DEMS TO BUBBA: IT'S TIME TO PANIC (pol says Clintons' presiding over destruction of Demo party)

NY POST ^ | October 21, 2002 | FREDRIC U. DICKER

[cricket]

Great campaign reminder! Love it! . . .

This is what the Repubs need. . .

[Liz]

Yeah, it's hard to parse this one.

Except maybe the Dem pol who's spilling the beans mighta been back-stabbed and is taking revenge.

[cricket]

"..........I bring good news................"

Great!. . .and now if Clinton would just 'be there' for Frank in New Jersey. . .

[GOPJ]

Well said:

Democrats made a Faustian bargain with Beelzebubba. The note is now due.

[Liz]

Oh please, Bubba. Go campaign for Frank. Please.

[gridlock]

Republican insiders predict Pataki will unleash a furious assault on Golisano within the next few days to drive some of the upstate magnate's growing support back to the governor.

I respectfully disagree with the NYPost on this prediction.

If Pataki unleashes a barrage against Golisano, the only people who will respond are potential McCall voters who will return to their guy. If Pataki did not care who got the votes, Golisano or McCall, this strategy might make some sense. But I think he really does want McCall to come in third.

The people who have abandoned Pataki for Golisano are the more libertarian and low-tax Republicans. These people are never going to go back to a tax-and-spender like Pataki. He just has to write them off.

The other half of Golisano's support are the people who view him as being an attractive alternative who are unsatisfied with their candidate, Carl McCall. Golisano has managed to define himself through his own TV commercials, with very little negative opposition. This makes him look attractive to the people who do not examine things closely. But most of these people are Democrat or Democrat-leaning.

The vast majority of voters that Pataki would dislodge by running attack ads on Golisano are going to go to his opposition. An intensely negative campaign by Pataki on Golisano is the only possible way McCall can get enough votes to win this thing.

Pataki should just keep with what is working. Negative attacks against McCall, to try to disrupt the Democrat vote, combined with positive messages about his own incumbancy, in an attempt to win as many votes as possible and to come close to an absolute majority.

[johnny7]

Isn't it funny how the Clintons told Andy C. to go lay down because they finally realized that McCall was a black guy.

Bill Clinton... the first black president would do what's right. What a total a-hole!

Coumo would have killed for the Clintons. HRC wanted him to win the primary bad.

I think all that nose-candy Billy-boy has done over the years is catching up w/him.

HRC must be livid! HA!

[leadpenny]

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or, the enemy of my friend is my enemy. Or, something like that. This is absolutely good news, but for different reasons than what bill clinton would have us believe. Remember, it's always about bill clinton. Not about hillary, just bill.

Get inside his head for a moment - - a disgusting thought for sure. bill clinton never wanted hillary to be a Senator, let alone have a chance at the Oval Office. It's cramping his style to have her waddling around the Capitol and grabbing cameras and microphones.

bill clinton couldn't care less about McCall. As long as this maneuver keeps hillary out of the White House in '04 or whenever, he'll be satisfied. hillary has to support McCall. bill is supporting him for his own, as usual, selfish reasons.

I still maintain that hillary's biggest threat to higher office, other than herself, is bill. Go bill!

[Cvengr]

"Clinton realized this could be a national humiliation for all New York Democrats."

Indubitably a first for the Party of Self-Esteem. /sarcasm off

[Miss Marple]

As much as I would like to believe this article, I am following my same rule of discounting "unnamed sources." I fear this is a ruse planted by the Clinton camp to try to lull Republicans into complacency and also to try to get Pataki to follow the lure of attacking Golisano.

The clue to this is the "lip-biting" comment. It is just too much ...gilding the lily, if you will.

In addition, if Clinton had been told what this article says, he would have flown into a rage and blamed someone else.

McCall may indeed be in trouble, but I don't think Pataki should attack Golisano. It will further alienate conservatives and do nothing to increase his numbers. I agree with gridlock.

I suspect Pataki is not going to fall for this little charade (dreamed up no doubt by the Clinton camp and using Mr. Dicker as a patsy) and will continue with his successful campaign strategy.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

just what the hell is the independence party?

It is an offshoot of Ross Perot's Reform Party. Golisano was its founder and/or chief financier in New York.

Pataki entered a primary against Golisano for the Indepenence Party line, and Pataki lost by only a few hundred votes, an embarrassment for Golisano considering it was his own party. Golisano spent about $3,000 for every Independence Party primary vote he received!

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Miss Marple, I think you're the greatest, but let's not get too wrapped up in conspiracy theories here. Fred Dicker is the most hard-boiled political reporter in New York, and no one's "patsy".

And not all the sources are unnamed. The column names pollster John Zogby as a source. Yes, Zogby is working for Golisano, so I can understand taking his comments with a grain of salt.

But like him or not he has been an accurate pollster who would certainly not put his reputation on the line lightly for a minor party candidate.

When he says he expects Golisano to finish ahead of McCall, I think it's worthy of some credence.

[Liz]

While I would not go so far to disagree with you, I seriously doubt that the NY Post would allow itself to be duped by the Clintonistas.

Judging from past performances, I can almost hear the NY Post editors saying, " We will not run planted Dem stories in this paper."

And there is a named source mentioned who was in the McCall camp and was fired. The disgruntled former insider types are usually good for a story or two.

[mewzilla]

If Zogby is Tommy G.'s trusted pollster, then that's even more proof that Golisano is just a wholly owned subsidiary of the DNC.

[Liz]

Love it.

[Liz]

Ha. Good take.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Sorry, but I can't agree. Zogby is a Democrat, true, and his brother James Zogby is President of the Arab-American Institute. But John Zogby is, above all, a professional pollster. Like him or not, he has proven to be about the most accurate pollster around.

And since the thrust of this article is that Zogby's man Golisano is destroying McCall, it's hard to see how Golisano is the pawn of the Democrats.

The better explanation of Golisano is a combination of two factors: a rich guy who dislikes Pataki and wants to see his name on TV, and someone who is backed by Donald Trump, to punish Pataki for permitting casinos in NY that will compete with Trump's casinos in Atlantic City.

[Miss Marple]

Going back and reading the story again...after all, I had only started my coffee when I read it. LOL!

[ventana]

You've made the million dollar observation.

[Otta B Sleepin]

For a brief, fleeting, second - I thought the Dem's were going to pull a New Jersey and put Clinton on the ballot since they were losing

My thoughts, exactly.