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This belongs to you. Take it back...
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Carolyn Maloney 
Wed Jul 29, 2009 at 12:17:52 PM EDT
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When I read that Carolyn Maloney repeated a racial slur a while ago as part of an anecdote she was using to slam Senator Gillibrand, I was a bit shocked at the phrase, but not altogether surprised that she spoke without really thinking it through. Now let me say right off that I do not believe for a moment that Representative Maloney is a racist or that the word she used is a part of her regular vocabulary. I don't. In fact, I have no doubt that, as she said in her apology, she finds that word disgusting. No, the reason I wasn't entirely surprised is that Carolyn Maloney has a history of speaking before thinking, exhibiting no edit button whatsoever and having a remarkably tin political ear, particularly since Gov. Paterson appointed Senator Gillibrand to the Senate and Maloney began her on-again-off-again non-campaign-campaign for New York's Senate seat.
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Wed Jul 22, 2009 at 17:39:32 PM EDT
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For more than a month, it has been a foregone conclusion that Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, (NY-14), is committed to challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary next year.
Many here have argued against that, citing the high costs of such a primary, the lateness of the New York primary (September), the solid job Gillibrand is doing as Senator, Maloney's important seniority in the House, etc.
But who listens to us? Certainly not Maloney.
Maybe she'll listen to lifelong New Yorker (and probably her constituent) Andrew Tobias, a successful writer who has been treasurer of the Democratic National Committee for 10 years.
Tobias does not like this primary, and lays out compelling reasons why, including one I hadn't thought of, in a column at The Daily Beast.
Details, below.
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Tue Jul 21, 2009 at 14:02:35 PM EDT
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City Hall News posted a lengthy profile of Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, (NY-14), who is committed to challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary next year, yesterday.
Her use of the "n" word in a Gillibrand-trashing anecdote garnered some attention, but more interesting was a discussion of the May push poll done for Maloney by Doug Schoen, Mark Penn's longtime partner in mischief.
This poll stunk when it was first released, now we learn it was not released in its entirety, a possible violation of state law.
What Maloney and Trippi needed to keep secret, below.
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Mon Jul 20, 2009 at 02:04:02 AM EDT
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After getting busted by Politicker NY this week for having been on Carolyn Maloney's payroll while posting entries on his site and Daily Kos promoting her candidacy, Joe Trippi has (albeit reluctantly) come clean and apologized a little more fully for his--and his staff's--misconduct.
In the process, he also confirmed that his staffers were astroturfing Daily Kos with pro-Maloney and anti-Gillibrand comments and diaries. And a little research shows that many of the same users also registered here on TAP. Details below.
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Sat Jul 18, 2009 at 17:40:00 PM EDT
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Joe Trippi, who has been working secretly for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) in her primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for more than a month, posted an odd "apology" for his deception (which occurred at Daily Kos, Huffington Post and with several reporters) on his website yesterday.
First of all, the only reason Trippi "apologized" was that he got caught by PolitickerNY reporter Jason Horowitz, who looked up Maloney's second quarter FEC filing and found a $10,500 check to Trippi dated June 5.
Trippi's diaries at DKos and HuffPo were on June 24, and he essentially stated (in response to questions in the comments) that he was not working for Maloney on that date.
Trippi's "apology" does not mention his recent embarrassment, or indeed Maloney at all.
More on why Trippi's "apology" is self-serving crap, below.
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Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 16:53:55 PM EDT
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It's no secret among the netroots that Joe Trippi has been spinning for Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney recently in her (still unannounced) primary bid against Senator Gillibrand. However, the website Politicker NY has looked at the FEC reports and determined that Trippi has in fact been astro-turfing for Maloney nearly a month longer than they had previously admitted.
Back on June 24, Democratic consultant Joe Trippi blogged on the Huffington Post about how polls showed Representative Carolyn Maloney would make a much better, and more viable, candidate for U.S. Senator than Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and said that he hoped she "does decide to enter the race."
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According to Maloney's campaign filing, Trippi was already on her payroll. Records show that Maloney had cut Trippi's firm, Joe Trippi & Associates, a check for $10,500 on June 5.
The whole article is very short, and deserves a read. It's disappointing to find out that Trippi has so low an opinion of the party base that he assumes either this sort of thing won't come out, or that he (and by association, his employer) won't suffer because of it. Astroturfing is an unavoidable peril of the netroots, but to have such a high profile individual engaging in and encouraging it is both disrespectful and unacceptable.
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Thu Jul 16, 2009 at 13:30:31 PM EDT
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It's no secret that if Carolyn Maloney decides to primary Senator Gillibrand next year as expected, she'll need to give up running for reelection to her House seat to do so. With the near certainty that Maloney is going to announce, speculation is already buzzing about who will want to replace her.
