Should NY reshuffle the campaign deck?

Bush political adviser Karl Rove told a closed-door fund-raiser for Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele in Washington on Tuesday that Steele's campaign for the Senate is a top White House priority for 2006.

Steele is running for a Senate seat left empty by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes. The capital lobbyists who attended the even were urged to exert more effort for Steele than usual for an empty-seat contest. Steele, an African-American, fits in with Bush's emphasis on raising the GOP share of the black vote. ~ Robert D. Novak reports Jul 30, 2005.

Polls indicate that in a race for New York's Senate, Clinton beats either Pirro or Edward Cox by 30 points. ~ Siena Research Institute Jun 14, 2005.

New York Governor, George Pataki, announces he will not seek a fourth term. ~ All the local papers Jul 27, 2005.

I'm not Stephen Minarik, but I see a huge opportunity here for New York to seriously take a look at what would be some wise reshuffling for the 2006 elections. For some reason, our State Party Committe thinks hand picked candidates would be best for the party when it comes to elections. Many of us in the grassroots base in the republican party for major reform recommend primaries. Clearly, many of our recent elections had hand-picked candidates who have lost elections by embarrassing numbers. But if the influence of nudging potential candidates in the right campaigns is something Mr. Minarik wants on his plate, here are some suggestions.

First, I would contact Westchester D.A. Jeanine Pirro and give her my approval to run for Attorney General. The Democrats are going to field either Andrew Cuomo or Mark Green or both. Rick Lazio has been suggested for the seat, but who has a strong record to run on? It's Jeanine Pirro. Attorney General is the office she wants and I believe it is the office she has potential in winning.

Second, I would call Secretary of State, Randy Daniels, and tell him that he should forego running for Governor and decide his best seat is to challenge Hillary Clinton for the US Senate seat. Nothing would be better for the Republican Party than to have two African-American Republicans (Mr. Daniels & Mr. Steele) running for the US Senate.

What about Ed Cox and William Brenner and John Spencer? Well, I think keeping a primary for US Senate would be a good thing, but the third thing I would do (if I was Mr. Minarik) is contact Ed Cox and recommend he run for Governor.

Ed Cox is probably the strongest Republican candidate from New York State. Why not see him take a shot at the most important office for our State? He will most likely run a heck of a good campaign against Hillary Clinton, but our current Senator will be very difficult to beat. My belief is that Ed Cox can run a just as formidable campaign against Eliot Spitzer and it is just what the Republican Party needs to do for next year. Our State Budget is $107 billion with Medicaid bankrupting the State. Mr. Cox is just the type of Republican to travel to every county and campaign on major reform and fiscal responsibility.

Randy Daniels is considered a future star in New York politics, but he's still considered an unknown among the average New Yorker. When Mr. Daniels does speeches, he explains the importance of the Reagan Revolution for New York and how we need to return New York back to when it provided jobs throughout upstate. Sen. Clinton ran a campaign in 2000 on bringing back jobs upstate, but she has not delivered. And with reports in New York City saying that 50% of African Americans are jobless, we need a messenger who can come in and say that the Democrats have not fullfilled their promise.

The fourth office, State Comptroller, will be a tough battle. Alan Hevesi has been doing a pretty good job and it will be difficult to exploit any shortcomings. However, this is not to say that Republicans should not run a candidate against Mr. Hevesi. If John Faso wishes to take another stab at it, by all means, he should run. If Rick Lazio is serious about seeking a statewide office, Comptroller is certainly something I believe Mr. Lazio can benefit New Yorkers.

I can't say I expect these changes to take place, but I implore Mr. Minarik to consider playing a hand that has potential of victory in two, possibly three of the Big Four offices next year. I have a right to dream.

It's been a busy month!

This past month was the petitioning season for candidates seeking office. My spare time has been preciously small and it has prevented me from being more active with my blog. A few things have occurred and I think I'll just combine everything with my thoughts on each.

1. Adam Brecht drops out for a bid for US Senator next year. The first to officially announce a challenge against Senator Clinton, Adam toured New York and spoke at many engagements to bring his message of reform and improving New York. Unfortunately, he did not receive a glance over by the State Party, as they tinker with the idea of "selecting" Jeanine PIrro as Ms. Clinton's challenger. Not that we already don't have three other well qualified candidates already announcing their candidacy as Ms. Pirro keeps quiet on her own accord or by the direction of the Party bigs. It's a dog eat dog world and I wish Adam Brecht luck in his future endeavors.

