1. early and often
    Obama Set to Score First New York Endorsement New York is Hillary Clinton’s home turf, but tomorrow Barack Obama will receive his first formal endorsement from a New York elected official, State Senator Bill Perkins, according to a knowledgeable source. Obama has been able to poach several big-money backers from his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination — he’s got several more fund-raisers scheduled in the city this weekend — but Perkins, a longtime Harlem politician, will be the first elected to formally support the Illinois senator. The endorsement is likely to ruffle the feathers of Harlem boss Charlie Rangel, a Hillary supporter, who recently declared, “I don’t know Obama supporters in New York.” It’s not the first time Perkins has gone against the Harlem establishment: He supported Howard Dean in the 2004 primary, when Rangel was supporting General Wesley Clark. “It’s all posturing, all game playing,” said one Harlem political strategist. “He’s trying to make the eye in the sky look at him.” Perkins hasn’t returned a call for comment. —Geoffrey Gray
  2. early and often
    Chris Smith on the Debate: A Win for Hillary The crowded stage at the first Democratic presidential debate, held last night in South Carolina, made for an unwieldy and largely uninformative discussion. But the big field was a good thing for Hillary Clinton. One of the major hurdles for Hillary in this race, an element that’s at the core of her stubbornly high negative ratings in polls, is that many voters believe her to be remote and overly ambitious, a policy scold lacking in empathy. Clinton looked endearingly human last night simply by standing amid the seven men in dark suits; even with the diminutive Dennis Kucinich (literally and figuratively) to her left, the tableau emphasized how small Clinton is, physically, which helps shrink her larger-than-life political image. And being the only gal in a gang of middle-aged guys plays straight to a constituency Clinton needs to support her in big numbers: women.
  3. in other news
    Dem Debate: Love or Hate? You Decide! With this morning’s papers come two distinct takes on last night’s Democratic presidential debate. See if you can spot the difference. Newspaper A: “Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was professorial and emphatic”; Senator Barack Obama “reserved and cautious.” Overall, it was “a surprisingly sedate and meandering affair” during which candidates “did not tangle at all.” Newspaper B: Clinton and Obama “locked horns last night,” “differing broadly on how they would respond to a new terror strike.” Obama “took a pointed jab at her and the other candidates,” but “Clinton came down the strongest.” Ah, the marketplace of ideas. In Debate, Democrats Show More Unity Than Strife [NYT] Friendly Fire: Dem In Debate Clash Over Iraq, Terror [NYP]
  4. party lines
    Partying Liberally With Living Liberally Living Liberally threw itself a launch party Saturday night in a wonderfully eccentric West Village event space, complete with a gilded “Porn Palace” room and a spacious deck. A hundred people or so showed up to celebrate — and raise money for — an organization dedicated to getting right-thinking people out and about, having a good time, and maybe discussing liberal politics. Living Liberally is the newly organized umbrella for several more activity-specific groups: Drinking Liberally, Laughing Liberally, Blogging Liberally. There’s even Eating Liberally, tied to the progressive food movement, which set up a grill on the deck and also served, according to a pamphlet, “ABC Chocolate Cake: ‘A’ for applesauce, ‘B’ for beets, and ‘C’ for carrots.” (G for gross!) In other words, though this party was a fund-raiser for the organization’s work, usually Living Liberally’s parties are its work.
  5. early and often
    Hillary and Obama Fight for New York’s Rich Kids The next behind-the-scenes battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is shaping up between their young and potentially rich campaign pawns: The HillBlazers vs. Generation O. Gen-O is a different kind of concept to match a different kind of politics, the Obama camp says, more about “friendraising” than the charmless money grabs that usually come with cutthroat, celebrity politics. But the Hillary camp insists the Obama kids are just HillBlazers with a different kind of branding.
