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| Paterson Endorses Owens, Republicans Rejoice |
| 2009-10-29 |
| While in the North Country to announce electricity discounts for small businesses and dairy farmers, Gov. David Paterson was asked about the NY-23 race and gave an impromptu endorsement of Democratic nominee Bill Owens. "It's obviously a contested race," Paterson told reporters. "The Democratic candidate Bill Owens is someone who has been a businessman who has represented this country overseas, actually helped to bring troops to the base because of his sense of the community, so obviously he would be my choice for the seat." "But I think he I think he may be endemic or reflect a certain sort of view, Senator Aubertine has, and I hope that I have, which is sort of an evolved Democratic party, where there's still the sort of desire for equity in the social area but also discipline in the financial areas, which I think may be surprising people." Owens' campaign didn't exactly alert the media about this. There was no press release trumpeting the news about Paterson's support. Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's campaign was overjoyed to learn the poll-challenged governor had given Owens' his official support, immediately uploading the moment to YouTube and disseminating the link to members of the media outside the district who have been following the race. Apparently, Paterson's historically low poll numbers and the risk he'll be a drag on Owens isn't the only problem here. According to Watertown Times reporter Jude Seymour, who has been doggedly covering every twist and turn in this race, the governor got some of his facts wrong by saying Owens had "actually helped to bring troops" to the area, which is simply flat-out not true. As Jimmy Vielkind notes, this isn't the first time Paterson has assisted Owens, although it is the first time he has been quite so public about it. I'm unsure what the thinking is behind having the governor in the district so close to Election Day, particularly when the Club for Growth featured him - along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi - in a TV ad earlier in the campaign. After the GOP lost the NY-20 special election, several observers told me they thought Assemblyman Jim Tedisco had missed an opportunity by failing to try to link his Democratic opponent, now-Rep. Scott Murphy, to the faltering Paterson. The governor didn't campaign for Murphy, but raised money for him behind the scenes and attended his election night victory party. Clearly, Scozzafava's consultants don't intend to make the same mistake. |
| Posted by:Fred |