2. There's a Medicaid scam that the New York Times wrote two long and in-depth stories on. It's also being covered by other print media and Henry Stern's New York Civic. Now, politicians are coming out infront of the cameras ready to do battle in getting to the bottom of this. New Yorkers should be really paying attention to this issue and keep it in the back of their heads for the 2006 elections. If nothing gets done and they continue to waste tax-payers money, we should go to the polls to vote out those in power. Democrat or Republican, it doesn't matter. If you're in office, you are accountable. You are doing nothing. We need new blood. They should be aware that we're watching.

3. Bill O'Reilly has ranked our good Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver as the worst politician in America. Wow! What honors. This should show Republicans that it is time to run a strong and credible candidate against Mr. Silver next year. We need to find a candidate now, not next May. We need a reformer and a strong voice for change challenging everything that Silver has done (bad) and not done (even worse), so the People of lower Manhattan wake up and say, "Wow! Bill O'Reilly is right. He is a corrupt politician and we need someone new representing us.

4. Steve Shaw drops out of the mayoral race and Tom Ognibene is hanging by threads. Will we have democracy and see a Republican Primary in September? Already, Mr. Ognibene's been challeged by four people, likely Bloomberg folk. I have this love-hate thing with Mayor Bloomberg. I think he's done an "okay" job as mayor, but I disagree with his property tax increase of three years ago, I disagree with his smoking ban, I disagree with his shutting out anyone who wants to run against him within the party he simply wears as a shell, I think he needs to do more for education and stop cooking the books on reduced crime. I've spoken with a few Republicans who have already said they intend on voting for Mr. Ognibene this November, if Mr. Bloomberg doesn't allow a primary. It would be different if there is a primary, where they may vote for Mr. Ognibene on September 13, but then vote for Mayor Bloomberg on November 8. We'll see how this plays out. Here's hoping that Mr. Ognibene on the Conservative line will get out conservative Republicans who would otherwise not go to the polls without a real candidate for them.

4. Scandals rock the Democrats. Mr. Miller has his mailingsgate and Ms. Fields has her photogate. Mr. Ferrer had his Diallogate and poor Mr. Weiner has no gate, other than a "whodat-gate." Christopher Brodeur has a shot. Now's his time to get his message out an alternative Democratic candidate for Mayor. At least his campaign is interesting.

5. Yankees have been winning even though they don't have any pitching right now. Unfortunately, I can't be as objective with the Yanks the way I am with the Braves. Bobby Cox & Leo Mazzone have to be two of the best coaches in baseball, if not the best. These two are first ballot Hall of Famers. Somehow the Yankees won the "Team of the 90s" along with the "Team of the Century." They certainly deserve the Century one, but the 90s were the Braves. With the constant changes from year to year, Bobby Cox has led his team to win the division every year since 1992 and even into many World Series.

6. The Mets have been playing .500 ball up unti their recent four game winning streak. Will they go on a tear and win 10 of their next 12 games? I really like this team for its mix of veterans and young players. They are exciting. They haven't shown they can contend, but give them a year and they may finally overtake Bobby Cox's crew.

7. Hockey is back! Almost. So is Adam Graves. Will we see a team worth watching in the Garden this Fall?

I hope to be back more often but there is a lot going on and there are many sites to visit. There's also a lot of heat outside. I can't wait to see my next Con Ed bill.

Terror hits London

I woke up today feeling a bit under the weather so I called out sick. When I finally was able to physically roll over and turn on the TV and get online, I hear there was a terrorist strike in London.

I'd like to send my heartfelt condolences to the victims and families of our allies overseas.

I'm listening to callers on C-SPAN and cannot believe some of the things I hear.
There are blame America first callers.
There are blame Israel and the Jews callers.
There are the blame President Bush callers.

The debate on how to fight the War on Terror has gone on for four years now. We even had a presidential election and the American people voted to keep President Bush in office. So rather than bring forward the same arguments over and over that have already been debated and refuted over and over, let's move forward with constructive ideas so our leaders can improve our safety and the safety of our troops overseas. Call your representitives, tell them to stop whining and tell them to work with the President to insure our safety.