It's the political question of the year: what happened to Gifford? There are two major surprises in this election. One is how poorly Gifford ultimately did, and the other one is really how well Anthony did. |
The difficulty now is going out and raising money, |
The difficulty now is going out and raising money. Spending 80% of your time begging for money - it's so debilitating on a candidate. |
The flip side is that there are a lot of issues that are unresolved, such as overcrowding. But it doesn't seem as if the [Democratic] candidates have been able to put together a coherent, cogent and compelling critique of the mayor and a blueprint of what they would do differently. |
There is a perception that he's trying to take advantage - and he is, ... But this is not a social tea, this is hardball politics, this is a bare-knuckle brawl in the real world. You do what you have to within the bounds of the law. |
There is a perception that he's trying to take advantage - and he is. But this is not a social tea, this is hardball politics, this is a bare-knuckle brawl in the real world. You do what you have to within the bounds of the law. |
There is some truth to 'You've come a long way, baby, ... They're fighting it out on the premier media stage in the world. |
There's got to be a little bit of redemption there. He knows he screwed up. |
There's no such thing as overkill. It's the law of the street. You put the other guy down and you kick him until he can't get up. Why take a chance? There are plenty of guys who have been 20 points up and have blown it. |
This is really a comedy of errors and missteps for the candidate, the party, the consultants, everybody. Everybody wants an opponent like these guys. |
To do it legislatively is a big mistake. It's bad policy to explicitly overturn the judgment of the voters, and it's bad politics because they're going to get hammered, and rightly so. |
Total anonymity is not in the mayor's best interest, and so you have this game of the known anonymous giver. But who can blame him: He's giving $100 million, so he wants a little credit, but he doesn't want to be seen as trumpeting his giving. |
Voters understand that turning a bureaucracy like that around is like turning around a battleship, |
Weld is an established guy and he's got credentials. He's got what boxers call a puncher's chance in this. |