on NY property taxes to give up his state focus for a national one. Then again, political ambition is a funny creature. |