  7. in other news
    Three Days Before Bloomberg, Spitzer Announces an Environmental Plan In the run-up to Earth Day — and, gosh, it’s beginning to feel like an actual holiday — the political talk in New York has turned an emerald shade of green. Mayor Bloomberg will unleash his vision of the city’s next 25 years on Sunday, so Governor Spitzer scooped him a bit yesterday. Spitzer outlined the centerpiece of his plan, lowering the state’s energy demand instead of spending money to meet it, to “1,100 business executives” at a Crain’s breakfast forum. (How much carbon was released by 1,100 limos idling outside?) Spitzer’s plan, “15 by 15” (as in a 15 percent cut in emissions by 2015) has the distinction of being the nation’s most aggressive, besting even California. What’s interesting is that the state’s energy use is projected to increase by the same 15 percent between now and then, which means the task is basically keeping it level while continuing to build. Early reactions indicate that the plan managed to please environmentalists without repulsing capitalists, a neat feat in itself; it also dovetails rather beautifully with Mayor Bloomberg’s central wish-list item — a 30 percent reduction by the year 2030. Emission-free by 2100, anyone? Spitzer Outlines Aggressive Energy Plan [Crain’s]
  8. intel
    Voodoo PoliticsMass public whining doesn’t seem to have deterred either George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton’s political trajectories. So, with all else failed, there’s always voodoo. No, really. Writer Turk Regan — the author of such literary classics as Sports Fan Voodoo and Pimp My Cubicle — has heard the masses who “loath,” “despise,” and “fear” Hillary, he explains. And he feels you, if you want George W. “to pay for the sins of his administration,” he says. So he’s teamed up with Running Press to create George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton voodoo kits, complete with rudimentary doll, pins, and 56-page books of “spells” designed to help you, er, “stick it to them.” The spells are less abracadabra, more snarky explanations of each politico’s wrongdoings. Use the “Problem Child Spell” for Bush “to compel W. to turn in his adult suit-and-tie outfits for a naughty schoolboy uniform like the one worn by the guitarist guy in AC/DC.” And since “Hillary’s hairstyles have been almost as instrumental in her rise to power as her clothing,” the “Bad Hair Decade Spell” — involving pinning while humming music by Poison, Flock of Seagulls, or Bananarama — sends Hill into “an extended coiffure crisis.” Of course, regardless of whether the dolls work, Regan doesn’t have much reason to care. He lives “as far from the political fray as possible” in Montana. —Rebecca Milzoff
  9. in other news
    Dodging the Imus BulletAs public figures continue to run their mouths off, the slur-apology cycle now boasts all the spontaneity of the tea ceremony. (Is that offensive? We apologize.) At this point, all one has to do is plug in the names and the insulted ethnicities and handicap the fallout. Today’s culprit: Republican presidential candidate Tommy “Not Fred Dalton” Thompson. The offended party: Jews. The “joke”: “I’m in the private sector, and for the first time in my life, I’m earning money. You know that’s sort of part of the Jewish tradition, and I do not find anything wrong with that.” The apology (relayed via spokesperson): “Governor Thompson recognizes he misspoke … in complimenting the success that Jewish people have had in the United States.” Seeing how Thompson hasn’t even bothered to damage-control the flap himself, the fallout from this one is not likely to reach Imus levels. It probably won’t even ruin the man’s campaign, mainly as there’s not much to ruin; at this point, Thompson’s fund-raising operation is outpaced by Dennis Kucinich’s. Clearly, the man could use some Jews on his staff. GOPer Apologizes to Jews [NYDN]
  10. in other news
    At Last, Another Good Thing in New York Rudy Hasn’t ClaimedFrom Ben Smith’s blog on the Politico today: A reader points out that the New York State Comptroller’s unclaimed funds registry includes four entries since 2004 for Rudy Giuliani, with money due from a couple of health-care providers. He also appears not to have deposited a 2004 state tax refund check. He also has money due from a Los Angeles payroll company that does work for the entertainment industry, SCIE LLC, for which his listed address is the same as the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It’s good to be rich. Not That He Needs the Money [The Politico]
  11. early and often
    At Last Minute, Bill Clinton Hits the ACORN Gala The 25th anniversary gala for ACORN, the national nonprofit that advocates on behalf of low- and moderate-income families, was held at Citigroup Center last night, and the group had a major headliner as their guest: Bill Clinton. It’s no surprise that Clinton would support a social-justice organization like ACORN — indeed, the Clinton Foundation and ACORN work together on several projects — but, as it happens, ACORN officials were pretty surprised that Clinton was actually on hand last night. According to one insider, both Bill and Hillary were invited to the event about a month ago, and both declined to attend. But just a few days ago, the insider says — and, we should note, after a week of great week of publicity in New York for Barack Obama, Hillary’s rival from the Democratic presidential nomination — Bill’s people called ACORN to re-invite him. He was set to join mayoral contenders Adolfo Carrion, Christine Quinn, Anthony Weiner, and Bill Thompson, former Mets slugger Mo Vaughan, and actress Cynthia Nixon (who ultimately didn’t show) at the gala. Hillary, according to her schedule, stayed in Washington. —Geoffrey Gray
  12. in other news
