I listen to a lot of urban radio (I'm sitting here enjoying the hell out of Wendy Williams as I type this) and I can't help but be bummed by the Freddy Ferrer radio spots I've been hearing. I want to start by saying that despite the fact that I think Bloomberg is an okay guy, I will not vote for Bloomberg. What ever he may believe in his heart, he is raising gobs of money for the enemy and in my book that is unforgiveable. So I keep waiting and hoping for Ferrer to impress and give me a reason to vote for him. But he hasn't. Now in all fairness, his radio spots have improved. The first one was one of those "meet the candidate" type spots whose theme was how Ferrer pulled himself up by the bootstraps and made himself into someone. Frankly, I don't care about his past and I don't feel like I need to know about his hard-knock childhood. Seriously, this is a tired theme that was beat to its final death in the recent presidential campaign with John Edward's 18 millionth mention of his father's tough life as a millworker. Ferrer's latest spot is better. It's an attack on New York's educational system and it charges that blacks and latinos are getting screwed as reflected by high drop-out rates. Still, this is an ad I wanted to hear six months ago not two months before the election. I'm feeling shades of the Kerry campaign and it bums me out. I know Ferrer is a good man who did great things in the Bronx and yet like the Kerry campaign, Ferrer seems to be stumbling along in fits and starts. The heart of who he, what he's accomplished and what he wants to accomplish is not getting through to me. It's like hearing the feint sounds of an outdoor concert from six blocks away--it sounds like it might be good, but you're just not sure. Now the other night at the Kossak meetup, Liza and I were talking and she told me that she thinks it's a travesty that this campaign has been essentially abandoned by the party. Even Sharpton, who has an opinion on EVERYTHING, has opted out on endorsing a candidate. Liza said she thinks it reflects greater problems within the party. I don't know about that. Sure, the party has lots and LOTS of issues, but I dont' see Ferrer as one of them. Not to be harsh, but I think in this case, politicians--who are generally obsessed with power--are seeing this contest a lot like they see New York's two baseball teams. I don't know about you, but if I were thinking about getting my hands on high-profile post-season seats, I would NOT be wasting my time cozying up with Mets management. p.s. Funny, as I'm finishing this up, I'm hearing Bloomberg's comeback radio spot education commercial, which basically tears Ferrer's spots to shreds. That didn't take long.