An article at Roll Call (subscription only, I'm afraid) points out that excluding special elections, this would be the first open-seat House race in Manhattan since 1976, meaning that competition would be fierce and fundraising would be fiercer. The article mentions a laundry list of potential candidates, some of which have already bowed out: a family spokesman today said on behalf of Karenna Gore Schiff, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, that Schiff was not interested in possibly running. Schiff's only previous political experience was as Youth Outreach Chair for her father's 2000 Presidential campaign.
One of the other potential candidates, one widely talked about by the party base, is current State Senator Liz Krueger. Popular with the activists and netroots for her steadfast support of gay marriage (something Rep. Maloney hasn't supported) and transparency reform in the State Senate, Krueger is speculated to be able to partially self-finance, although to what extent is unclear.
Krueger would have somewhat of an uphill battle within the party machine, since she's known to be on less than entirely fond terms with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver... which knowing Silver could only further endear her to the netroots.
The Roll Call article goes on to present a laundry list of potential candidates out of the Assembly, State Senate, city council, and elsewhere. One thing is for sure, when and if Maloney runs there's going to be no shortage of people looking to represent her district.
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Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:58:58 PM EDT
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Second quarter reports are out in the unofficial primary between Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
According to the New York Daily News, Gillibrand raised more than $1.5 million in the quarter, and Maloney raised slightly more than a third of that, $576,690.
Gillibrand has always been an assiduous fund-raiser, bringing in more than $7 million in her two House campaigns. It is surely one reason, among many, that she was appointed.
Aside from the nearly 3-1 advantage in the quarter, Gillibrand also reported $3.2 million cash on hand, almost twice Maloney's $1.7 million.
About a quarter of Gillibrand's quarterly total ($350,000) was raised online, which presumably reflects some response to her engagement with online communities like Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, and TAP.
Gillibrand said endorsements by 11 Democratic House Members from New York, many labor, women's and progressive organizations, and more than 50 New York Democratic county chairs contributed to her fund-raising success.
It would be a shame if most of this money were to be spent on a Democratic primary next September, rather than defeating a Republican in the general.
Especially since the policy differences between Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Maloney are minuscule.
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Tue Jul 14, 2009 at 11:23:06 AM EDT
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When I read Joe Trippi or any one of several other of Carolyn Maloney's online supporters make the case for Maloney's impending challenge against our incumbent Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, by stating, that Maloney is a "true progressive," I am a bit skeptical.
Rather than accept those statements as fact, I think people should take a look at her voting record. That's where I always look...and I want to share with you what I found, which is some pretty interesting stuff.
More after the flip.
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Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 22:49:17 PM EDT
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There will evidently be a Democratic primary among Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and possibly some others, next year.
Maloney supporters, here and in the media, argue that a primary is the essence of democracy, but really they're only doing that because they are Maloney supporters, and Maloney is not the Senate incumbent.
Had Gov. David Paterson appointed Maloney to the Senate in January, NO Maloney supporter would be such a fan of an expensive, late primary which may have weakened Maloney in the general election.
It's not the worst political hypocrisy, but it is some level of hypocrisy, for Maloney supporters to try to sanctify the primary for their candidate.
Two examples of this, below.
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Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 19:20:39 PM EDT
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Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14), who is committed to challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a primary next year, made a big deal at a Manhattan fund-raiser Tuesday night out of Bill Clinton hosting a Manhattan fund-raiser for her later this month.
Naturally, that "big deal" was promptly leaked to a friendly Manhattan news website, and went viral within a few hours, with Google News now linking to hundreds of similar, derivative stories when you search "maloney gillibrand clinton."
Despite the obvious implication that some readers will draw from Clinton appearing at a Maloney fund-raiser, he is not endorsing her.
Nor is he endorsing Gillibrand, for whom he did a fund-raiser in March.
Details, below.
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Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 13:13:21 PM EDT
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Moving away from the state Senate for a moment, the Daily News says that Rep. Carolyn Maloney will announce soon that she will challenge Senator Gillibrand next year.
Liz Benjamin also said she got an e-mail from a top consultant pointing out the Daily News story.
New York politics just might be getting to be more interesting to watch than California politics.
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Wed Jul 01, 2009 at 11:58:17 AM EDT
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A new Marist poll on Senator Gillibrand's approval numbers suggests that she's gaining ground in statewide recognition, though head to head election polling is still a dead heat.
The poll groups respondents into those who have a generally positive opinion of the Senator's job performance, those who have a generally negative opinion, and those who have no opinion or won't say. The latter number declined by 10%, while both the positive and negative views went up.
| May | Now |
| Good or excellent | 19% | 24% |
| Below average | 10% | 13% |
| Don't know | 43% | 33% |
With 33% of the public still unwilling to commit to an opinion, it's still early, but at the current rate within a few months the Senator may make significant gains in statewide name recognition.
Marist also polled the Senate primaries: a statistical tie between Gillibrand and Maloney, and Pataki beating Peter King by about 15 points.