    Bloomberg Attacks Guns, Annoys Conservatives, Amuses Us When it comes to guns, Mike Bloomberg behaves less like a mayor and more like the 101st senator. His national anti-gun drive (okay, an anti-illegal-gun drive) began with a lawsuit against firearm dealers in neighboring states and grew from there to encompass efforts in such far-flung places as Ohio and Kentucky. Normally, and ingeniously, Bloomberg works by recruiting other city mayors to his cause, cobbling together a coalition of counterparts, now about 180 strong. Now, though, he’s also lobbying Washington directly: At issue is a Republican measure that bans the ATF from sharing gun-trace data with the police, except in special cases. As a result, says Bloomberg, local authorities never get to see the full scope of firearm traffic in their own communities. A Bloomie-financed TV ad campaign is careful to draw the line between “crime” guns and “legal” ones, but the National Rifle Association is decrying it nonetheless. It’s hard to tell if crafty Bloomberg is actually all-out anti-gun or not, much like it’s hard to tell how, if at all, Republican he really is. In the meantime, we’re just enjoying the sight of our mayor pissing off conservatives from shore to shore. As any good New Yorker should. Bloomberg Bolsters Gun Drive in Ohio and Kentucky [NYT]
  13. in other news
    Who Loves Ya, Joe Bruno? What a great week to be Joe Bruno, majority leader of the State Senate and Albany’s top Republican. First was a birthday — his 78th, on Sunday — and then came the “Thank You, Joe Bruno” campaign. Some evidently moneyed well-wishers, reports the Daily News, are praising the senator via newspaper ads and car stickers. And, last but not least, the same fans have disseminated a memo to state Republicans with instructions on how to thank Bruno properly and what to thank him for. (“Tens of thousands of new jobs for our children” is one example, because apparently the state GOP favors child labor.) With the FBI investigating his consulting business, his very tight relationships with campaign donors, and allegations of massively unethical quid pro quos, this has got to be the best week Bruno’s had since last December. So who’s the secret Santa? Not Bruno or anyone on his staff, the senator swears. “We’re trying to figure it out ourselves,” notes Jay Jochnowicz, the state editor at Albany’s Times Union, which printed one of the ads and is now tracking down the entity that placed it. “It’s pretty mysterious.” We’ll assume it’s the Democrats: After all, they’ve got to be thanking someone that the face of the Republican party in New York is Joe Bruno. Bruno Has Some Secret Admirers [NYDN]
  14. in other news
    Albany Adventures: Fun With Pork!Spitzer may have promised that everything in Albany would change on day one, but not even his most idealistic boosters expected his first budget to be magically pork-free — and it’s not! But there’s one significant shift from the Pataki years: That porcine barrel’s contents — $170 million worth — are itemized right there in the budget. This porky glasnost may be good for the public interest, but the real winners here have got to be Albany reporters, like the Times Empire Zone kids, who had all sorts of fun picking it apart. After the jump, some highlights they found.
  15. early and often
    Cash-Poor Dems Go High-Class to Raise Cash Last fall’s Democratic takeover of Albany has the party feeling a bit strapped: Records show the state Democratic Party was down to its last $40,000 in December. Now it’s hoping to bolster that balance — while striving for chicness. The New York State Democratic Committee’s new (and younger) leadership will hold its ambitiously priced first gala on Thursday at Boylan Daylight Studios in Chelsea: $500 gets you in the door; $10,000 gets you “chair” status; $25,000 gets you into a private reception with Eliot Spitzer.
  16. in other news
    How to Win Friends and Influence Starrett City Let’s say you’re a faceless capitalist entity that’s put in a bid for an enormous, subsidized apartment complex. The bid is kind of accepted, then it’s rejected. The press rakes you over the coals, the locals are wary, politicians literally race each other to the site to dispense “not on my watch” sound bites, and you mull over suing your own broker. You’re done, right? Not if you’re David Bistricer of Clipper Equity. If you’re Bistricer, you then: 1. Promise the residents “ironclad proof” that their apartments will stay subsidized. (Instead of redeveloping the towers, Clipper now simply wants to build more.) 2. Hire two lobbyists: one at home, with Spitzer connections, and one in D.C., whose brother used to be Bush’s chief of staff. Have the latter set up a meeting between you and the federal Housing secretary who had rejected your application. 3. Personally meet with the federal Housing secretary. 4. Do so while flanked by two influential black ministers. 5. Make sure one of the two influential black ministers is a fraternity brother of the secretary. If nothing else, watching Bistricer 2.0 at work is a master class in PR. To be continued, we’re sure. Aspiring Buyer of Starrett City Is Back Onstage [NYT] Earlier: Daily Intel’s coverage of the Starrett City sale.
  17. in other news
    Spitzer Spends Money Unhealthily Governor Spitzer must have felt very strongly about cutting $1 billion out of the state’s Medicaid program. How strongly? When hospitals and unions started lambasting the plan in TV ads, he put up half a million of his own money to launch a counterstrike, as the Daily News reported today. Mind you, Spitzer began by spending close to $3 million of his leftover campaign funds; it’s only when that money ran out that he dipped into his own wallet. “I needed to make sure our perspective stayed on the air,” the governor explained to the paper. According to Spitzer’s camp, the plan’s foes spent a whopping $10 million propping up their perspective in TV ads and direct mail. All of which makes you wonder: If everyone involved in the mess, including the unions, had so much dough to flush down the media toilet, couldn’t some of it just have been spent on health care? Gov’s Own Dough Put Him on a Medicaid Roll [NYDN]
  18. early and often
    Giuliani Loses a Second Bushie Rudy Giuliani’s front-running presidential campaign has lost a key staffer with connections to Karl Rove. Margaret Hoover joined Giuliani’s Solutions America PAC in September to help direct fund-raising operations, but her greater value was to shore up the former mayor’s credentials with conservatives and to signal Giuliani’s seriousness about a White House run. Hoover, a great-granddaughter of the 31st president and an intergovernmental-affairs aide to Rove before taking the Giuliani job, brought important national campaign experience to the team, having worked for Bush-Cheney ‘04.
