1. There is a lot more here than meets the eye (I'm referring to Forand's statement). Jimmy Dahroug is holding a press conference on Wednesday; let's wait for the full story before reaching a judgment.

2. Right now, we need to move forward to make sure that there are at least 32 Democrats in the state Senate come January. That means helping defeat both Serph Maltese and Frank Padavan in Queens, and helping Brian Foley knock out Caesar Trunzo in Florida -- excuse me -- on Long Island. And while we're at it, there are several races upstate, one or more of which could produce a new Democrat in the Senate too.

Best of luck to Foley and Dahroug. Always was of the position that Dahroug was better, but had nothing against Foley.

This is very odd given the pronouncements made repeatedly here that Jimmy's 1,400 signatures were much stronger than Foley's because he had gone door to door the hard way and made sure his petitioners were in the district, as opposed to Foley who probably bought a lot of his signatures. What criminal accusations was Foley going to make against the Dahroug campaign?

Perhaps Jimmy just saw how much money Foley had raised and realized he was not going to win the primary. That would have been a real kick in the head for one who had been the party's nominee for two elections running to not even get nominated the third time.

But wait, wasn't it all over this blog and TAP that Daroug's signatures were taken by super-trained grassroots heros?

Great, DFNYC is now losing races before the vote even happens. Good work!!

Don't let Jimmy Dahroug off so easy here guys. A lot of people including a number of DFNYC members went out to Long Island and gave of their time and personal sweat and tears to help Dahroug get those signatures. It is a slap in their faces for him to collect all those signatures, get on the ballot and then decide not to make the race. Maybe Dahroug saw the poll numbers and the signatures Foley had gotten, knew he would lose, and decided to spare himself the pain of a losing primary night? Maybe he is earning a future favor from the local party by not contesting the primary? Maybe Foley and Dahroug cut a deal whereby Foley dropped his petition challenge in exchange for him dropping out? Whatever the case may be, Dahroug owes his supporters the full and true explanation. I would think his political future depends on it. Otherwise why would these people be willing to go out and collect signatures for him next time?

Let us wait and see what Dahroug has to say at his press conference. As for Jimmy's future, there are many of us who supported Foley who would support and hit the streets for Dahroug if he primaried for Ricardo Montano's County Legislative seat next year. He would have Steve Levy and probably ten other Democratic Legislators joining him. That is the level Jimmy should have started at all along. But again, there is the upcoming press conference.

He dropped out, there is no primary, and the party can now unite. Like in the presidential race, it's time for both sides to stop the fighting and unite to elect our candidate.

Can't help adding one petition note--if the issue was really fraud, quadrupling the number of signatures might not have helped. Certain types of fraud will take down an entire petition, no matter how many the signatures. Of course, i have no knowledge of this case, and it no longer matters.

So, get off your asses and knock on doors.

the means. It doesn’t matter anymore how we flip the Senate as long as we flip it. So take Landlord money, take Charter School money, sell your progressive soul and convince yourself it’s all justified and you’re not becoming that which bothered you and got you involved in the first place. We don’t want scrappy rag tag races anymore right Bouldin? We want high tech, well financed winning races so we don’t have to bemoan progressive losses anymore. So dress up status quo candidates as progressive in your mind and see if in the end you like what you get.

The Newsday article is here:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-podahr105796003aug10,0,563...

Of particular note is this quote from Richard Schaeffer, Suffolk County's party chairman:

"I spoke to Jimmy late last night and this morning," Schaffer said Friday, "and he has dropped out. He believes there is a bigger goal, flipping the Senate to the Democrats. Brian not only has the backing of the Senate Democrats but he also has the Working Families line."

Schaffer added that he was disappointed that some Foley backers in Albany sent private detectives to check on people who signed Dahroug's petitions. "This is Suffolk, not New York City," he added"

Private detectives?! Is it possible therefore that Jimmy fell on his sword to protect the people who signed his petitions from having their privacy invaded? Is this what New York politics is coming to, when you sign a petition for a candidate and get private detectives investigating you to see if you really live there? Jimmy's a good guy and it would not surprise me in the least if he gave up his dream to protect his signers and avoid having the money to fight court challenges and private detective investigations.

Something really smells here. A guy like Jimmy doesn't give up something he's worked so long and hard for unless the snakes were in the grass!