That state senate seat is supposed to go to Jimmy Dahroug by divine right! He is the chosen one! Any state party manipulations to deny Jimmy his destiny is a nothing less than a communist conspiracy. Off with their heads!

The numbers show that Jimmy Dahroug is electable; nobody else has shown that potential. If the state party had gotten behind Jimmy in 2006 instead of being blinded by the glow of money that never materialized, he might be in the Senate now, and we'd have a majority (we would have gotten that majority with Aubertine's victory, and kept it after Spitzer's resignation).

There is no divine right here; if there were, I'd insist that Jimmy opened up this district in 2004 and therefore "deserves" the "right" to get the seat. I don't, because I don't believe that. The problem is that the state party leaders don't seem to get it, and it's extremely frustrating when we need two seats -- and could win those two seats -- but the people in charge of leading the fight steadfastly refuse to adopt a winning strategy.

Foley is not Chris Bodkin; he's a lifelong Democrat with a history of victory after victory in difficult turf. If electablity is the criteria, then on paper it would be hard to find a stronger candidate than Foley, and the fact that he has money in the bank only adds credence to this argument. Foley isn't Jack Davis, who has the bucks, but has shown twice he can't win. In this case, the guy who's had the history of defeats is the one with less money.

And, if prior meritorious public service is the criteria, as it seems to be for you in Ridgewood, then Foley still wins.

Can't say Foley wins on the issues, but better an imperfect Deocrat winning than a perfect one losing. Isn't that the real lesson of Aubertine?.

First of all, the above comments on Foley are basically accurate. That being said, there are two other factors.

First, the Aubertine analogy is suspect, since there was no way to win that district with anyone other then Aubertine. The 3rd district is a different matter.

Second, if Foley does not run, the chances are Dahroug will have a primary-free campaign. If Foley enters the race, published reports indicate that Ricardo Montano will probably also run, making a three-way primary from which the winner will emerge severely short of funds and limping from what will surely be a very difficult primary race.

The problem for the state party is that the Dahroug campaign isn't so much about Jimmy Dahroug, it's about getting true progressives elected. The concept that it's not enough to have 32 Democratic butts in the seats is foreign to party leaders. As a result, the usual methods of "buying off" candidates they would rather not have in the race won't work here. (Note: At least one inquiry was made to see if there were a way to "buy off" Jimmy Dahroug; it amounted to nothing.)

Once again, I return to the claim that the best chance Democrats have of winning the seat is to back Jimmy Dahroug, and the faster party leaders come to that conclusion the better.

No gratuitous bashing of a decent Democrat (which Foley surely is). I had to re-check to make sure I was at the right website. You're a good man Dan Jacoby. Let's hope that if there is a primary, it can be fought on such terms.

But we obviously disagree. On the one hand, you say the seat is so winnable, that we can take chances and elect the more progressive guy with less money and a less solid track record (both substabtively and electorally); then you go on to warn of the impending disaster of Republican victory if we don't. While not quite Baldeo/Tilzer style "pick me or I'll shoot this dog" (this dog being any chance of Democratic victory) blackmail, it seems to insinuate something perilously close to the neighborhood of that argument.

Btw, the "buying off" accusation is perilously close to an accusation of a felony. I'm sure if something like that occurred, it could not have been made in terms that blatant. Nonetheless, if Dahroug did chose to sit this one out a lot of people would owe him big, and some might even remember that the kid made a selfless sacrifice. It really works sometimes. Ask Mole if he doesn't have a friend in a similar position. Or, even better, ask Andrew Cuomo.