a.k.a, the senators
He was the Mayor of Yonkers, NY for a long time. I don't know if he is still mayor of Yonkers but he was when I lived there a couple of years ago. Between Pirro, Cox and Spencer - Hillary is going to have a tough time. I'm not saying she won't win but this is not going to be a walk in the park like last time!
Be careful during the debate. Under no circumstances should you approach hillary with a piece of paper in your hand. The feminists, who laud hillary as brave and competent will shrilly howl that such a movement constitutes a percieved assault. hillary will feign freight and you will be villified in the press for frightening that brave woman.
That would be funny if she lost, then lost her run for Pres too.
Running against the Clinton's everything will be made an "issue". Hillary will eviscerate this guy.
Anyone but Clinton!!
(WHITE PLAINS) Former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer said Wednesday that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is preoccupied with a run for the presidency and he would be a better senator for New Yorkers.
Spencer, 58, joined the field of potential Clinton opponents, announcing he is seeking the Republican and Conservative party nominations to oppose her re-election in 2006.
"I would be a better U.S. senator fighting for the people of New York than Hillary Clinton, who I believe is utilizing her time to run for president," Spencer said. "From my experience as a big-city mayor I know that around the state of New York we're not getting from our federal representatives the help our county executives and mayors need."
In response, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said Spencer "is one of several Republicans who have floated their names as possible opponents to Senator Clinton. While the GOP sorts out its candidate, Hillary Clinton is going to continue doing the kind of hard work in the Senate that has won her praise from both Republicans and Democrats across the state."
Spencer's entry into the race further clouds the 2006 picture for the Republicans. His fellow Westchester resident, District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, has said that she will run for some statewide office, perhaps the Senate. Others eyeing the race against Clinton are Edward Cox, a son-in-law of the late President Nixon; former Wall Street public relations executive Adam Brecht; and tax lawyer William Brenner.
Spencer, an anti-abortion Catholic, married his chief of staff, with whom he had two children, in 2003, a month after the end of his 31-year marriage to his first wife.
Asked about a potential primary battle between himself and Pirro, Spencer said, "I wouldn't want to project that because that would only be divisive and helpful to Senator Clinton. Jeanine is an outstanding prosecutor and district attorney.
"At this stage of the game I think we all have to go through a process with the New York State Republican Party and Conservative Party. ... Like a lot of people close to her are saying, I always thought Jeanine wanted to be attorney general, and she'd be a great one."
Spencer, who was mayor from 1996-2003, said he would run on "my life, my record," including pulling Yonkers out from under a state Financial Control Board and federal oversight of its court-ordered desegregation.
"I took over a stagnant city that was in decline and I reversed it," he said. "I changed the image of the city. I revitalized the waterfront. I cut taxes people said couldn't be cut and I improved services."
As to the beleaguered Yonkers schools, Spencer blamed a lack of federal help. As senator, he said, he would coordinate federal aid "and bring it back to Yonkers and Buffalo and Albany and Plattsburgh and Queens."
Spencer, who has his own consulting firm, said his sometimes combative style would be a help rather than a hindrance in his campaign.
"I tell people what I believe," he said. "I'm not a phony about it. If you ask me a question about where I stand I don't give these political answers. Maybe some politicians are uncomfortable with it but I don't believe the people of New York would be."