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Stung By Close Loss, More Election Finger-Pointing From Dems
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 5, 2009
Modified Nov 5, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 5, 2009
Modified Nov 5, 2009
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The oh-so-close mayoral race continues to be thorn in many Democrats' side—and many are bitter. State Senator Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) tells the NY Times, “Bill Thompson was always closer than people thought, and on our side, if people had been behind him more, there would have been more checks, more endorsements, more attention, and that might have made the difference. It really is disgraceful that a lot of people in the Democratic Party stayed home or kept their checkbooks closed."
Barbara Fife, deputy mayor under David Dinkins, referred directly to President Obama, noting his lack of direct help (Obama made three, ultimately futile, trips to support defeated NJ Governor Corzine), "He made people feel this was not winnable; Bill got lumped in with Paterson in many minds. Obama had lists he could have given, and support. But he never said boo."
An "Obama insider" told the Daily News, "It was a sleeper race. No one thought it was going to be a close race, especially Bloomberg... There is an argument to be made that a lot of Bloomberg's voters stayed home because they didn't think it was close." But the insider admitted, "[Bloomberg's] an ally, so I'm not sure we would have spent the political capital. Obama didn't even put out a statement endorsing [Thompson]. That tells you how we feel about Bloomberg."
Tagged
bill thompson
Comptroller Thompson
election 2009
mayor bloomberg
president obama
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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