Free Republic

There he goes again. Carl P. Paladino, the Republican candidate for governor, promised he would be politically incorrect. He wasn’t kidding. On Thursday, during a rally in Hicksville, N.Y., he called the state’s junior United States senator, Kirsten E. Gillibrand, “Schumer’s little girl.” It was an apparent reference to Ms. Gillibrand’s close relationship with Senator Charles E. Schumer, but Mr. Paladino’s dismissive description of the only woman to hold statewide elected office in New York jolted the political world. His comments were reported on the Web site of Newsday and by NY1. Mr. Paladino, a businessman from Buffalo, has previously...

Desperately trying to think of something both positive and credible to say about New York State’s accidental US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out that Gillibrand is the Senate’s “hottest” member. Reid’s remark, made September 20th at a ritzy private Democratic Party fundraiser in Manhattan, was sufficiently unimportant to qualify for massive media coverage. Unfortunately for Senator Gillibrand, part of the fallout from this particular instance of media pursuit of the trivial has been to make many more aware of her and curious about her record. What they are now beginning to discover about this heretofore...

rochester.ynn.com Senate Candidates Debate on YNN Tonight7:55 AMBy: YNN Staff Tonight the candidates vying for the U.S. Senate debate on YNN.Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will face Republican challenger and former Congressman Joe DioGuardi, in a live debate at Sage College in Troy. NY1's Roma Torre and Capital Tonight host Liz Benjamin are among the panelists. The debate airs live at 7 p.m. with a half-hour wrap up show at 8:30 p.m. Copyright © 2009 Time Warner Cable. All Rights Reserved

NEW YORK - Joe DioGuardi, Conservative Party nominee and GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, scored a victory in the U.S. Senate race's first debate today. DioGuardi highlighted his plan to create jobs in New York by putting a greater focus on infrastructure development, cutting wasteful government spending, and improving the federal accounting process. "The people deserve to know exactly who they are voting for," said DioGuardi. "It is no mystery that Gillibrand has been hiding from Empire State voters this entire campaign. Clearly, she wants to hide her flip-flops on issues, her involvement in the subprime mortgage crisis, and...

ALBANY -- Republican Joe DioGuardi slammed rival Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand yesterday for voting twice to raise the federal debt ceiling, and vowed to shut down the government before taking a similar vote. "You are not going to get from me what you got from Kirsten Gillibrand," the accountant and former congressman told a group of business leaders and Republicans. "She gave the Obama administration an open checkbook." [Snip] Gillibrand has twice joined her fellow Democrats to raise the legal limit on the debt the federal government can carry.

YouTube - Joe DioGuardi: The American Dream

If you've been following the New York Senate polls closely for the last year, you've noticed that Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been hovering around 50 percent for most of the past two years. This is dangerous territory for any incumbent to be in - by my count, only three incumbents in the last three years who averaged less than 50 percent in August polling have gone on to win in November... --snip-- Conclusion DioGuardi isn't likely to win, but it certainly is possible. The SurveyUSA poll is a best-case scenario for DioGuardi among current polling, but it nevertheless depicts...

Real Clear Politics thinks so. They have a new article chronicling some of the incumbent Senator's problems in her re-election bid, even though she is in one of the most blue states in the country. A former "Blue Dog" style Democrat the tacked hard to the left after being appointed to Hillary Clinton's old seat last year. She faces a tenacious challenger in Joe DioGuardi-- so it is possible that she might lose. One poll has Gillibrand with only a one point lead. Downstate liberals distrust and look down on this Upstate-living former "moderate" Congresswoman. Furthermore, Upstaters don't like her...

Financially supported by Emily's List snip Voted NO on restricting UN funding for population control policies. Congressional Summary:To require that amounts appropriated for the United Nations Population Fund are not used by organizations which support coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. Proponent's argument to vote Yes: Sen. WICKER (R-MS): This amendment with one issue and one issue only--whether US taxpayer dollars will be provided to help fund coercive population control policies, such as China's one-child policy--a policy that relies on coerced abortion and forced sterilization. snip As it has always done, Kemp-Kasten allows the President to certify that funds are not...

The Constitution provides that each state shall have two senators, not one senator with two votes -- reason enough for New Yorkers to support ex-Rep. Joe DioGuardi over very-junior US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Nov. 2. There is scarcely enough room to slide a slip of paper between Gillibrand and senior Sen. Chuck Schumer -- which speaks poorly enough of them both... --snip-- He's not a household name. But he's running for a two-year term, and would have to face the voters again in 2012. At the very least, DioGuardi deserves a chance to prove he's up to the job. Kirsten...