  19. the morning line
    Rudy! Rudy! Rudy! • We were kinda hoping this wouldn’t come out until, say, a week before the primaries, but take it away, Times: Rudy Giuliani was briefed on Bernie Kerik’s unsavory dossier, including the commish’s possible mafia ties, in 2000. Then Rudy made him the city’s top cop. [NYT] • New Jersey governor Jon Corzine has already picked a side of the Dem roster for 2008: He’s officially endorsing Hillary. (The State Senate president, Richard Codey, is a John Edwards man.) This is not insignificant considering N.J.’s extra-early primary date. [WNBC] • Long Island police are investigating nightmarish scenarios after severed limbs “with pink toenail polish” washed up in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester. There’s also a torso in a Wal-Mart suitcase, and revolting details galore for the curious. [Newsday] • Since we’re reminiscing about Rudy, how about a big fat Catholic controversy around a work of art? Cosimo Cavallaro is planning an Easter exhibit of an anatomically correct (of course) chocolate (of course) Jesus (of course), and he swears the timing is coincidental (yeah, right). [NYDN] • And meanwhile a polyester-resin security guard named Artie, installed in the lobby of a Uniondale office tower, causes no controversy whatsoever. Probably because he’s inedible. [NYT]
  20. intel
    The Eartha Kitt Primary: Go Obama! Obama and Bloomberg get a thumbs-up, and Hillary gets a raised eyebrow, from the inimitable Eartha Kitt. The still very spry singer and dancer, who turned 80 in January, plays a fortune-teller in a Kander and Ebb musical, All About Us, coming to the Westport Country Playhouse. At a sneak peek of the show this week, we asked about her ‘08 presidential picks. “I’m for my country, not politicians who go blah blah blah,” purred the eternal Catwoman, who spent a decade shut out of gigs in this country after she denounced the Vietnam War during a 1968 White House visit.
  21. early and often
    Bloomberg Budget Shocker: Are the Good Times Stopping Their Roll?Michael Bloomberg yesterday afternoon stunned city agencies by demanding they draw up budget cuts — a mere seven weeks after he painted an extraordinarily rosy picture of a $4 billion city budget surplus. “This came out of nowhere,” said one agency boss who’d just received the memo from Bloomberg’s budget director. “Aren’t things really good right now?” Actually, it seems things aren’t quite as good as they were in late January. Yesterday’s memo, written by budget director Mark Page, tells all city agencies — with the exception of the Department of Education — to identify cuts of 1.5 percent for 2007 and 4 percent for 2008. “We have a softening national economy, we have some volatility on Wall Street, and we have a tentative agreement with the firefighters’ union that sets a pattern for the rest of the unions,” Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser told New York. “The firefighters got roughly 4 percent, and we’d been budgeting a 2 percent increase.” Which means that the police, sanitation, and corrections unions are likely to get larger raises than projected.
  22. in other news
    America Loves Rudy More Than Ever; New York, Not So Much The Gallup Poll people released new numbers on the Republican presidential contenders today, and they only buttress the emerging consensus that Rudy Giuliani, who used to be New York’s tyrannical mayor before he came America’s beloved one, is the nominal front-runner. Forty-eight percent of liberal and moderate Republicans — granted a group that might be about twelve people big these days — said they preferred Giuliani; 26 percent picked the second-place finisher, John McCain. But even among conservative GOPers, the thrice-married moderate came in first, with 38 percent of respondents picking him to McCain’s 20 percent. And here’s the knockout punch: A whopping 80 percent of all Republicans holds a favorable impression of Giuliani. That’s huge — and “until he’s not defined by 9/11,” the Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes, “those fav/unfav numbers probably don’t come down.” But, then, those are national numbers. Contrast them with local poll results reported today by Crain’s New York Business. There, 70 percent of respondents agreed that Rudy lacks the temperament to be president, presumably recalling his performance up through September 10, 2001. Of course, this Crain’s poll, unlike Gallup’s, was online and unscientific. On the other hand, its respondents were people who have actually, you know, been governed by the guy. Ah, memories. Gallup on Rudy’s Lead [The Politico] Giuliani Not Fit for the White House: Poll [Crain’s]
  23. early and often
    Hillary and Bill Make the Bucks In what’s sure to be the first of many star-studded events for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, about 1,000 well-heeled New York Democrats gathered last night for a sit-down dinner at the Sheraton to get their first taste of the Clinton ‘08 campaign machine. Ron Howard, Chelsea Clinton, and Moby mixed it up with a slew of Wall Street types and the state’s congressional delegation. Charles Rangel and Chuck Schumer warmed up the crowd, who paid $1,000 for a plate of filet mignon, risotto, and spinach served with Cabernet Sauvignon. (The good seats were $4,600 each.) But everyone was just waiting for the Clintons (or just Bill?), who took the floor accompanied by Jesus Jones’s “Right Here, Right Now.” The former president jawed on for a good fifteen minutes, lauding his wife and comparing her to Eleanor Roosevelt. Reluctant to yield the stage, he finally did — just so a raspy-voiced Hillary could launch into her stump-speech points: health care, lower college tuition, and pulling troops from Iraq. The audience warmed when she talked about how the couple conserves energy up in Chappaqua: He replaces lightbulbs, and she mutters to herself with every flip of the switch, “Take that, Iran! Take that, Venezuela!” At 8:31, 90 minutes after the event began, Bill Clinton returned to the stage for an autograph session. The eager donors clamored for him.
