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Party-hopping
Two Assembly races in Brooklyn had some interesting results, according to the NYS Board of Elections results.
Steven Cymbrowitz, a Democrat, got almost as many votes on the Republican line as on the Democratic line (he also got a few hundred votes on the WFP line -- the totals are: 11,015-10,320-538).
Dov Hikind, ostensibly a Democrat, actually got A MAJORITY of his votes (55.6%) on the Republican line (10,521 vs. 8,397).
In both cases, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by slightly more than 3-1. It appears that the "base" for these guys doesn't lie with their official party affiliation.
It seems to me that in a body that is more than 2-1 Democratic, in a state governed by a Democrat, the party can afford to push harder, especially in "safe" districts, for Democrats who don't appeal so much to Republicans.
Dan... Just look at Mr.
Dan... Just look at Mr. Cymbowitz's & Mr. Hikind's "member items" . That will give you a good hint at who they give monies to, most of those receiving monies are to the right of center, namely the Hassidic & Sephardic communities. Why are tou so suprised?
A closer look
A well-informed source offered to bet me that Obama did even worse in those districts -- and I'm glad I didn't take that bet, because the source was correct. McCain won both districts handily.
What does this mean?
To me, it means that Democrats are giving up on those districts. Over the past four years, about 2% of the 45th district has shifted from Democratic to Republican, while the 48th has been stable. Basically, D's outnumber R's by over a 3-1 margin in both districts, but Republican-line votes are comparable. Democrats aren't turning out at elections, while Republicans are.
Forty years ago, the national Democratic Party gave up on the south, and look what happened! We cannot afford to "give up" in areas where we should be winning; it will lead to the same kind of minority status we "enjoyed" nationwide for so long (and don't think it can't happen in New York -- arrogance leads to defeat, always). There are two things that can be done to bring those districts back to the progressive side. One is to engage voters who aren't turning out. The other is to redraw the districts so that they are less Gerrymandered.
This is, of course, a gross oversimplification. Un-Gerrymandering isn't going to happen in the next redistricting, which means another ten-year wait. Meanwhile, engaging nonvoting voters is a long-term effort. But the result will be securing two districts, and making sure that a Democratic-controlled government in Albany holds true to Democratic principles.
Oh yeah
Those really are districts that would never go for Obama. Nationally Obama got about 78% of the Jewish vote. But it is quite likely that a substantial part of the national Jewish vote that went for McCain is in those very districts. I believe the people in those districts are seriously in error, but they buy into the Right Wing Christian fanatic support of Israel. It doesn't seem to bother them that this right wing support for Israel is specifically so that all Jews will move to Israel so that the second coming of Jesus can occur. There is so much about that that any Jew should be suspicious of, but they discount it.
This seems to be a problem
popping up all over the city - same dynamic as the Gang of Three. It seems natural to me, in a one-party city, that you'll find Democrats occupying the same niche in our "political ecology" that Republicans would elsewhere. Just because it's natural, though, doesn't make it acceptable. Even more so since, unlike the Senate, we don't need these guys to make the Assembly go.
We should be looking for good primary candidates for all these guys, Senate and Assembly, next cycle.