Did some extensive petitioning today with Jo Anne Simon and John Liu in Park Slope. I was carrying CBID petitions with Jo Anne Simon, John Liu and Norman Siegel. People were pretty responsive, far more so than past petitioning seasons. John Liu even noticed that a lot of young people seemed very interested and eager to talk to him. I suspect the enthusiasm of the Obama election has really made some difference and people, especially young people, are more engaged than ever politically. I hope it lasts. I suspect it will dissipate pretty rapidly, but I hope not.

I noticed a few things today. First of all, just about everyone knows and greatly respects Norm Siegel. Of anyone I have supported running for office, I think he seems to have the greatest name recognition. And that wasn't just among Park Slopers. People who were from Bed-Stuy and Queens who were in the neighborhood also seemed familiar with him. I think if Norm could just tap into this wide range of people who know him from his many years of service in helping people defend their civil liberties, and he could get those people to the polls he'd be doing fine. He will need a strong and organized GOTV strategy, but his name is widely known...far more so than any other name in the race other than Mark Green...and Mark Green's name recognition has some negatives as well as positives.

Somewhat to my surprise, John Liu seemed to come in second for name recognition. Far more people than I expected knew John from personal interactions and community organizing. I have to admit I hadn't paid much attention to him until this election. But his name recognition is quite high for a city councilman and most reactions were quite positive. I also got to watch him interacting with people on 7th Ave and people responded quite well to him.

Now we were in Yassky's own district, but almost across the board people's reactions to Yassky were negative. One person made such a violent gesture when he said how much he hated Yassky that my pen (which I had handed to him to sign a petition) flew from his hand and broke. I have to say I have never seen such a strong negative reaction to a candidate before. And this is his own turf!

But most interesting was the hostile reaction towards Brad Lander. Although I wasn't carrying his petitions, I was wearing my Josh Skaller button. Lots of people when I asked them to sign a petition asked with an odd tone to their voice, "Is this that the Brad Lander race?" I had to explain no it wasn't, but pointed out my Skaller button. I was then told several stories (off the record...sorry no details) about his anger management problems. I was told he has a history of flying off the handle at people. I have heard this occiasionally before, but usually in circumstances where I could understand his being a bit touchy. And I have found his interactions with me hypersensitive and strange, but some people still don't quite know how to react to bloggers. But according to several people I talked to today, Brad has a habit of being overly sensitive to any criticism or to the revelation of information he preferred to keep hidden. I also found that Brad's connection to Dov Hikind is fairly widely known and definitely hurting him in the Park Slope area. A few people specifically brought it up and made it clear it was a deal breaker. Problem with allying yourself with someone like Dov is people in the district don't like Dov Hikind's intolerance. I also found quite a few derisive reactions to his claim of getting Dean's endorsement.

But I also heard some other stories about Brad and I think maybe I didn't make myself clear in an earlier conversation I had with him. I hear Brad believes what I write comes straight from the Josh Skaller campaign and, in fact, that all the stuff written on Room 8 (under the names Chiam Jankel and Hilda something) are my writing as well.

Brad: I already told you no one and no campaign dictates what I write and I run nothing by any campaign. In fact, of all the campaigns I have known people in, Josh's is the most scrupulous about keeping a separation between their campaigning and their interaction with me. Roger Adler and Steve Levin, both of whom I have been far harsher on than I ever have with Brad, never thought I was merely a mouthpiece for a campaign. David Yassky, who perhaps has been the recipient of my harshest criticism other than for Vito Lopez, has never assumed I was merely a mouthpiece for a campaign. Hell, even Vito Lopez and his associates know damned well I speak for no one but myself and when I do use other people's words I give them credit. Not one campaign has EVER even tried dictating what I write, though many campaigns from across the country (including ones I don't even support like Yassky and de Blasio) send me press releases and/or other kinds of email. And yeah...I use information sent to me by a candidate. And yeah, I have conversations with campaigns where I know people. But Brad is the only candidate I have ever met who has thought I was a mouthpiece for a campaign. Get this straight Brad: I am the only one who writes my stuff and no one knows before hand what I am going to write. Some of my sources are actively opposed to Josh Skaller and have been opposed to almost each and every candidate I have supported. But they have info on you, Brad, and they pass it on. Not for Josh's benefit, not for any candidate's benefit. But because they know you and feel this info should be known. But in all cases, I never report a single rumor. I need to either be able to quote someone, have experienced something first hand, or get the same info from more than one source.

In strong contrast to Brad Lander's hypersenstive reactions to what I write, Steve Levin takes it in stride. When he met me he recognized it and was friendly and calm. And when he met one of my neighbors he actually referred to me and my views. Now I may think Steve Levin is part of one of the more corrupt political machines I have ever seen personally. And I called attention to what must have been a moment of weakness when he displayed a rather rude attitude at a political event when he thought no one was paying attention. But I will say that he knows how to deal with people face to face and how to deal with politics without flying off the handle. I don't get the feeling Brad is able to do this. And honestly this surprises me because my initial impression of him was much more favorable than that. I was prepared to speak my support for Josh while recognizing Brad as a good candidate as well. I can advocate for John Liu while recognizing that Weprin also has the finiancial background and temperment to be Comptroller. I was able to advocate for Diane Johnson while recognizing that her opponent was well qualified and merely suffered from an overly strong connection to Vito Lopez. I was able to advocate for Steve Harrison while recognizing McMahon was also a strong candidate who would represent his district well. Brad has not held up to scrutiny. If he wins I will keep an open mind. I found myself overly pessimistic about Hakeem Jeffries but kept an open enough mind to recognize he was better than I had given him credit for. And I keep an open mind about Dan Squadron even though I opposed him, and so far he has held up well to scrutiny. But I am pessimistic about Brad Lander.