I have often bemoaned the influence of big money in NYC politics, seeing as even more of a factor here, where the media markets are so expensive, than nationally. But this year's rather expensive and contentious CD-11 race seems to indicate I am wrong, at least in some cases.

At Chris Owens' New Brooklyn Leadership kick off party, Chris mentioned some interesting figures. If you look at what the four candidates in the Democratic Primary for CD-11, you see an interesting breakdown. Yvette Clarke and Chris Owens, the winner and the last place candidates, each spent just under $40 per vote they received, if I heard correctly. For Broolyn that sounds like a real bargain! It speaks well of these two candidates and, for Yvette, the power of union suppot, and, for Chris, the power of the Brooklyn grassroots when it can get itself going. Carl Andrews, third place candidate, endorsed by Eliot Spitzer and backed by Brooklyn's corrupt Democratic Clarence Norman/Vito Lopez machine, spent around $50 per vote received. You'd think with the backing of Spitzer and the machine Carl could have done better.  read more »

Democrats now have to unite to defeat Bush and to fight for a better America. We need to unite to win the NY-13 district from Vito Fossella and to win the State Senate. In CD-11 we have had a divissive primary, but now is the time to unite.

Morkfrombrooklyn in another diary made an excellent suggestion and I am trying to make it happen. He suggested an event where all camps in CD-11 unite. Here is my letter to as many people as I could think of who were involved in the CD-11 race:

The CD-11 district has just gone through a very difficult primary. Four good candidates vied for one spot, and congratulations to Yvette Clarke for her win.

I am a blogger for the Daily Gotham, and in the course of the discussion and venting over the primary, someone came up with a great idea: a Unity Rally for our district.

No matter our differences over who should represent the district, we all recognize that it is far more important that Democrats unite against the extremely dangerous Bush agenda. Now is the time to express that unity. Now is the time for all four camps to get together and express their vision for a better America. Too often Democrats have been divided in their fight to better America and to stop the Bush agenda. Let's stand up for the environment, for energy independence, for a fair deal for workers and small businesses and families, for education, for equality, for diplomatic solutions, and for fair and accurate elections. Let's stand up for America.  read more »

Oh my, oh my ... I think I will owe my future success as a political satirist to Ms. Yvette Clarke.

U.S. HOUSE - DISTRICT 11
Precincts Reported: 506 of 523

Yvette D. Clarke(D) 14306 (30%)
David S. Yassky(D) 12314 (26%)
Carl Andrews(D) 10443 (22%)
Chris Owens(D) 9210 (19%)
[via 7Online.com]

No winner has been called yet.

I blame Carl Andrews.

It's 10:24 pm

Precincts Reported: 207 of 523
David S. Yassky(D)5739 (31%)
Yvette D. Clarke(D)4844 (26%)
Carl Andrews(D)3954 (21%)
Chris Owens(D)3579 (19%)

[via 7Online.com]:

Joy and I have now covered several more Election Districts in Park Slope. Earlier I reported how surprised I was at how few people I was finding in the North and South ends of Park Slope, finding people open to all three of the other candidates. Only in Central Slope (my neighborhood) did I find solid Yassky supporters in any numbers.

Today we spent a condiderable amount of time in Central Slope, only a couple of EDs over from the one where we found many Yassky supporters. In that ED we found not a single solid Yassky supporter. Not one. We found solid Chris supporters, undecided and lean Yassky. Each and every person we talked to was very open to considering Chris.

What we have found after being in a good dozen EDs across the Slope is that Yassky has never solidified his base in the Slope and the Slope is up for grabs.

Don't get me wrong. Never underestimate what $1.2 million can do. But so far it hasn't sewn up the Slope.