Interested in assisting the defeat of Vito Fossella, NYC’s only GOP member of Congress, I’ve been watching developments in NY’s 13th CD (Staten Island & parts of Brooklyn) from a distance. Ten days ago, or so, I attended an event on Staten Island where I met Steve Harrison and many of his SI supporters. To keep up on events in this race try NY13 Blog Retaking NY-13 From Vito Fossella or you could try Richard Reichard's Rm 8 Blog (not kept quite so up to date).

I liked Harrison. He seemed articulate, focused; ready for prime time. The gossip of the gathering, however, was the rumor that some progressive Democrats – for example State Senator Diane Savino -- were supporting the possible candidacy of NYC Council Member Domenic Recchia.

I asked Savino, a progressive trade unionist and formerly Working Families Party activist why she would consider supporting Recchia in 2008 when she’d supported Harrison vigorously in 2006. The rumor specifically was that Senator Savino was introducing Council Member Recchia to her SI friends and supporters.

She said:

For me, the question is which of them can win. On their worst day, either Steve or Domenic would be better much than Vito Fossella. Electing either Harrison or Recchia would be a great victory. I campaigned hard for Steve in 2006 and, if he’s the candidate in 2008, will do so again.

Domenic’s Council district overlaps a lot of my Senate district so I know him well. My sense is that he would be a more formidable candidate than Steve.

The way I judge that is by the candidates’ fund raising abilities. In January, I met with Steve and more recently with Domenic. I told them the same thing. You need to show that you can raise enough money for the race. I believe that a truly formidable candidate will have raised in the neighborhood of $500,000 by the end of the Quarter [Jan. 15, I think]. I think Domenic can do that. The reason the race will be so expensive is the need to reach out to SI voters by mail and TV ads.