The last time we visited the 10th congressional district, incumbent congressman Ed Towns was facing challenges from assemblyman Roger Greene and councilmember Charles Barron; that was two years ago. Towns won re-election with about 46 per cent of the votes cast. He wasn’t as satisfied with the victory as he should be, but in the words of a very wise person: a win is a win. In that race the missing candidate was Kevin Powell, who withdrew at the last moment in order to support Barron; this time around he is being reciprocated since Barron has endorsed him here. Powell is the solitary opponent for the congressman this year; that in itself gives him a long-shot chance, since Ed Towns has been in office for more than two decades, and many people are caught up in Barack Obama’s theme of “change”.

Towns - who is in my opinion, one of the most amiable electeds around- tends to get very serious once challenged; suddenly he stops the levity and gets focused. In a strange way this is good for democracy to have these incumbents challenged. I wonder if the congressman will agree with my assertion here. He is expected to raise wheelbarrows full of cash for this race. This will put him at a distinct advantage beyond the naturally built in incumbency factor.

Powell will have many challenges to surmount; this race will be uphill all the way. The first challenge for Powell is “mullah”. Can he raise about half a million dollars to be competitive in the ads, mail, media, on the streets and on the phones? Many are saying that he can, but this is more wishful than realistic. He has to do it to prove he can. Then there is the challenge of getting institutional support. Who amongst the elected officials in NYC will endorse/support him? Which unions will help him? Which of the local political clubs, key community activists, churches, pastors and local political operatives will cover his back? Very few. Will he get major newspaper endorsements? I doubt it.

Another challenge for Powell is in getting voter recognition. Sure he is known in hip-hop circles, but the last time I looked, about 65% of the voters in this district are over 50 years old; they don’t know him, he has never faced them for any office (higher or lower). He reminds me of Barry Ford who challenged Towns in 1998 and 2000. Back in those days, former assemblyman Roger Greene (yes) used to represent Ed Towns at many a candidate forum. He once asked Barry Ford why he didn’t run for city council or state assembly first, as a prep before trying for congress. Ford replied: “I graduated from Harvard sir”. Powell could face the same question; but unlike Ford, Powell is a college drop out -far less a Harvard grad. In fact Powell was thrown out of college for pulling a knife and menacing a female co-student over some silly and meaningless argument. He claims that back in those days he had a bad temper, and that he has worked on developing himself, and that he has changed for the better. He most likely has changed for the better; but that was the neither the first nor last time that his temper eroded into some type of violent outburst, which later created PR problems for him.

Herein lies Kevin Powell’s biggest challenge: how do you get voters to come your way, when your initial introduction to them will be a on a negative plane? If you really think that Ed Towns will not highlight the sordid details of Kevin’s past, then you have another thought coming. Here Powell’s written revelations of abusing women, drinking, drugging and partying, will come back to haunt him like Banquo’s ghost. Sure enough Barack Obama was able to overcome some of the autobiographical revelations from the books he wrote; but can this hold for Kevin Powell? Personally, I doubt it can. He hasn’t spent enough time out in the political hustings of the tenth congressional -earning the voters trust, admiration and/or respect. He is likeable, and that’s a plus, but wining congressional seats in Brooklyn isn’t easy folks; ask Chris Owens if you don’t believe me.

The baggage that Powell is traveling with -in a district where females vote at a higher clip than males- could give him a political hernia, especially if Towns were to go negative early. Even if Towns went ballistic in the late going, it still has the potential to be very damaging for Powell; his past could turn out to be ruinous

I for one am willing to redeem Kevin from his wild days of youth, given that he has done some good work amongst inner-city youngsters over the last dozen years or so. He has been a motivational speaker and an inspiring media personality/figure. Yet some see his work in this regard, as being self-serving, egotistic, self-aggrandizing and celebratory; more so than being altruistic. Celebrities have a way of eliciting different feelings from different people; especially when generational gaps become cleavages. Kevin Powell will probably do well amongst those under forty years of age, but those under forty represent fewer than forty per cent of the turnout. Herein, he again has another problem to overcome.

Then there is the question of preparedness: is Kevin Powell prepared to go to congress? Is he boned-up on the contemporary issues? Does he offer imaginative solutions to some of the problems facing us? Can he articulate policy positions with the historical background knowledge of a policy-wonk? We know that he has no experience in government, having not been elected before; and we also know that he never worked for an elected official -as even a community liaison far less chief-of-staff. And then where has he been on issues like the environment, education, the Iraq War, police brutality within the minority communities, economic development and the like? Where does he stand on the Ratner Atlantic Yards project? And so on, and so on. And what about foreign affairs and issues like immigration reform? He has a lot to do to fill in his blank slate; the problem (for him) is that he has very little time to do it. In exactly 8 weeks the voters pull levers.

In the meantime, Ed Towns is a known product. His voting record is long and wide. He has more than a few detractors; that’s true, but he is also unlikely to do something bizarre, amateurish or outlandish, as say some rookie or someone unknown and/or questionable. He has turned out to be relatively safe and steady over the years. He never had a marvelous public relations staff -with the capability of making him look better- but he is quite accessible and nearly always available.

I remember when we used to slam him in the Fort Greene News newspaper that Eric Blackwell published, way back in the early nineties. That was when Niger Campbell, Eric and I, uncovered the fact that there was a high infant mortality rate in the area. We felt that Ed’s responses to that issue (plus high asthma rates) were too slow in coming. He eventually picked up the pace and started responding to issues in the district at a much faster clip. Today he has three constituency offices in three different parts of the horse-shoe shaped congressional district, and a much more aggressive staff than at times before.

In a district where about a quarter of the voters will be white, Towns will get a big head start with the Jewish vote. He should also win the senior vote handily, and he probably has an edge in the Hispanic vote which will then leave him quite close to a resounding victory. As I said before: this is uphill all the way for Powell.

Kevin Powell has a lot to do between now and September 9th to convince many that he is up to scratch, and that he is ready to go to Washington replacing Ed Towns. Many of us are waiting to see what he says and does in this campaign. I know many friends who are supporting him, and they all keep wishing him good luck. Well, he is going to need it: lots of it. Unless he brings out many new voters (youngsters) on Election Day, it will be a hard day’s night.

Stay tuned-in folks; the race has just begun.

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