This comes from Steve Harrison:

I’d like to invite you all to a fundraiser for Debi Rose at my home this coming Wednesday. That’s right, THIS Wednesday, January 14th, 8PM, 317 79th Street, Brooklyn. Light fare will be served. (RSVP ... 917-971-3180).

So who’s Debi Rose and why such short notice?

Debi is running for the City Council seat in Staten Island recently vacated by Michael McMahon who was elected to Congress. Only last week the Mayor set a Special Election for February 24th - hence the fast action.

I’m inviting quite a number from Staten Island who already know and support Debi.

But if you’re one of the many I’m inviting from Brooklyn you’re probably asking, “Why do I care about a Council election in Staten Island?”

Well, Staten Island and Southwest Brooklyn are actually joined at the hip. We share four political districts. But here’s the thing – Staten Island is the majority in each of those districts and in each case the elected official comes from Staten Island. True, we have some great elected officials here in Brooklyn, but it's good to make friends across the bridge. We need all the help we can get.  read more »

I hadn't heard about this incident until now, but seems there were three or four Staten Island losers who were so outraged that (GASP!) a black man won the election that they went on a rampage beating up and insulting black men. [UPDATED at bottom with more info from Staten Island Advance...thanks to Daniel Millstone!]

From Salon.com:

Three white New Yorkers, riled by Barack Obama's victory, spent election night hunting down black people to beat up and yelling insults about the president-elect, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The men beat a Liberian immigrant teen, pushed a black man to the ground and drove their car over a white man they thought was black, according to the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.

Yes, you heard right. These not too bright individuals hit a white guy thinking he was black. Shows you the intelligence level of your average racist.

A fourth defendant was expected to separately plead guilty to unspecified charges, according to law enforcement officials...  read more »

[Ed. Note: for residents of parts of the world other than The Rock, please go here to attend your own platform session. The Queens session is today, Manhattan tomorrow, Brooklyn on July 29th, and you're well advised to RSVP]

This was sent to be by a friend who was a Green until Barack talked her into being a Dem again. Steve Harrison is attending...Mike McMahon is blowing it off (in the Recchia tradition?). Barack Obama's campaign in Staten Island:

Staten Island for Barack Newsletter
July 21, 2008
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Help SHAPE The Democratic Party's Platform for Change: Come To Staten Island For Obama's Platform for Change WITH Congressional Candidates Open House on Thursday, July 24th from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
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Traditionally, the platform of a political party is written by paid professionals and then presented to the American people. This year, this is going to change. As the presumptive nominee, Senator Obama is now the leader of the Democratic Party, and he has asked for OUR input as to creating a platform for the Party. On Thursday, July 24th, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Staten Island for Obama is hosting a SHAPE The Democratic Party's Platform for Change/Meet the Congressional Candidates Reception and Open House.

Steve Harrison. Mike McMahon. You've heard their names, you've read about their positions. Both candidates have been invited to join us for this important forum that will decide the future of the Democratic Party. Now you can meet them and ask the questions YOU want answered (Mike McMahon is unable to attend but will either send a representative or provide a written statement).

This event will be held at Teri's Staten Island HQ, located at 6 Plank Road in Bull's Head, Staten Island from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 24th. Please JOIN US as we discuss how Barack Obama and his campaign can move country forward and discover how we can move our Congressional District to the final Democratic Congressional District in New York City by talking to the Democratic candidates themselves. Please R.S.V.P. at Platform for Change WITH Congressional Candidates, or by contacting Chris McCreight at chris@brooklynforbarack.org, (773) 771-6369.

Please join us as we learn more about our future representatives and create the platform that will be presented at the Democratic Convention in August. A few participants may even be invited to appear and testify at the National Hearing and at the Convention! We can write the next chapter in the history of not only the Democratic Party, but of OUR 13th Congressional District.

Per the Advance, flag-burning amendment afficionado and rumored Iraq War waffler Michael McMahon has raised half a million clams in his pursuit of the seat of retiring Congressman Vito 'Family Values' Fossella.

The McMahon campaign touted the deluge of donor dollars as proof that the term-limited councilman has the support to win the congressional seat, although the campaign won't officially file papers with the Federal Election Commission until the July 15 deadline.

McMahon's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Brooklyn lawyer Stephen Harrison, admitted that his campaign has raised far less -- about $150,000, according to his best estimate.[...]

"If dollars could vote, he wins," said Harrison. "But they don't. It's a classic grassroots campaign against a machine campaign, and we'll see what happens."

It'll be interesting to see what McMahon's money looks like come July 15th. My guess would be that his filing will include a large number of $5,000 PAC checks and $2,300 maxed-out bigshot donors. Meanwhile, of course, Harrison's rather more meager filing speaks to that perennial challenge to New York Progressives, who often enough treat raising money as an afterthought. Some of us, and I'm not saying Steve is one of them, really seem to think elections are won merely by the blazing rightness of our ideas. Over here in the real world, that's unfortunately not the way it works.

It is to weep.

CQ Politics, the blog of the Congressional Quarterly, cites republican dysfunction and the larger environment, hostile as it is to the party of George Bush, in upgrading the NY-13 race from No Clear Favorite to Democrat Favored.

This big rating jump means there is still enough of a Republican base in New York City’s sole GOP-held House district to enable the party to bounce back if it can find a new candidate to rally around — but that the Democrats now look increasingly likely to take a seat that looked like a long shot when the campaign year began.

Already reeling from the political demise of one-time rising star Fossella, the GOP effort fell into chaos when Frank Powers — the former Wall Street executive who party officials had tapped to run in Fossella’s stead — died suddenly of a heart attack on June 22. Republican officials from the New York City boroughs of Staten Island, which makes up three-quarters of the district’s population, and Brooklyn, which makes up the rest, have thus far failed to agree on their next fill-in candidate.

I suspect that that's somewhat prematurely optimistic, because the GOP will agree on a candidate at some point. But there's probably never been a better year to free the district from its unnatural representation by the same people who twice nominated George Bush. Of course, the Democratic primary in that district now becomes even more important. And on that note, I'd merely mention that flag-burning amendments to the Constitution are wrong, really wrong, and more wrong.