| It's only July of 2007, but that isn't stopping the increasingly narrow and endangered GOP Senate majority from going on the offensive in an effort to save their skins. They are launching a new website lambasting the Senate Dems and claim to be targeting at least ten seats held by Democratic incumbents. It sounds to me like a pretty tall order for a party in serious decline statewide, but Uncle Joe does have a pretty impressive fundraising machine. Of course, this is exactly why Bruno has been so hostile to campaign finance reform. Milking the crap out of the status quo is the only hope he's got to preserve his majority. Danny Hakim has the scoop:
Senate G.O.P. Planning Offensive to Hold Fort
Republicans are preparing an unusually public political counterattack in the face of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s designs on retaking the State Senate for the first time in more than four decades.
As part of that, they have set up a new Web site, www.nyinjeopardy.com, which cheekily lambastes 10 of the 29 Senate Democrats whom Republican strategists see as particularly vulnerable in next year’s election. The Republicans plan to make the 10 Democrats the focus of a media and advertising campaign in the coming weeks.
...
Among the senators considered vulnerable to challenge is Craig M. Johnson, the Nassau County Democrat who won a bitter special election this year, a blow to one of the Republicans’ most reliable strongholds, where all nine Long Island seats had long been Republican. Another is Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who defeated Nicholas Spano last year in another closely watched race; both Hillary and Bill Clinton appeared at a fund-raiser for Ms. Stewart-Cousins late in the campaign.
Other Democrats on the list include Jeffrey D. Klein of the Bronx, Toby Ann Stavisky of Queens, Suzi Oppenheimer of Westchester, David J. Valesky of Syracuse, John D. Sabini of Queens, Kevin S. Parker of Brooklyn, Diane J. Savino of Brooklyn and Liz Krueger of Manhattan.
...
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans reported nearly $2.6 million in donations to their central campaign accounts, compared with roughly $626,000 for Senate Democrats. Donors included Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who gave $100,000 in February, and a wide range of interests who see Mr. Bruno as a counterweight to the increasing Democratic dominance of New York.
The article quotes Matthew Walter, a spokesman for the NYRSC, as saying, “The goal is to be aggressive and to ensure that the people within these Senate districts know where exactly their representatives stand."
I'm more than fine with that. In fact, we are working on something that will hopefully do exactly that.
Regardless, I think the fact that they are starting as early and aggressively as they are shows a couple of things pretty clearly.
1. They're scared. They know that this is an existential fight for them.
2. They aren't going down without a hell of a fight. The battle for the state Senate will be epic. |
