Results tagged “bensmith”

Senators and rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama met at the University of Texas in Austin tonight for the CNN/Univision debate. The debate was less a showdown than an "agree to disagree" type affair. You can read a transcript here and clips will start to appear, but, per Austinist, here are some of best lines of the night:

“I have to confess, I was somewhat amused, the other night, when, on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama's supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn't.” -- Clinton

Continue reading "Texas Hold 'Em: Clinton, Obama Debate in Austin"

Barack Obama won yesterday's Maine caucus, with about 57-60% of the vote to Hillary Clinton's approximate 40-42%. This makes Obama's fourth win in a row, after sweeping the Democratic contests in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington yesterday.

John Edwards will drop out of the presidential primary race. The Caucus finds symmetry in the announcement, since Edwards will give "a speech this afternoon at the same place where he began this campaign — in New Orleans." Which now means the path is cleared for a full-tilt boogie Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama fight for delegates and the nomination. We also expect some wooing from Clinton and Obama for Edwards' delegates.

Just in time for last night's Republican debate, political website Politico broke a story claiming that former mayor Rudy Giuliani billed "obscured city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses" for extra-marital Hamptons trips with future wife Judith Nathan. When Giuliani would travel outside the city, he would be accompanied by a police detail. And if he stayed overnight, the police would also need lodging and other expenses taken care of. Politico...

Earlier this week, the Daily News looked at the YouTube video showing a classic meltdown at the Kensington Post Office. A man, frustrated about the service, yells, "Get the manager over here! I want the manager. We'll see how long you have your job, sweetie." An employee says, "Who the hell do you think you are?" only for the man to reply, "I'm the customer, you stupid bitch." Yeah, that sounds about right.

Team Giulani is on the defensive offensive after the Daily News revealed what was written in a presidential planning binder left behind by a Giuliani aide. Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel calls it a "dirty trick" that someone has played. From the Daily News:

"This is clearly a dirty trick," said Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel. "The voters are sick and tired of this kind of thing."

Continue reading "Finger Pointing About Giuliani's Lost Prez Plans"

It's a late holiday gift for us all - "140 pages of printed text, handwriting and spreadsheet" explaining the inner-workings of Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign! The Daily News' Ben Smith has the scoop on the secret plans, thanks to what can only be called a major mistake:

The document was obtained by the Daily News from a source sympathetic to one of Giuliani's rivals for the White House. The source said it was left behind in one of the cities Giuliani visited as he campaigned for dozens of Republican candidates in the weeks leading up to the November 2006 elections.

Continue reading "Giuliani's Unintentional Leave Behind"

Via The Daily Politics, the City of New York has created its own Google-type map with all sorts of information overlaid to show you the nearest services.

Whoa, it's a good news, bad news day for the Campaign of Fiscal Equity's attempt to get more money for New York City Schools. The NY State Court of Appeals just ruled that NY State should pay an additional $1.93 billion a year in public school funding to New York City. That sounds great, except that other courts had previously ruled that NYC deserved $4-6 billion. But since the Court of Appeals is the state's highest court, this ruling will probably stick. From the NY Times:

“The lower courts were wrong,” [State Senator Joseph] Bruno said today. “They were out of their jurisdiction. They were doing things that were inappropriate. They were literally fooling the public by pretending that a lot of money was going to flow, billions and billions.”

Continue reading "Court Rules NYC Schools Should Get $1.93 Billion"

Hill-arious! Republican Senate hopeful John Spencer denied telling Daily News reporter Ben Smith that he thought opponent Hillary Clinton was ugly and probably had plastic surgery. Spencer did admit to noticing how Clinton's style had changed, but says he never questioned Bill Clinton's decision to marry.

That thud you heard this afternoon? The jaws of Jeanine Pirro's campaign staffers. It turns out that Republican candidate for NY State Attorney General Pirro is under state and federal criminal investigation. WNBC's Jonathan Dienst had the scoop: State and federal agencies were looking into whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband, who she suspected might be cheating on her. (Well, he did father a love child a couple years into their marriage.)

The Daily News' Ben Smith looks at a possible stumbling block for Rudy Giuliani's presidential hopes. And it would be a big one. With September 11 fire responders falling ill and memos about the Giuliani administration opening downtown earlier, in spite of EPA warnings, becoming a bigger and bigger story this year, some who hope for "Giuliani 2008" are concerned that Rudy could be vulnerable, the way John Kerry was when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth emerged in the last presidential election. Smith writes:

Many of the workers who spent time near Ground Zero, including at least one of his top aides, have come down with respiratory and other illnesses doctors link to the air quality following the attacks. Giuliani and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman have traded blame over the fact that more workers didn't wear respirators. But it was Giuliani's old rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who helped organize research into the health impact of the towers' collapse.

