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. Finally, second place candidate David Yassky spent a whopping $109 per vote he received. I kind of feel good that the voters in my district couldn't be bought so easily. Seriously, it reall does speak well of Yvette's campaign and indicates some serious problems with the campaigns of Carl and David.