  24. it just happened
    Mistakes Made, Responsibility Taken, Jobs Kept It used to be that if you wanted to find the most slavish trend followers in this country, all you had to do was look to lower Manhattan, or parts of Brooklyn, or maybe Los Angeles. (Ugg boots in summer, anyone?) But now it seems that Washington, D.C.— Republican Washington, D.C., in particular — can go toe-to-toe on the fashion front. Have its denizens shed their navy suits and loafers? Of course not. Rather, they’re all following the new vogue for “responsibility” — you know, where you “take responsibility” for something and leave it at that. No detention. No docked pay. No resignation. Just take responsibility and walk away.
  25. early and often
    Blazin’ With Hillary About 40 young moneymakers with neat hair and well-fitting suits arrived at a midtown restaurant last night for the first, unpublicized meeting of the HillBlazers Committee. HillBlazers is the oddly Young Republican–sounding name — we imagine those blazers in navy, accented by repp ties and pleated khakis — the Hillary-for-president folks have given to the wealthy under-45ers who will spend the next two years fund-raising for the campaign. “Interestingly, there were more men than women,” at the meeting, a spy told us. “I would say it was a 60-40 ratio. There were clearly a lot of hedge-funders, people who work in finance. It was very crew cut.”
  26. in other news
    In the American Political System the People Are Represented by Two Separate But Equally Important Groups… “Former Senator Fred Thompson, who now plays a district attorney on ‘Law & Order,’ told Fox News today that he’ll make a decision in the coming months about whether to jump into the field of Republican candidates vying for the 2008 presidential nomination.” —The Caucus, New York Times, yesterday Daily Intel tried to contact Thompson for comment on this matter. Unable to reach him, we relied instead on answers in the public record — that is, actual L&O quotes he’s delivered as District Attorney Arthur Branch. The Q&A is after the jump. Duh-DUM.
  27. in other news
    Rudy and Donna: The Way They Were Today’s Times reminds us that Rudy Giuliani, America’s Mayor, used to be and likely still is a “mean-spirited,” cross-dressing, twice-divorced guy who used to call his old gay roommate “mother” as he left for work each day. But that’s not all there is to Rudy. He’s also “strong, and at the same time gentle,” according to a testimonial Ben Smith reports today on the Politico. Who’d that endorsement come from? His then-wife, Donna Hanover, in a 1993 TV commercial that featured the whole Giuliani family. It’s a misty, water-colored campaign ad, about the way the Giulianis were. RudyTube 1993: Rudy and Donna [Politico] New York Label May Not Fit All in Giuliani Run [NYT]
  28. in other news
    Scooter Libby, Convict and — Soon — Subject The hottest new almost-trend in publishing: political insta-books, like the Scooter Libby tome commissioned today — a day after his conviction — and due in bookstores next month. For decades there have been successful fast-tracked paperbacks on all sorts of light topics from Star Wars releases to the Pitt-Aniston marriage. The announcement of The United States vs. I. Lewis Libby — to be written be a real reporter, National Journal’s Murray Waas and published by Barnes & Noble’s nonfiction imprint — comes only a week after news of a Barack Obama insta-book, the first about the presidential candidate (he’s written two well-regarded memoirs), delivered only a month after he announced his candidacy. All we need now is one more example, and it’s a genuine, certified trend. Doesn’t any writer have anything he wants to say about Sam Brownback? BN Imprint Rushes Libby Book to Stores [Galleycat/Mediabistro]
  29. in other news
    Six Theories on Why the ‘Times’ Finds a $13,000 Stock Loss to Be Front-Page News The No. 2 story on the front page of today’s Times breaks the news that Barack Obama’s blind (or at least going-blind) trust invested $50,000 in two companies linked to campaign donors, that when he learned of the investments he sold the stock, and that he took a $13,000 loss on the investments. And so we wonder, this is big news because…? After the jump, some hypotheses.
  30. early and often
    Non-Candidates in Non-Campaign Succeed in Raising Level of Debate Last night’s non-historic Cooper Union face-off between famous formers Newt Gingrich and Mario Cuomo, billed by its organizers as a tribute to Abraham Lincoln’s actually historic 1860 speech at the same location, was explained as a challenge to 2008’s presidential candidates to campaign less in the modern, sound-bite-y style and more in the august Lincoln-Douglas tradition. A sedate, professorial crowd (read old) turned out to watch this exercise in bar-raising, at which at each speaker was given a full 30 minutes to orate. Gingrich went first and acquitted himself nicely, getting ovations for his emphatic bureaucracy bashing — “the machine doesn’t work!” — before finishing with some heartstring-pulling fearmongering, naming his two New York City grandchildren and declaring that he “fears for their safety.”
