June O'Neill: "We are a 62 county party."

Wow. (0.00 / 0)

That's great to hear!

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by: robinia @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 19:22:59 PM UTC

Such an improvement over Denny Farrell (0.00 / 0)

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by: Roatti @ Thu May 10, 2007 at 01:47:20 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sorry to miss you lipris (0.00 / 0)

I was in the building for another event but wasn't able to stay the day. Ran into Brian blogging away and was able to chat for a moment as well as several other good folks. I'd have much rather I'd been able to hang out with you folks and raise a ruckus then the business I was about... but such is life.

Peace,

Andrew

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by: Andrew C. White @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 19:26:58 PM UTC

Speaking of 62 Counties... (4.00 / 4)

I made maps of the voter enrollment data by county when I made them by Senate seat.

First is the Gap in registration between Democrats and Republicans in Apr. 2007.  The darker the shading, the greater the gap.

Albany 24.85%
Allegany -27.03%
Bronx 67.44%
Broome -3.81%
Cattaraugus -6.33%
Cayuga -6.45%
Chautauqua 0.21%
Chemung -12.07%
Chenango -20.02%
Clinton 1.46%
Columbia -2.53%
Cortland -8.30%
Delaware -20.59%
Dutchess -2.46%
Erie 21.34%
Essex -26.55%
Franklin -2.45%
Fulton -31.77%
Genesee -19.29%
Greene -20.95%
Hamilton -44.14%
Herkimer -23.94%
Jefferson -16.96%
Kings 60.61%
Lewis -28.72%
Livingston -17.97%
Madison -16.54%
Monroe 4.07%
Montgomery -2.96%
Nassau -2.74%
New York 56.36%
Niagara 6.94%
Oneida -7.33%
Onondaga 0.05%
Ontario -13.37%
Orange -4.44%
Orleans -23.16%
Oswego -23.68%
Otsego -11.19%
Putnam -9.05%
Queens 48.99%
Rensselaer -0.49%
Richmond 13.92%
Rockland 20.14%
Saratoga -21.80%
Schenectady 5.05%
Schoharie -15.09%
Schuyler -13.96%
Seneca -11.26%
St.Lawrence -2.52%
Steuben -28.30%
Suffolk -6.02%
Sullivan 9.79%
Tioga -20.79%
Tompkins 17.16%
Ulster 4.03%
Warren -27.93%
Washington -23.47%
Wayne -19.40%
Westchester 16.38%
Wyoming -21.87%
Yates -27.79%

Second, is the change in the registration gap from 1996-2007. 

Albany 0.37%
Allegany 1.77%
Bronx 3.13%
Broome 4.20%
Cattaraugus -0.07%
Cayuga 0.31%
Chautauqua 1.75%
Chemung 0.44%
Chenango 6.43%
Clinton 0.70%
Columbia 7.49%
Cortland 4.11%
Delaware 5.44%
Dutchess 5.89%
Erie 0.80%
Essex 3.25%
Franklin -1.81%
Fulton 2.09%
Genesee -1.33%
Greene 1.50%
Hamilton 3.76%
Herkimer 1.54%
Jefferson 0.68%
Kings 1.14%
Lewis 1.71%
Livingston 3.78%
Madison 4.44%
Monroe 7.02%
Montgomery -2.04%
Nassau 9.95%
New York 0.79%
Niagara 1.30%
Oneida -3.22%
Onondaga 7.43%
Ontario 2.32%
Orange 4.82%
Orleans 1.72%
Oswego 4.67%
Otsego 4.85%
Putnam 2.60%
Queens 3.86%
Rensselaer 1.85%
Richmond -0.95%
Rockland 2.48%
Saratoga 5.92%
Schenectady 4.28%
Schoharie -3.89%
Schuyler 2.45%
Seneca -0.06%
St.Lawrence 0.65%
Steuben 2.90%
Suffolk 8.36%
Sullivan 2.94%
Tioga 4.74%
Tompkins 8.60%
Ulster 8.62%
Warren 5.00%
Washington 3.34%
Wayne 3.06%
Westchester 8.50%
Wyoming 1.59%
Yates 5.03%

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by: ortcutt @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:11:48 PM UTC

Great Work.. (0.00 / 0)

I'm feeling that blue Long Island.. here's to hoping it translates into more Dem Senators..
Also, is Ithaca growing quickly? What explains that county trending blue?

Peter King writes me Nasty Letters.

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by: tzfoley @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:36:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

As I said before (4.00 / 2)

Hat tip to Suozzi and Levy!

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by: Roatti @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:44:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah, Suozzi's fiscal turnaround (4.00 / 2)

has really strengthened the Democratic brand in Nassau, slash former exec. Gulotta's incompetence and corruption walloped the GOP's image.
It's worth noting too that Nassau is trending blue in no small part because of recent Latino/Asian Immigrants; hopefully new Dem leadership that emerges will be responsive to these communities.

Peter King writes me Nasty Letters.

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by: tzfoley @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:51:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Mos def (4.00 / 1)

I think Nassau's pretty good with those communities.  However I do sometiimes worry about Levy and his anti-illegal immigrant ways.

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by: Roatti @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 22:42:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ithaculture (4.00 / 2)

That's what the Ithaca Festival teeshirts say.  There is a growing cultural identity associated with living in Ithaca... it is not so much that there are that many more people (although growth is better than elsewhere in region), but, more that people similar to the surrounding counties are dying or retiring to Florida, while the newer residents tend to be people who are or were associated with the colleges in some way, typically better-educated and more left-leaning.  National recognition as a good place to live (for those who want a green/clean environment, for non-urban GLBT folk, etc., etc...)according to several metrics also help attract like-minded folk...

