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Published on The Daily Gotham (http://dailygotham.com)

The state party still doesn't get it

By Dan Jacoby
Created 21.04.2008 - 18:07

Despite receiving the endorsement from Democracy for America, Jimmy Dahroug still doesn't seem to resonate with the state's Democratic Party leaders.

We've been through this before. A couple of months ago, a NY Times article [1] listed Republican-turned-Democrat Christopher Bodkin as Caesar Trunzo's main Democratic opponent, and didn't even mention Dahroug. After seemingly solving that potential fiasco, it appears the state Dems are at it again. This time, they're back to looking at Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley.

Why? The answer is the usual answer to that question: Money. Foley has a lot in reserve, while Dahroug, despite raising a lot more than he ever has before, is still lagging behind Trunzo.

Of course, if the so-called "leaders" would stop looking like idiots and bother to look at the whole picture, they'd see that Dahroug is an excellent bet to win this time. In 2006, he had to fend off a primary challenge from David Ochoa (who contributed $1,000 to Trunzo two years earlier) and Ricardo Montano. This time, if Foley gets the party backing, Montano will probably run again as well, meaning yet another three-way primary that will drain resources and probably wreck our chance of winning.

Meanwhile, a look at all the numbers shows that Dahroug can easily overcome the 9-point deficit from last time. 2.3% comes from not having David Ochoa on the ballot in November. 4% comes from getting "line A" since there is a Democratic Governor. The rest comes from demographic shifts -- Democrats have been gaining in registration numbers, while Republicans are losing ground.

That doesn't even take into account the fact that Dahroug will have more money to begin with, more money spent in the district by the party, and if he gets the state party backing he'll have a clear shot at Trunzo.

Yup, we can win this one, if only the state party "leaders" take their heads out of their rear ends and look at the entire situation. Otherwise, our best chance to get one of the two seats we need will probably fall by the wayside.


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