Posted on 05/25/2010 3:14:31 PM PDT by StatenIsland
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Vito Fossella running for Congress could actually help President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party hold on to the House this fall, a Republican consultant said.
"If Vito runs, he instantly becomes the national Democrats' poster boy for what's wrong with the Republican Party," said Brooklyn GOP strategist Gerry O'Brien. "They'll raise millions of dollars using Vito Fossella, and hammer every Republican candidate in every state in the country."
Fossella has yet to say if he will run after being endorsed by the Staten Island GOP's executive committee last week. The party's county committee would have to ratify the endorsement at its convention on Thursday night.
But seeing as the county committee is stacked with Fossella family members, friends and fans, most observers agree that the nomination would be Fossella's for the asking.
But O'Brien said the turf won't be as friendly if Fossella wins a GOP primary and is the candidate against Rep. Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) in the fall.
"This would be the best thing to happen to the Democrats since Obama," said O'Brien. "This would be a national effort."
Fossella left the House after a DUI conviction led to revelations that he fathered a child during an affair.
Said O'Brien, "He's representing the party of family values by going out and having two families."
O'Brien said that GOP candidates across the country, including District Attorney Daniel Donovan, who is running for New York attorney general, would be asked where they stood on Fossella.
"It would be a nightmare for them," O'Brien said.
Democrats would also draw the contrast between Fossella and Indiana GOP Rep. Mark Souder, who resigned recently after admitting to an affair with a staffer.
"In two days, he was gone," O'Brien said. "Yet here we are, two years into the Vito soap opera."
"This would not be a good move for the party's bid to take back the seat," said one off-Island Republican. "People want an outsider, not a career politician, especially not one with his baggage. I think the writing's on the wall."
Democrats sounded practically giddy at the thought of Fossella's candidacy.
The Politico website reported that Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, "smirked" in response to a question about a Fossella comeback.
"If he were to run, it would just be one more example of retread candidates on the other side," said Van Hollen (D-Md.) "I think we would welcome the competition."
Van Hollen was among those who recruited McMahon to run in 2008 and campaigned with McMahon here during the race.
Just another reason to bug out of this state...
Like anybody cares that a guy had a child in an adulterous affair. This is the 21st Century. While I’m still married to the same woman after many years and do not approve or adultery or drunk driving, if this is the best the Dems can do, they’ve got problems. Especially when their boy, Billy Bob Clinton got a blow job in the Oval Office from a “near child”.....give me a break.
Is Molinari still the puppeteer?
If Vito is the Republican candidate I will change my registration to Independent
After the failure of the national campaign to properly vet and challenge 0bammy in ‘08, this would be another example of how ‘inside the beltway’ they have become.
Exactly what do they stand for?
Republican voters hold our politicians to higher standards, and in case we ever forget to do so, the Rahm-controlled media will be happy to remind us - THEY hold Republican politicians to far higher standards too.
Any Republican politician who has an affair (Mark Souder, e.g.) is expected to resign immediately. Meanwhile Barney ButtBoy Frank (D-MA) can sodomize every underage page in D.C. and the voters in his district heartily approve while the media looks elsewhere for scandal.
Consider how stupidly desperate the Hussein Cult has become: they’ve ruined the economy with their stimulus and bailouts, angered Americans with their Fascist Healthcare and attitude, pissed on our relation with Israel, kissed the ass of terrorists in Iran and at GITMO, bowed to tyrants and Saudi royalty, called those who want to protect our borders racists....
AND THEY THINK THEIR SAVIOR HUSSEIN is going to win because some guy named VITO is thinking of running again.
The delusion is incredible.
If the Staten Island Republicans put Fossella up again, they’ve lost their minds.
This Vito guy should campaign on the issues. Let the Dems bring up his past and try to stick other Republicans with it. At this point, I don’t care if the guy barbecued a kitten.
I must be tired. At first, I saw, “Stalin Island Republicans”
Except I never heard of the guy. Must have been a local thing.
Well, then, if the Republicans do have “higher standards” than the Dems, this guy should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER get the nomination. If he does, that disproves your statement.
Who is Vito Fossella? Never heard of him so have to assume he isn’t that important?
How they can possibly feel that Fossella is their best chance to take back the seat is beyond me, unless (as happens so often) the party hacks who run the show think it's better to have a puppet candidate like Vito than to take a chance on an actual conservative (oh the horror!) who isn't beholden to a bunch of worthless GOP "leaders".
See also: NY-23.
I understand. Maybe someone should send them this article; it might open their eyes. Probably not, but it’s worth a try.
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