  31. early and often
    Hill Wins in Obama Spat, Edwards Aide Says Barack Obama should have ignored the Hillary Clinton camp’s moral-minded broadsides over David Geffen’s the-Clintons-are-liars comments last week, one of John Edwards’s strategists says. “They made it a five-day story, and it knocked Barack off his pedestal,” the strategist says. “They shouldn’t have answered back. It would have gone away. I think Barack definitely lost that round.” The Edwards people know of what they speak. In January, the strategist recalls, Edwards spoke at Riverside Church, where he said that “silence is betrayal” on the Iraq war. As if on cue, Hillary’s longtime attack dog, Howard Wolfson, said the wording was “clearly aimed” at Hillary, and he lashed out at Edwards, claiming the ex–North Carolina senator was violating a campaign promise he made back in ‘04 to keep races among Democrats “positive.” Edward’s didn’t take the bait. And the issue, unlike this time, disappeared. —Geoffrey Gray
  32. in other news
    Long Islander Wants to Give Anne Frank U.S. Citizenship, Only 66 Years Too LateWe’re not quite sure what to think about Long Island congressman Christopher Bodkin’s crusade to make Anne Frank a citizen of the United States. The effort, about three years old, has gotten second wind with the recent disclosure of papers that show the Frank family unsuccessfully applying for a U.S. visa. The first impulse would be to gingerly inquire what is Bodkin’s (59, Republican, Episcopalian) deal with Anne Frank anyway: He had previously spearheaded a failed campaign to put her on a postage stamp. Luckily, the Times sheds some light on the politician’s M.O.
  33. early and often
    Hillary’s Barack-Bashing: Too Soon? Did Hillary Clinton’s longtime PR attack dog, Howard Wolfson, try to take a bite out of Barack Obama’s hide a bit too early? Wolfson demanded earlier this week that Obama take the extreme steps of removing Hollywood mogul David Geffen from his campaign and return his contributions after Geffen dissed the Clintons in an interview. It’s a dis that some strategists think didn’t need to be addressed. “It’s weird they let this happen,” says Basil Smikle Jr., a former senior Hillary aide turned political strategist. “That was a mistake.” How so?
  34. in other news
    Candidate Books: Coming Soon to a Shelf, Remainder Bin Near YouToday the Times turns its publishing-world attention from Nascar lit to a different kind of race, the presidential one, and specifically to presidential books. It seems there are distinct types of candidate tomes, and publishing insiders provide a detailed taxonomy of them: There are “introduction,” “manifesto,” and “off-topic” works. (Generously, if inexplicably, the experts put Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance in the third category and not the second.) The article is full of unsurprising facts: Barack Obama’s Audacity of Hope has opened a can of Amazon whup-ass on the reissue of Hillary Clinton’s It Takes a Village; Bush absolutely did not write A Charge to Keep (we sort of recall news in 2000 that he hadn’t read it, either, but maybe we just feel that’s the case because no one else did), and that if book sales were ballots, John McCain would be finishing his second term. Those best-sellers notwithstanding, though, the quoted experts agree that, as one puts it, “most of these books are going to be wastes of trees.” Hey, in the grand scheme of things, bad books are the least bad things paper can do to a presidential election. Time to Throw Their Books Into the Ring [NYT]
  35. in other news
    College Kids Like Obama More Than Hillary, ‘Desperate Housewives’ The big newspapers tell us the currently important dramas in the 2008 presidential race are the “money primary” and the “talent primary.” But what about the college kids–clicking–on–things primary? A story published on The Nation’s Website last week on Barack Obama’s appeal to young people mentioned that the Facebook group “One Million Strong for Obama” boasted 272,000 members. In the five days since the story was published — covering a road-trip-friendly three-day weekend — the group added 17,000 new members. (Any Facebooker can join the group, which is unaffiliated with the campaign and features information on rallies and donations and so forth.) “One Million Strong for Hillary,” meantime, has held steady at around 3,700 members. That’s about as many people as Obama attracted in each of the last five days — or, put another way, about 24,000 Internet-savvy college-age kids less than are “Addicted to Grey’s Anatomy.” Obama’s Impressive Youthroots [The Nation]
  36. photo op
    Atlantic Yards Begins Not With a Bang But With a Bulldozer in a Snowy Lot There it is, folks: The start of demolition for Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards. Reports say they’re knocking down a disused bus depot to create a temporary rail yard so that construction can begin. From the AP’s pictures, it just looks like they’re using a really big bulldozer to move some barrels and take down a chain-link fence. Either way, historic! Earlier: Bruce Ratner Swings His Ball
  37. company town
    The Guy With the Biggest Birthday Party WinsFINANCE • Birthday parties aside, Stephen A. Schwarzman tops Fortune’s private-equity power list. [Fortune via CNNMoney] • Jeff Dorman, a senior managing director of prime brokerage services at Bear Sterns, resigned late last week. Poor guy didn’t even last a year. [DealBook/NYT] • Is Jim Healy, head of fixed income at Credit Suisse, about to resign because of friction with new heads Brady Dugan and Michael Ryan? [DealBreaker]
  38. grub street
