Election Day 2006: Finally, All Those Attack Ads are Paying Off!

With the first polls already closing (it's only 7 PM, what gives?), candidiates across the country are awaiting the results of this year's election. Although there is a profound lack of competitive races citywide and statewide (close congressional and state legislature races aside), politicians have been on the move campaigning for political allies and pushing themselves in considerations of future races. Even with the lack of competitive races, there is one statewide race that is providing fireworks and fixes for political junkies across the state: the campaign for Comptroller.

This race was one the quietest among the statewide campaigns this year. Alan Hevesi, the incumbent Democrat, was quietly cruising to a second term and his Republican challenger, Christopher Callaghan, was launching a futile campaign with next to zero attention from the press.

Alas, it was found that Hevesi took the word "cruising" a little too literally as everyone learned that he used state employees and state vehicles to drive his ailing wife. Hevesi, certainly no man that is struggling financially, reimbursed approximately $83,000 to the state.

Callaghan pounced on this revelation, though he broke this story only with information from an anonymous source and at the time, he did not know whether this allegation was true. Perhaps this is excuseable given that he was trailing Hevesi by 30 points. Still, quickly throwing around the mud is not an admirable trait, even in campaigns such as these.

Nevertheless, late in October, many newspaper editorial boards threw their endorsements behind Callaghan, including the New York Times. Still, it seems that the chances of a Hevesi victory were better than even.

However, Hevesi was found to owe $90,000 more to the state, in addition to the money already paid. Not only did Hevesi make a serious lapse in judgment by raiding the cookie jar he was supposed to protect, but he tried to quiet the story by making a payment, but not the full amount.

Callaghan may not have the credentials needed for this office. However, he is the best hope for ousting Hevesi. Hevesi has been on the offensive down the final stretch, launching attack ads against Callaghan and promoting himself as the race quickly tightened and Hevesi's re-election is far from assured.

Additionally, Hevesi ran an ad apologizing to New York voters and said that if they trust him with their votes, he will only be beholden to them and to no other interests. Such talk leads to the conclusion that Hevesi will proclaim a mandate and forgiveness from the voters should he be re-elected and thus will not resign his post. Therefore, hopefully, the voters of New York State made that decision for him and have decided to throw him out.

My support, although it called for a little bit of nose-holding, was for the Republican, Chris Callaghan.


Governor:

No contest here. Eliot Spitzer will defeat John Faso by a landslide. My vote has been for Eliot Spitzer on the hope that (perhaps naively), a greater mandate will allow Spitzer to tell Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno to shove off on "Day One," as his campaign has said since Day One. We are trusting you with our votes, Eliot. Let's hope that "everything changes on Day One."


US Senate:

Again, no contest here. Hillary Clinton will retain her seat and John Spencer will complain to his mirror tomorrow morning. Whatever aspirations she holds for President were not considered in this election and supporting her increases the chances of better representation for New York in the Senate. That and John Spencer's comments, his latest blunder was his shooting his mouth off about Clinton's appearance, were certainly no help to his cause. After a brutal primary to be the Republican nominee, Spencer killed any chances of rallying Clinton opponents behind his banner. Although that by itself would not win election, it appears that Spencer has failed to do even that.


Attorney General:

Jeanine Pirro provided Exhibit A in how NOT to run a campaign. After screwing up her candidacy for the Senate (even though she would have done much better than Spencer), she decided to go for the consolation prize, the office which she claims she is naturally suited for due to her career, Attorney General. Marital scandals later showed that she might not be the one to be the chief prosecutor of the state, as she came under investigation for possibly violating the law in asking that champion of ethics Bernard Kerik to eavesdrop on her husband and find out if he was cheating on her...again.

Andrew Cuomo also is going for the consolation prize after aborting his gubernatorial campaign too late in 2002 and allowed George Pataki to coast to his third term. His career raises serious doubts that he has the experience or expertise necessary to be Attorney General, especially for filling Spitzer's big shoes.

Since neither candidiate really wanted this office, they must not have really wanted my vote for this office. I chose neither.


House of Representatives: New York's 9th Congressional District:

This election brought me the wonderful choice as voting for Anthony Weiner on the Democratic line or voting for Anthony Weiner on the Working Families line. Shoving comparisons to Saddam Hussein winning 99.9% of the vote in Iraq aside and thinking Weiner is a better-than-average Congressman, I voted for Weiner on the Democratic line.

(Watch, if Weiner runs for Mayor again in 2009, someone will dig up this entry as a legitimate comparison of Weiner to Hussein. I can see the attack ad already.)


Judges:

Hoping that more information about the candidiates would be availiable to the voters next time around and strategically voting on the basis of party control, these votes were for Democrats down the line.


State Legislature:

Both Carl Kruger (27th Senate district) and Helene Weinstein (41st Assembly District) have proved rather underwhelming, not to mention the horribly outdated websites for them in this Internet age (and since I'm not an elected official, I can get away with not having anything in over a month, much less several, like the office websites of both representatives) and with both seats not in danger of reverting to Republican control (though I would not care so much in the Assembly, where Democrats hold an overwhelming advantage), I voted for none of the above.


Races on the Radar Screen


New York's 13th Congressional District:

Abandoned by the party and running a shoestring campaign, it is amazing how far Steve Harrison has come. One would think that given the not-insurmountable margin of victory that Vito Fossella delivered in 2004 that the Democratic Party would target this district with funds. Alas, that is not the case. Still, hopefully Harrison manages to pull it out and send the "Independent Fighter," that is about as independent as Tibet is from China, back home.


Pennsylvania Senate:

It looks like Rick Santorum will be shown the door. However, the campaign by both Santorum and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. left a bitter taste in many mouths. If it weren't so critical and if I lived in Pennsylvania, I'd be tempted to send my vote elsewhere.


Montana Senate:



What does it mean that corrupt Conrad Burns still has a shot to win this race? It can't be that Montana is so Republican; after all, Burns is only the second Republican Senator from Montana in its history. But Burns does have a fair amount of seniority in the Senate. However, with him being the largest recipient of Jack Abramoff's Dirty Money, he has to go. Jon Tester is the solution here and hopefully enough Montanans see that fact.


On a final note, why are there polls starting to close as early as 7 PM Eastern Time? Although it looks like there will be very high turnout for an off-year election, the fact that the polls close so early is not helping. With someone living in the suburbs or even a reverse commuter in the New York City area, it can be easy to not be able to vote by the time the polls close, even though the polls close here at 9 PM. It will take some greater resources, but why not hold the polls open for the 24 hours of Election Day? Perhaps the TV commentators will come to my door to kick my ass for suggesting this, since it means someone will have to be awake to cover the election in the very early morning, but it certainly could not really hurt to leave them open longer. Or if not 24 hours, then at least push back the closing time by a couple of hours or even to midnight.

Just a thought.

And now, the results are already pouring in. Let's see how the people voted. I am pulling for a Democratic victory in both chambers of Congress. It's not like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will have that much power with the gridlock that will take place!

With the problems that have blown up in the Republicans' face, especially considering the ethics issues plaguing their leadership, it would be hard to say the Republicans didn't deserve a loss this time around. Does that mean the Democrats deserved to win? Not necessarily, but if they do win control, we will find out if they deserved it and if not, 2008 is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.