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by: robinia @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 21:10:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not really an export product (0.00 / 0)

Tompkins County is getting bluer and bluer because Ithaca is blue verging on green, but I'm not at all convinced that Democrats can take the "Ithaca model" and make it work elsewhere upstate.

Even - perhaps especially - in the surrounding towns, "Ithaculture" isn't exactly embraced, even by Democrats.

I do hope we can find ways to use the strength of the Tompkins County Democrats to help Democrats in surrounding counties grow stronger, but unfortunately I think Ithaca itself is pretty much an anomaly for the area.

Lots to think about.

(Incidentally, I've done maps for 2004 election results and voter registration in Tompkins County, if anyone wants to see these kinds of things on a micro-level. Unfortunately the election districts within the county keep changing, so it's hard to show trends.)

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by: simonstl @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 22:07:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cultural change (0.00 / 0)

Actually, I think that some of it morphs into "Finger Lakes Culture" ... certainly some of the places with education as a major employer/student presence are ripe for that kind of thing-- like Rochester, where employment in education is now higher than photographic and optical manufacturing.  Just in Rochester yesterday, saw lots of similar-to-Ithaca cultural life (in the more upbeat neighborhoods).  Think the bluing in Yates and Seneca Counties, for instance, is quite similar, too, although less education-related.

Not to worry, though, Simon, should stay pretty tame (dull?) over Cortland way.

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by: robinia @ Thu May 10, 2007 at 01:50:38 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

red/blue shifts create rifts (0.00 / 0)

It's fine to be excited about the growth of Ithaca and its making the county dramatically blue.

Yes, there is a steady trickle of 'blue' folks into the Finger Lakes region generally. The general dynamic seems to be that red voters are aging and their children aren't staying, while blue voters are moving in to enjoy the scenery and connect to the educational scene you mention.

Unfortunately, my point was that while this is good for Democrats in Tompkins County, where there are so many blue folks that they can be safely dominant, appealing to 'Ithaculture' is not a good tactic in places where there are fewer blue folks.

That seems to be true to some extent even within Tompkins County, where Dryden Republicans, for example, ran a bogus radio ad complaining about "Ithaca values". I've heard similar comments and complaints (about newcomers, not Ithaca specifically) in Steuben, Schuyler, Cortland, and Yates counties over the past decade. A friend of mine from high school lives in the Hudson Valley, and makes similar complaints about 'citiots' and their lifestyles and politics too.

It's not about being exciting or being dull - it's about figuring out what the demographics are in a given place, how people feel about those demographics, and finding a message that resonates with people.

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by: simonstl @ Thu May 10, 2007 at 12:34:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Brain-drain and xenophobia (0.00 / 0)

Yep... just like that, one way of living in the Finger Lakes ending with aging-into-retirement-and-eventual-demise, and another way of living here growing.  The children of the oldtimers are, indeed, mostly going elsewhere.  The framing is the thing: need to know the demographics, for sure, but, where there is an established understanding of brain-drain and youth exodus,it can be pretty powerful to portray the adherence to the diminishing old-school way of life, with a xenophobic attitude toward newcomers, as a way to turn the whole area into nursing homes and cemeteries.

In the areas that have a significant tourism component to their economies, focusing on tolerance and accepting cultural diversity can get a lot of business support.  And, Syracuse has gone in for importing stimulus of this kind, by, for instance, having Richard Florida come to talk about his "creative class" attractant ideas.

It's about framing.  No, importing greener-than-thou arrogant college-student preaching to Seneca Falls would definitely not work.  But, that is not what is bluing (and growing) Ithaca.  Good, basic progressive values attract smart people, and an openness to new people and new ideas is an economic and demographic growth policy.  An exportable one in upstate-- maybe even just what the place needs.

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by: robinia @ Fri May 11, 2007 at 19:46:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I worry that this (0.00 / 0)

is a political story a lot too much like this conversation, and even shares one of the same culprits, Richard Florida.

I guess my broader worry is that "progressive" sometimes looks too far to am imagined bright future without much valuing of the communities that came before. That's a much broader philosophical discussion, though, and I'm not sure this is the right place for it.

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by: simonstl @ Fri May 11, 2007 at 21:18:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Progresives-- and local cultures-- vary by place... (0.00 / 0)

...that is the whole idea of a regionally or locally distinctive culture.  As far as progressives looking "too far into the future"-- I was helping shape Tompkins County's future a couple of decades before you arrived and found it to your liking. That's pretty much what people like me-- planners-- do. When effective, we are enough into the future that we are in time to make real change in people's understanding, so they seek a future that benefits them (and immigrants, too). Ortcutt's work here, presenting trend info, is a fine example, to be appreciated.

Re: Florida.  There have been a number of successful "creative economy" efforts in Ithaca and the Southern Tier, that have resulted net financial gains for the area. Your "Living in Dryden" piece uses your own, not Florida's, definition of "creative." Sounds like you haven't read him or heard him speak.  Wanna borrow a couple of books?

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by: robinia @ Sat May 12, 2007 at 02:12:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes, I've read Florida (0.00 / 0)

and no, I wasn't impressed. It's probably clear from my article that I was even less impressed by his apparent lack of followup in the places he'd consulted upstate.

Planning comes in all kinds of varieties and qualities, even in Tompkins County, fortunately or unfortunately.

I'll start a separate thread on these questions when I get back in June. In the meantime, I'd encourage everyone interested in upstate's future to contemplate this.

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by: simonstl @ Sat May 12, 2007 at 15:01:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Boogie Down #!!!! (0.00 / 0)

Represent!

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by: Roatti @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:43:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I mean #1 !!! (4.00 / 1)

lol

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by: Roatti @ Wed May 09, 2007 at 20:44:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]