Polling was done on the general election assuming Gillibrand as the Democratic nominee, bearing out the idea that a moderate and substantially less insane Republican like Pataki would be a stronger general election opponent than King.
A word about election polling a year to a year and a half out: nobody cares but us. Not that that influences the science, but it does influence the public attitude. Ultimately, polls conducted right now are going to be just a measure of name recognition, and thus fairly meaningless once the campaign heats up and people are paying attention.
If polls 18 months out were accurate, Hillary Clinton would have been challenging Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential race.
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Sat Jun 27, 2009 at 13:20:16 PM EDT
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Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) took her unofficial primary challenge of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to the friendly confines of Alan Chartock's Congressional Corner on WAMC Wednesday.
The resulting softball interview has to be heard to be believed, but unfortunately it's no longer available on the WAMC site (I taped the podcast before it disappeared).
Maloney was more positive than in her previous campaign appearances in the NYC media, perhaps because the WAMC listening area covers all of NY-20, where Gillibrand remains very popular.
And Chartock is very, very positive about Maloney.
Details, below.
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Thu Jun 11, 2009 at 15:41:45 PM EDT
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Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) attacked Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in an interview on NY1 (h/t, Liz Benjamin of The Daily Politics), leaving even less doubt that she intends to challenge Gillibrand in a primary next year.
Benjamin writes accurately that Maloney sounded "as if she were road testing some campaign themes."
NY1 has not posted the entire interview by Dominic Carter, the excerpt posted can be viewed here, and a transcript of the excerpt, followed by some analysis, is below.
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Tue Jun 09, 2009 at 15:53:51 PM EDT
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It would appear that Rep. Carolyn Maloney is serious about challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand next year, even though she has yet to declare her candidacy.
But a private poll conducted on behalf of Maloney might be an attempt to get publicity for Maloney or it could be seen as an attempt to diminish Gilliband as nothing more than a conservative, pro-gun, pro-tobacco and anti-immigrant lawmaker.
The results of the poll showed that Maloney was supported by 34 percent of respondents compared to 32 percent for Gillibrand. Considering this poll was conducted for Maloney, that isn't an impressive figure. But that's the number Maloney's people are touting.
The number they are pushing is the tally taken after all the questions were asked. Maloney leads 49 percent to 25 percent over Gillibrand when those surveyed heard all of the arguments against Gillibrand. Of course, that is expected. If you push (hence a push poll) certain arguments onto people, they will form a biased opinion about the person you are pushing that negative information about. In this case, that person is Gillibrand, who was framed as a pro-gun, pro-tobacco and anti-immigrant conservative who didn't compare to the much more liberal Maloney.
While Maloney's people might be using this poll to show why Gillibrand isn't the right candidate, it really doesn't show why Maloney is the right candidate. It paints a negative picture right at the beginning of a race (presumably, this is the beginning) and it will probably be Maloney's approach for the duration of this race.
Gillibrand has provided her stance on guns, which is not a pro-gun view. While she does respect the rights and liberties provided to responsible gun owners, she also believes in gun safety and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.
She has made her position on immigration clear that she supports comprehensive immigration reform.
And the claims about her being pro-tobacco come from her days working in a law office prior to her becoming an elected official.
I'm not impressed with Maloney's approach. As I have said before, I want to know why she would be better. Why would she be better than Gillibrand? Don't just throw negatives out there and try to run off of those. Throw out some positives and explain why you would be a better choice.
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 at 18:43:24 PM EDT
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Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a staunch gun control advocate who said that she would primary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand because of Gillibrand's position on guns, has decided to not challenge Gillibrand next year.
From CQ's Jonathan Allen:
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a Democratic primary. McCarthy, a thorn in Gillibrand's side of late, had said she would take on the newly appointed senator in 2010 if no one else did.
But McCarthy has reversed course, citing personal issues.
"I'm not running," she said Thursday afternoon.
McCarthy has said in the past that if someone who is younger ran (McCarthy is 65), then she would bow out and support that candidate. With Rep. Carolyn Maloney pondering a run, it could be an indication that Maloney is going to enter the fray and McCarthy could end up supporting her.
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 at 14:13:38 PM EDT
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It isn't a secret that I support Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. I have stated my reasons in the past and I believe she is the best candidate for the job. I will not force such an opinion onto the TAP community. You are free to support anyone you want.
But if you are going to come here and just spew anti-Gillibrand rhetoric, I don't see how you are doing the candidate you support any favors. Rep. Carolyn Maloney isn't a bad person. I actually admire her work in Congress (I bought her book discussing women, a must read) and believe that she is a solid representative. But if you support her and all you are doing here is writing anti-Gillibrand comments and posts, how are you making the case for Maloney any stronger?
So let's hear why you support Maloney or any other choice. If you have someone else in mind, do tell. Maloney is the one that comes to mind because she is on the verge of announcing.
If you support Maloney, let's hear the case in favor.
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