Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Why Staten Island Democrats are afraid to talk about Garner ::posted Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:00:05 +0000:: ift.tt/1DU7XMz rss@dailykos (David Nir) Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, the GOPs presumptive special election nominee Leading Off: • NY-11: While Republican Dan Donovan has sounded a few uncertain notes over his failure to obtain an indictment in the Eric Garner case, it sounds like Democrats are ready to drop the issue in the special election to replace disgraced ex-Rep. Mike Grimm. John Gulino, chair of the Staten Island Democratic Party, was quite clear in saying he hopes the race will be about anything but Garner: I dont think the race is a national referendum. There are many, many issues affecting this congressional district. Im hoping this becomes about all of the issues. I dont want that to be the end all and be all. Hank Sheinkopf, a local consultant whos always good for a quote, was even blunter: Traditional campaigns on Staten Island are about how everybody hates us and doesnt understand us. The best way to elect Dan Donovan is to make Eric Garner the issue. It would do [Democrats] as much good to send him boxes of chocolate candies and send checks to his campaign. Indeed, stoking that kind of resentment is exactly how Grimm won re-election last fall despite an indictment for tax fraud hanging over his head. And the numbers back up this sentiment as well. While New York City voters as a whole are quite disappointed in how the Garner case turned out (and disapprove of the hostility the police department reacted with toward Mayor Bill de Blasio), Staten Island is its own universe. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, Staten Islanders despise de Blasio, are very supportive of the police, and think that the Garner grand jury made the right call. This is a serious problem because Staten Island is contained entirely in the 11th District and makes up 65 percent of its population. The rest is contained in a slice of south-western Brooklyn that includes the neighborhoods of Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge. Even the Brooklyn portion of the district isnt especially liberal: Voters there went for Obama by a 54-45 margin in 2012. But Staten Islanders are even less so, supporting Obama by a narrow 51-48 spread. On paper, that still balances out to a 52-47 Obama seat, so youd expect Democrats to be competitive here. But when you add in the low turnout a special election is likely to yield plus the eternal chip on Staten Islands shoulder thats only grown more inflamed lately, its going to be a very difficult race. [Forwarded by the MyLeftBlogosphere news engine. Link to original post below:]
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 05:07:44 +0000
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