    Balthazar Boss Turns BologneseKeith McNally created the New York iteration of the French bistro. Now he’s gone Italian. The Underground Gourmet talked to him about his new West Village trattoria, Morandi, the great floor his wife picked out for it, and why this could be his last restaurant. It’s at Grub Street. Keith McNally on Why Morandi Will Be His Last Restaurant Ever [Grub Street]
  39. in other news
    Real Estate Is Booming! Run for the Hills! So is New York’s real-estate market currently hot or cold or lukewarm or tepid or what? The answer, of course, is that it’s all of these things depending on who looks at it and where and how he looks from. The latest report, in yesterday’s Times, concludes that the market is indeed hot — but only here. Anecdotal evidence includes tales of buyers storming open houses “in all price ranges.” One theory chalks up the increased hustle to December’s obscene Wall Street bonuses. Another posits that people have simply stopped worrying about the impending real-estate crash precisely because of the glut of self-contradictory information (in the last quarter, four major firms couldn’t even agree on which way the prices were trending). If the latter theory is correct, though, this means the upbeat Times item swings the pendulum too far into the positive territory; as a public service, then, we feel compelled to neutralize its impact. Sell. Sell now! NYC is overbuilding! Everyone who bought into every half-built luxury condo tower will attempt to flip at the same time! Run! Scared again? Good. We did our part to keep the market healthy. Housing Market Heats Up Again in New York City [NYT]
  40. in other news
    Rudy Giuliani: The Evolution of a Presidential Candidate October 2004, Macon, Georgia: “We’ll have to see what it’s like a year or two from now.” [NYM] November 14, 2006, New York: “It is not a declaration, it is not an announcement — it is none of that.” [NYDN] February 6, 2007, Hannity & Colmes: “We still have to formally announce it and do a few more things.” [NYT] February 13, 2007, Tulare, California: “The American farmer is the most innovative in the world. You feed us. You take care of us. Each of us kind of helps the other.” [AP via amNY] February 14, 2007, Larry King Live: “Yes, I’m running.” [NYT]
  41. in other news
    Music and LyricsThe case of Paul Cortez, the personal trainer–musician accused of murdering a dancer who snubbed him, took an odd turn yesterday when the prosecution offered the defendant’s song lyrics as evidence of his violent tendencies. The Times quotes Cortez’s attorney, Dawn Florio, who claimed that songs like “The Killin Machine” were perfectly normal for her client to have written: “Rock stars don’t write about tulips and butterflies,” she explained. Objection, hearsay. — Lori Fradkin Lyrics and Diaries Offered as a Portrait of a Killer [NYT]
  42. the morning line
    There Either Will or Will Not Be Six More Weeks of Winter • We can all agree it’s Groundhog Day, but there’s little agreement beyond that. Contradictory early-morning behavior from local groundhogs Staten Island Chuck, Holtsville Hal, and Malverne Phil casts uncertainty on the duration of winter. [Newsday] • Hillary Clinton has announced that her presidential fund-raisers must pony up a record-breaking $1 million apiece to make her BFF inner circle. (By comparison, Dubya’s BFF benchmark in 2000 was a trifling $100,000.) The burning question: Should the HRC BFFs be called “Pathfinders” or the naughtier “Hillraisers”? [NYT] • Just in time for Black History Month, and egged on by rap legend Kurtis Blow, the City Council ponders a resolution to urge all New Yorkers to stop using the N-word. And even when you end it with an a, dawg. [amNY] • In the political equivalent of wearing the same dress to the dance, ‘08 rivals Giuliani and McCain learned they’d be sharing top billing in May at a big New York State GOP fund-raiser — and some party insiders are calling it a major dis to Rudy. [NYP] • One day after he suggested that Barack Obama was the first black presidential candidate to master both English and personal hygiene, Senator Joe Biden hit Al Sharpton’s radio show to insist he had the highest regard for the Rev’s syntax. [NYDN]
  43. in other news
    Al Franken Decides He’s Good Enough, Smart Enough to Run for SenateIt’s semi-official: Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota. This info, coming from a “senior Democratic official,” retroactively explains the former Upper West Sider’s hasty exit from Air America earlier this week. (He’d already moved himself and his show back to his home state two years ago.) But those that expect the race to be a nice comic diversion from the other 2008 carnage should look elsewhere. Franken is not a novelty candidate — not that that would be a problem in Minnesota, post–Jesse Ventura — and Republicans there, rather than dusting off old Stuart Smalley clips, are already saying unfunny things like “Minnesotans will reject Franken’s divisive, scorched-earth attacks.” He was also a close friend of Minnesota’s liberal, lamented Paul Wellstone, who died in a plane crash in 2002; a Franken candidacy is likely to invoke the specter of the popular senator. At any rate, this should be interesting. Franken to Run for Senate in Minnesota [USAT]
  44. early and often
    Hillary and Chuck (and the Baileys) Take the Senate for Chinese Chuck Schumer’s favorite Chinese restaurant in Washington was closed for a private party — his Positively American book party — Tuesday night, and Bernie Sanders, the Brooklyn-born Socialist senator from Vermont, was impressed. “This is a historic night,” Sanders said, picking string beans straight from the buffet and chatting with Jerry Nadler, the West Side’s man in the House of Representatives. “I’ve been coming here for years and I’ve never seen it shut down, but they shut it down for Schumer. He has reached the top. He has shut down the Hunan Dynasty.”