Desperately trying to think of something both positive and credible to say about New York State's accidental U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid blurted out that Gillibrand is the Senate's "hottest" member. Reid's remark, made on September 20 at a ritzy private Democratic Party fundraiser in Manhattan, was sufficiently unimportant to qualify for massive media coverage.     Unfortunately for Senator Gillibrand, part of the fallout from this particular instance of media pursuit of the trivia has been to make New York State residents more aware of her and curious about her record. What they are now beginning...

Drew Angerer/AP Photo Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Back in happier days for Democrats, say early 2009 when New York Gov. David Paterson chose Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton in the Senate, it was thought her pro-gun and fiscal hawk stands and her ties to a conservative part of the state would give her a general-election edge. And it still may. But a recent Quinniapiac University poll showed Gillibrand with just a six-point lead over Tea Party-backed Republican Joseph DioGuardi in a survey of likely voters, with the senator at 48 percent and her GOP challenger at 42 percent. What's...

Would you ever call Senator Kirsten Gillibrand hot? I would not for two reasons: 1. I have respect for the United States Senate, and would never use such a term to describe a member of the honorable institution. 2. Ms.Gillibrand, with all due respect, is not within 10,000 miles of "hot". Once a woman (or a man) hits 40 years of age - "hot" leaves the room.

Will someone please throw Harry Reid into the nearest cold shower? The Nevada Democrat set eyeballs rolling the other night at Mayor Bloomberg's townhouse when he said of New York's unelected junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand: "We in the Senate refer to Sen. Gillibrand as the hottest member." Whereupon Gillibrand reportedly turned a bright red -- suggesting that the Senate's most accomplished flip-flopper is capable of embarrassment after all. Which is more than can be said for Reid. The Senate majority leader's list of gaffes and goofs is legendary. Remember when he referred to Barack Obama as having "no Negro dialect,...

In what seems to be a Democratic stronghold, New York may yet have a race in it. Incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, who analysts have said had an insurmountable lead, is now only ahead of Republican Joseph DioGuardi by 10%, according to the nation's most accurate polling service, Rasmussen. Previously, DioGuardi was much further behind Gillibrand in the polls. In early September alone, he was down by 20%. He has cut the lead in half. Considering the amazing upsets that have already happened this year, most notably Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, it is not inconceivable that DioGuardi could bridge the gap...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had an unusual form of praise for New York's junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, this morning at the fundraiser Mayor Bloomberg hosted for him at his townhouse - referring to her as "the hottest member" as she sat just a few feet away, according to three sources. The comment prompted Gillibrand to turn red, according to the sources, and created a bit of stir among the small crowd there. "It was pretty shocking when he said it," said one source familiar with the remark and the reaction. A Reid spokesman confirmed it happened, but also noted...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tweeted Monday afternoon that she had just spoken with Lady Gaga, who has been lobbying the Senate ahead of Tuesday’s vote on a defense authorization bill that includes a repeal provision for “Don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT). “[I] thanked her for her advocacy,” said Gillibrand. “I asked her to keep pushing for DADT repeal.” Gaga had left a message with Gillibrand last week, prompting the senator to reach out on Twitter for another time to talk. The Grammy Award-winning pop icon attended a rally in Portland, Maine, on Monday with veterans discharged by the DADT policy,...

Former Rep. Joseph DioGuardi of New York won the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in November’s election. With 85 percent of the precincts counted in yesterday’s primary, DioGuardi had 42 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press. David Malpass, a former Bear Stearns Cos. chief economist, had 38 percent and Bruce Blakeman, a lawyer, had 20 percent. DioGuardi, 69, represented the northern New York City suburbs in the House from 1985 to 1989. He and Gillibrand, 43, are running to serve the two years remaining in the term won in 2006 by Hillary Clinton,...

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been endorsed for election by a leading gun control group, two years after earning a top rating from the National Rifle Association. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence notes that Gillibrand had been an NRA favorite when she was an upstate congresswoman in a Republican district. But the group says that in less than two years as an appointed U.S. senator, she has become a leader in what the Brady group calls sensible gun laws. Gillibrand accepted the endorsement on Aug. 12, saying it reflects her opposition to illegal guns...

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Ran into Gail Goode — who is challenging Kirsten Gillibrand for her Senate seat in the Democratic primary — in Congress Park Friday afternoon. She is in town for the weekend and will be shaking hands at the Tom Petty concert Friday and at the Travers Saturday. "I think it's very important that people know that 45,000 people put me on the ballot," she said, contrasting that with the "one person" — Gov. David Paterson — who put Gillibrand in her seat to replace Hillary Clinton. "I think it's very important for New Yorkers to know that...