Psst. There's a Race for Senator. (Schumer, the chief obstructionist on Bush's judicial nominees)

New York Times ^ | October 5, 2004 | CLYDE HABERMAN

[OESY]

If you come closer, we will whisper one of the political season's best-kept secrets. Ready? Here goes. Four weeks from today, an election will be held in New York for United States senator.

This obscure fact was uncovered through crackerjack investigative reporting. We looked at a calendar. Otherwise, who would have known?

It is one thing to be ignored in presidential elections. New Yorkers got over that one a long time ago. We recognize that this Democratic city isn't in play at the national level. Our role is to provide visiting presidential candidates with television studios and lots of rich people willing to have their pockets picked. Then we are supposed to go away. We know better than to expect something as weird as actual campaigning among honest-to-goodness New Yorkers.

But who knew that our own Senate race would operate the same way?

This has been a stealth election campaign in the city, with no debates and until yesterday no television advertising. Odds are strong that few New Yorkers can even name the Republican candidate. He might as well be called the unknown soldier.

You probably recognize the Democratic incumbent, Senator Charles E. Schumer, if only because he makes himself hard to miss even without traditional campaigning. Every weekend, just about, Mr. Schumer holds a news conference to talk about this or that. He is partial to Sundays, which are slow news days. He can do almost anything short of reading the phone book aloud and count on grabbing air time and newspaper space.

There are those who find this Sunday habit somewhat tacky for a senator. Mr. Schumer has shown himself to be sensitive, even touchy, when teased about it. But the tactic works.

He has $21 million in campaign contributions, and it wasn't until yesterday that his re-election campaign bothered spending even a penny on television advertising. Why pay when you can get on the air free? As for possible debates, the Schumer camp shows no sense of urgency even with Election Day less than a month away.

The Republican contender - you didn't really think we would leave him unnamed, did you? - is Howard Mills, an assemblyman from Orange County.

He is usually referred to in print, when mentioned at all, as a little-known assemblyman from Orange County. But why be unkind? Everyone knows that he stands as much chance of beating Mr. Schumer as Saddam Hussein does of breaking out of jail this week. A Quinnipiac University poll suggests that he may struggle to keep from finishing third, behind the Conservative Party candidate, Dr. Marilyn F. O'Grady.

How invisible has Mr. Mills been? Even his own party leader, President Bush, barely found something to say about him at a rally in the city last week. "I wish Howard Mills all the best in his race for the United States Senate," the president said. That was it. The Minnesota Twins can expect a warmer reception at Yankee Stadium when the baseball playoffs begin tonight.

What we have is not an election but the appearance of an election.

THAT is typical of New York, even in statewide races that you might think would ignite serious competition between the two major parties. Instead, one of them, usually the Republican Party, often throws in the towel, offering token opposition. It was true pretty much every time Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan ran for re-election. It is true this year.

Not for nothing are New York campaigns sometimes likened to Soviet-style politics. Even top Republicans, including Senator John McCain when he ran for president in 2000, have made the comparison.

"For certain offices, it's a one-party state," said Douglas Muzzio, a professor of public policy at Baruch College. "There's an overpowering incumbency that just stifles competition. The system is calcified for incumbents. It's geared for them."

At the district level, the situation is, if anything, grimmer. "Competitive races are a rarity anywhere in this city," said Fred Siegel, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, a research group. One result is voter apathy, and that suits the professionals just fine. "Both political parties are happy with low turnouts," Mr. Siegel said, "because they can turn out the voters they need."

So in this climate Mr. Schumer no more worries about staying in office than Leonid Brezhnev once did.

On second thought, perhaps comparing New York politics to the Soviet system is unfair. Moscow at least showed a capacity for change.

[Popman]

You probably recognize the Democratic incumbent, Senator Charles E. Schumer, if only because he makes himself hard to miss even without traditional campaigning.

They say the most dangerous place in New York is the straight line between Chuckie Schumer and the T.V. camera.

Not one mention of Hillary. How did that happen! Someone is going to Pay!!!

[Roccus]

How did Hillary happen? The Republican party in NY left Lazio(sp?) twisting in the wind.
The Republican party in NY is so far underground that it has to look up in order to look down.

[dangus]

The fact that the Conservative Party did not endorse him is probably quite telling. The Conservative Party seeks to make sure that the New York Republican Party does not go the way of Lowell Weicker's Connecticut Republican Party or Linc Chafee's Rhode Island Republican Party. It has done a great service in this regard.

At the same time, the Conservative Party is hardly comprised of ideological purists. They have supported Rudy Giuliani and George Pa-tax-i. There are hard-core leftists in the Republican Party. They often disguise themselves just enough to confuse Republicans while they deliberately destroy the conservative movement (Bill Weld, Christine Todd Whitman). Or they just take over local party committees, preventing the selection of conservatives. It is such people that the Conservatives will not endorse.