Continue reading "Giuliani's Potential "Swift Boat" "

- The "Trouble with Vito" series in the Daily News continues! Now it's a suspect photo of Congressman Vito Fossella with Sesame Street's Elmo and Rosito that has appeared in both re-election media and a "taxpayer-financed constituent mailing." Fossella's people say that muppet picture and other were "indvertently" used on a reelection website. Inadvertently or advertently so the Daily News could plaster it on the front page?

The plot thickens with revelations as to why mayoral wannbe and rabblerouser Christopher X. Brodeur was arrested yesterday: Brodeur had apparently been leaving threatening voicemails for Ben Smith, a political reporter for the Observer, because Brodeur was unhappy with a post Smith wrote on the Observer's political blog, The Politicker. Gothamist isn't sure which column Brodeur didn't like (was it this one, noting that Bronx primary votes meant for Fernando Ferrer went to Brodeur instead), but something was enough to make CXB leave this message for Smith: "I could shoot you in the f- - -ing face. I'd be a hero like Bernhard Goetz." And then Broduer would advocate for squirrels? No, thank you. The police are investiating Brodeur's threats to another reporter. And we'll expect another crazed missive from CXB in a few hours.

With a day to think about Tuesday night's Democratic debate, people are wondering what will happen at the next debate. Will the candidates be able to emerge as distinct candidates? The NY Times has the optimistic outlook, with pundits thinking that things can only get more exciting. Well, we can always hope the candidates will wander off message - our bet's on C. Virginia Fields to do that first. But Fields did sound the first more critical salvo (this side of Anthony Weiner calling Fernando Ferrer's plans from the '70s), essentially calling Weiner and Gifford Miller weak for saying NYC is better now than it was four years ago ("Why are they running now?"), which is clever in that "make the two white, middle class guys seem the same" mode. Mayor Bloomberg is on the attack, even though his approval numbers are extremely high (for him), by holding up a picture of Gifford Miller and saying the City Council Speaker has yet to pass the noise code he said he would pass over a year ago. Miller says that the Mayor should just do his own job and answer the questions he and other Council members asked. Yeah, we're kind of glazing over this too.

The first official Democratic candidate mayoral debate took place last night with all four candidates, including Congressman Anthony Weiner who had been passed a kidney stone earlier in the day. After that, we can only imagine the debate was a walk in the park! The NY Times has a transcript of the debate, but there's nothing like seeing City Council Speaker Gifford Miller get all pissy when asked if he would send his kids to public school (they attend private pre-K now). Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer tried to redirect criticism from himself to the Mayor, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields was the only candidate to eagerly say she wanted the Reverend Al Sharpton's endorsement, and Weiner came away with the best one-liners. All in the all, the debate was kind of boring, like the candidates themselves; the Observer's Ben Smith and Lizzy Ratner explain the problems with all the candiates, including Mayor B, in an article today called the "Aristo-Democrats," with the most frightening cartoon EVER.

During yesterday's Crain's New York sponsored forum, mayoral candidates tried to stake out their positions in the crowded field people who just wanna beat Mayor Mike. To summarize: Representative Anthony Weiner attacked former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer's plan to tax stock transactions; Ferrer attacked the Mayor's rehaul of the school system; City Council Speaker Gifford Miller talked about transit issues; Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields spoke about education and community-police relations. And all candidates attacked Wal-Mart's intentions to move into NYC. Yeah, it's sadly still sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. The NY Times' also notes that Fields and Ferrer's jabs show that their "non-aggression pact" has fallen to the wayside, which makes sense for Fields, since she probably wants to try to beat Ferrer. In the next month, Gothamist hopes someone will step up.

Gothamist loves how "secret meetings" become unsecret. For example, the NY Times reveals that former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, both eyeing a run against Mayor Bloomberg this fall, secretly met last week and allegedly agreed not to attack each other. Part of the reasoning is probably because each candidate has support from attractive blocs of voters (Latinos for Ferrer; blacks and women for Fields), they want to make sure that they don't alienate anyone in the process. Ferrer is the leading Democratic candidate, and Fields apparently is second in many polls; however, Fields' campaign coffers are not as impressive as other candidates'. The NY Times also noted that Ferrer to trying to mobilize more national Democratic support by saying that the NYC Mayoralty should be a national goal, which is pretty foolproof thinking, because it is the biggest city in the country. And even though it's a blue city, NYC has still seen 12 years of Republican rule. Gothamist's money for the Democratic candidate is split between Ferrer and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. The debates should be very exciting; there might even be a runoff.