  45. photo op
    How’re You Doin’? Not So Good, Ed At Bush’s you-people-make-too-much-money speech on Wall Street yesterday, onetime Democrat Ed Koch’s ever-increasing embrace of Republicans became disconcertingly literal. Earlier: Bush Visits Wall Street, Discovers Income Inequality [NYT]
  46. in other news
    Bush Visits Wall Street, Discovers Income Inequality The president was in New York yesterday, and he brought some odd tidings for our city’s financial industry. In a speech strategically delivered across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, George W. Bush — who on a trip to New York years ago delivered his famous “Some call you the elite, I call you my base” line — spoke out against excessive executive pay and lush severance packages. Meantime, an editorial in the same day’s Wall Street Journal posited that any legislation curbing executive pay would immediately translate into higher taxes. As the person hectoring the gaggle of Wall Streeters about fiscal modesty was the same person who had drastically cut taxes for everyone in attendance, the listeners could be forgiven for mild confusion. The Sun calls the crowd’s response “muted.” But of course it was: The real target audience for the speech was the general public. “The fact is that income inequality is real,” said Bush. “It has been rising for more than 25 years.” And you’re first noticing that now, George? Pardon the pun, but that’s rich. Bush Warns Wall Street on Pay [NYS] George W. Bush: The Elite, My Base [YouTube]
  47. it just happened
    Mark Green’s Brother Buys Air AmericaTwo-year-old Air America, the “liberal radio network” currently languishing in Chapter 11 protection — and is it our imagination, or has it always been languishing in Chapter 11? — is in for a major makeover, according to news reports today. First, its current group of investor-owners are washing their hands of the ailing enterprise; it’s all but sold to Stephen Green, the founder of SL Green Realty Corp. and the brother of Mark (the former mayoral candidate). Second, the scratchy voice of the network, Al Franken, is leaving next month. Portland-based author Thom Hartmann, whom we don’t know much about but who looks strikingly like an SNL parody of a liberal, will take his time slot. Everyone agrees that Air America — whose noble attempt to counteract right-wing bloviators ran into the fact that liberals suck at yelling or being yelled at — can use retooling. But we’re more interested in two other items perhaps implicit in the sale. One, we’ve got to assume Mark Green is not as retired from politics as some have predicted, and, two, we’ve also got to assume Al Franken is definitely running for Senate. SL Green Founder to Acquire Air America [Crain’s]
  48. in other news
    When Good Cover Lines Go Bad Related: Kerry Decides Against 2008 Presidential Run [CNN.com]
  49. early and often
    Chuck Schumer Has Seen the Promised Land! You’d think Chuck Schumer was busy enough in 2006, masterminding the Democratic takeover of the Senate while also doing his day job as a member of that body. But he also found time to write Positively American, which hit bookstores this week. It’s part memoir and part branding strategy for his party: The key, both to Schumer’s own career and to his vision for the Dems, is a relentless focus on the needs of a mythical suburban Long Island middle-class family he calls “the Baileys.” He recently told us all about them. In the book you’re tough on your own party, criticizing Democrats for losing touch with middle-class voters and pandering to interest groups. I felt a real need — an urging almost, a yearning — to get the Democratic Party to start coming up with a model, a platform of ideas, that would appeal to the average voter. Everywhere Democrats went throughout the 2006 campaign, middle-class voters said to us, “Look, we don’t like Bush, we’re tired of Reaganism — but what do you guys stand for?”
  50. early and often
    Obama Snags Major Clinton Money ManAdd to Barack Obama’s list of marquee New York donors — and former Clinton supporters — the name of Orin S. Kramer. Kramer is an enviro-friendly financier and author who has been a stalwart in Clinton money-raising quarters for years. He played a key role in the Al Gore and John Kerry presidential campaigns, serving as New York co-chair for both. A domestic-policy staffer in the Carter White House, Kramer is currently the general partner of Boston Provident, L.P. He’s the latest fund-raising coup for the Obama camp, which also picked up support from lefty billionaire George Soros earlier this week. How did Kramer reach the decision to leave team Clinton? “I ran up against my pain threshold,” he said. “I have unalloyed respect for Senator Clinton. She is eminently electable, and some of my closest friends are major players in her universe. But despite being a dinosaur, I’m drawn to a different kind of political experience. Whether large numbers of people will see the world that way, we’ll see.” —Geoffrey Gray
  51. in other news
    Businessman Giuliani Doesn’t Make Things Easy for Politician GiulianiIn the ever-growing field of potential presidential candidates, Rudy Giuliani is the one with the most embarrassing pals. (Or, if he isn’t, he certainly acts like it.) And we’re not even talking about the mustached electoral Kryptonite known as Bernie Kerik, necessarily; today’s Times has word that Giuliani is selling off some of his businesses for fear of being linked to unsavory clients. First on the block is Giuliani Capital Advisors, an exclusive investment bank that accounts for almost half of Rudy’s revenue flow. A source suggests that Giuliani is itching to distance himself from some of the firm’s clients before an aggressive opponent — perhaps the same one that found/stole his game plan? — finds out who they are. This leaves the ex-mayor’s mini-empire with two businesses — Giuliani Partners (which consults for some scandal-plagued companies) and law firm Bracewell & Giuliani (which represents “major polluters”). In short, as nominee backgrounds go, being a junior senator with almost no record suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. Giuliani Is Expected to Sell One of His Three Businesses [NYT]
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