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| Home Front: Politix |
| Harold Ford bolts; Mort Zuckerman rises |
| 2010-03-03 |
| Harold Ford gave many reasons for his decision not to launch a primary challenge against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, but he didn't mention a decisive one: The emergence of a richer, stronger center-right challenger whom many of Ford's potential supporters on Wall Street and in New York's business community would prefer. Ford's departure signals, according to two top New York Democrats, just how serious Mortimer B. Zuckerman is about a Senate race. Zuckerman, who parlayed a fortune in real estate into a mixed bag of media holdings and a prominent role in American Jewish life, has been encouraged by the reaction to the trial balloon he floated a few weeks ago in The New York Times, friends told POLITICO. And he seems to have shut down the former Tennessee Congressman's attempt to enter New York politics before it ever got off the ground. "A lot of donors were telling [Ford] that if Mort ran, they would be with Mort," said a senior New York Democrat. (A spokesman for Ford, Davidson Goldin, denied that Zuckerman played a role in Ford's decision. Ford cited a desire to save his party a bruising primary.) But Zuckerman -- who would likely skip the Democratic primary and challenge Gillibrand in the general election as a Republican-Independent -- poses a far graver threat to the national political status quo. The New York billionaire who owns one of the Democratic Party's loudest megaphones, the New York Daily News, backed Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign but has emerged as a bitter White House critic, and his entry into the race would put Republicans clearly within striking distance of retaking the Senate. At this point, the only real obstacle to Zuckerman's entering the race is Zuckerman himself. Friends said they're not sure whether he's willing to give up the unusual status he's bought as a figure who is public when he chooses to weigh in on public policy issues and utterly private in his unconventional personal life. And friends like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have told him that, at 72, after a lifetime of running his own businesses and making millions, the last thing that would make him happy would be becoming a freshman senator. But Zuckerman, who owns the New York Daily News and U.S.News & World Report, has been a practicing pundit for years and "has always wanted to be in the political mix," said Howard Rubenstein, the New York PR man and a Zuckerman friend. More important, the weaknesses of his likely opponent, Gillibrand, are clear to everyone, and a statewide office has rarely seemed so ripe for the plucking. "He'd be her 'worst possible opponent' among possible candidates, said Democratic political consultant Dan Gerstein. If Zuckerman were to mount a serious challenge to Gillibrand as a Republican, it would extend the list of strong GOP candidates to well within striking distance of the Democrats' 18-seat majority, though Zuckerman would most likely define himself as an independent. Top state Republican officials, including former Gov. George Pataki, reached out to Zuckerman when his exploration became public (not, as reported elsewhere, the reverse, two sources said), with New York state chairman Ed Cox telling POLITICO he has only one caveat: If Zuckerman runs as a Republican, he has to agree to caucus with the party. And Frank MacKay, chairman of New York's Independence Party, which has often offered wealthy candidates its line, said he finds Zuckerman "impressive" and is "wide open" to a meeting. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Zuckerman -- who would likely skip the Democratic primary and challenge Gillibrand in the general election as a Republican-Independent Actually the GOP staying out of this would work to Zuckerman's advantage - running as the official GOP candidate probably would hurt him. Granted he'd be no better than Collins or Snowe or McCain, but at least he would not be another rubber stamp and would seem to enjoy thumbing Obama and the Dem leadership in the eye. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-03-03 00:13 |