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Air Schneiderman Responds To Donovan Attack (Updated)
Oct 6th - 12:43 pm
Democratic AG nominee Sen. Eric Schneiderman is out with his first TV ad of the general election cycle, which responds to an attack ad launched earlier this week by his GOP opponent, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan.
The spot touts Schneiderman’s record fighting “corruption” in Albany, noting his key role in the first-ever expulsion of a sitting senator (Hiram Monserrate) and accuses Donovan of being pro-Wall Street – a theme the Manhattan lawmaker’s campaign has been hitting hard for several weeks now.
Yesterday, Donovan released his first ad featuring the Rev. Al Sharpton and Schneiderman’s pre-primary pledge that Sharpton’s National Action Network would have an “annex” in Albany if he’s elected. The hope is, of course, to cast him as too close to special interests and too much a creature of Albany to clean it up.
Schneiderman’s ad is airing through upstate – an area that trends more conservative (even in some of the Democrat-dominated urban centers like Buffalo and its surrounding suburbs) and therefore an important vote-rich region for GOP candidates.
Considering the 5-to1 enrollment edge Democrats enjoy in NYC, coupled with the fact that Schneiderman’s name recognition got a boost thanks to the five-way AG primary, Donovan really needs to do well upstate and in the suburbs if he’s going to have a shot at winning on Nov. 2.
The script of Schneiderman’s ad appears after the jump.
An Anti-Schneiderman Endorsement For Brodsky
Sep 8th - 2:21 pm
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has landed the endorsements of The Bronx Press and the Riverdale Review in his bid to succeed AG Andrew Cuomo as the state’s top attorney, but he got the nods (his first of the campaign) at the expense of the papers’ first choice: Sen. Eric Schneiderman.
The editors write that they were “ready, willing and able” to endorse Schneiderman, but were then brought up short by the Manhattan Democrat’s statement when he accepted the support of the Rev. Al Sharpton that Sharpton’s National Action Network would “have an annex in Albany for the first time in the history of the state.”
The editors called this “distressing,” adding: “We see even the acceptance of the endorsement from Mr. Sharpton as a questionable tactic for a candidate for a law enforcement post, given that Mr. Sharpton is frequently a target for investigations by state officials regarding his finances and taxes.”
Sending A Message?
Aug 28th - 8:28 am
Reading NYT scribe Nick Confessore’s piece this morning on the relative wisdom of – and pitfalls in – Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s decision to tack far left in his AG bid, I got tripped up on the following paragraph that appears at about the midway point:
Speaking of Mr. Schneiderman, Michael McKeon, a Republican political consultant (though one who is supporting the current attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, in his bid for governor this year), said: “Of the front-runners, he is by far the preferred choice for the Republicans because he has staked out so far left a position. And given that he is running for a law enforcement job, it helps Republicans even more.”
For the record, McKeon isn’t just “supporting the current attorney general” for governor, he is spearheading the group “GOPers for Cuomo“, which entails rounding up Republicans like himself to endorse the Democratic frontrunner and keeping political reporters up to date on his efforts.
McKeon’s involvement with Cuomo caused a rift between himself and his former boss, ex-Gov. George Pataki, who is supporting Rick Lazio for governor, as are a number of other former Pataki aides.
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