They were never worried about their Democratic Party primary challengers earlier this month, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and his running mate, Erie County’s Kathy Hochul, insisted over and over again.
Worries aside, Cuomo and Hochul spent about $5.9 million in the final couple of weeks and days immediately following their recent closer-than-expected Democratic primary contests.
New campaign finance filings with the state Board of Elections show that the governor spent $5.6 million, much of it on television ads, during the primary campaign in which he faced political newcomer Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor who captured 34 percent of the Democratic vote against Cuomo.
Cuomo, who is running against Republican Rob Astorino, the Westchester County executive, in the general election, has spent an average of $151,000 a day on his re-election efforts since his July campaign reporting period with the Board of Elections. In July, he had $35 million in his account; as of the weekend, the balance was $25.8 milllion.
If my math is right, Cuomo paid around $14 for every primary voter who voted his way. Perhaps if an incumbent Democrat who was photographed drowning kittens in the holy water of every church between Buffalo and Westchester were nominated, more than $14 per vote would be required, but I can’t think of another scenario where a “popular incumbent” with “Presidential aspirations” would have to spend that kind of money in a primary. If Rob Astorino can find it in himself to keep the Tea Party bullshit on the downlow, my guess is that Andy’s win this Fall will be a lot tighter than last time, when he demolished “horse cock” Carl Paladino.
Dave C
Great reference to “The National!”
constitutional mistermix
@Dave C: He won’t fuck you over.
Dave C
@constitutional mistermix:
Of course not! He’s the great white hope!
PurpleGirl
Cuomo might have interpreted the earlier vote as being for him, when it was really against Paladino. People wanted to make sure to knock Paladino out of state-wide politics. This year the vote will really be about Cuomo.
ETA: I know that is why I voted for Cuomo before; it was to make sure Paladino went down.
Groucho48
Cuomo’s campaign against Astorino is as about a nasty and personal campaign as I’ve seen in NYS. They make you wonder why Astorino’s wife and kinds don’t run screaming from the house when he gets home from another day doing felonious things at work.
burnspbesq
How likely is that?
But he’s still going to win, so the question for the leftish in New York is “what do we do next time?”
constitutional mistermix
@Groucho48: I said my piece about it in my last Cuomo post, but IMO the anti-Astorino ads are stupid. They just raise name recognition for Astorino. Some people in that thread made a point that they were sort-of anti-Teachout (because they raised the fear factor of what would happen if Teachout were nominated and Astorino squeaked in). Maybe, but they were running long before Teachout seemed like a threat, so I think it was just Andrew running dumb and scared. Like he always does.
constitutional mistermix
@burnspbesq:
This time don’t vote on the Working Families Party line. Those chickenshits blew it.
Next time, dunno.
srv
Cuomo and Teachout are such a weird names, I’m sure a lot of the foreigners voting just got confused. Paladino, Astorino… could these guys not shorten their names to Palin or Astor so NY’ers would have an American choice?
Cacti
Nobody outside of the Tri-state area gives a crap about the Presidential aspirations of Andrew Cuomo or Chris Christie.
Their national appeal is a fabrication of the east coast media.
Lavocat
And if current ad buys Upstate are any testament to Astorino’s political prowess, he’s already doing this.
While Upstate ALWAYS votes Republican, I think Astorino will be making serious inroads in Democratic bastions like Upstate cities.
Plus, Progressives are majorly pissed off w/ Andy and I suspect many will be voting ABC: Anyone But Cuomo.
Anoniminous
Assumed Cuomo got to where he is because Daddy. That won’t work on the National stage.
SatanicPanic
@Cacti: Neither of those two had a chance. Not saying this is a good thing, but neither of them are good-looking enough to be president.
Lavocat
@constitutional mistermix: Cuomo needed them more then they needed him. And then he turned around and stuck the knife in when he could afford to do so.
As much as I hate Cuomo, I Do admire the fact that he’s a savage street-fighter who shows no quarter.
The ambition in this one is mighty strong.
catclub
@Anoniminous:
There is a former two term president laughing at you.
I can easily imagine name recognition doing a lot of work. Enough to get the nom, no. But still a lot.
beltane
I would never vote for Astorino but I wouldn’t mind being related to him. The TV has been telling me for months that he rewards his relatives with high-paying no-show jobs. Why can’t I have a family like this?
Belafon
@catclub: But we never had a President Cuomo.
vheidi
@constitutional mistermix: well, yeah, but do we then hold our noses and vote for Andy-Boy on the D line? I might just give that race a miss.
beltane
I would never vote for Astorino but I wouldn’t mind being related to him. The TV has been telling me for months that he rewards his relatives with high-paying no-show jobs. Why can’t I have a family like this?
Jim C
This description continues to rankle me. I remember her as part of the Howard Dean campaign back in ‘aught four. While she wasn’t the candidate, a name like that has staying power, doesn’t it? Perhaps I wasn’t well-read enough for journalists to mention this in write-ups, but it always made it sound like she just blew in with the west wind this election cycle.
Steve in the ATL
@Cacti:
Bingo
gene108
@Cacti:
You underestimate Christie, though “Bridgegate” seems to be enough to kill his chances for the 2016 national elections.
Christie has (had) demonstrated a very Reagan-esque quality, such that all the questionable things you can throw at him just don’t seem to stick. This is not a product of the media being concentrated in NYC.
You can point to all the facts and figures you like about how he has not been good for NJ, but there’s a “yeah, he ain’t perfect but there’s something I just like about that man” with helped him win re-election.
Plus he knew how politics were played in NJ and got many state Democrats to endorse him.
Give him time to lose weight, figure out how to collect favors in DC and broaden his appeal outside of the tri-state area and he would be very dangerous, as a national candidate.
The real question is would he be patient enough to pay his dues, before getting a shot at being President. Reagan was thwarted from becoming the Republican nominee in 1968 and 1976, but developed his brand in the mean time.
In June 2014 Christie had a 50/42 favorable/unfavorable rating.
gene108
@Steve in the ATL:
Neither Cuomo nor Christie has put much work into building national appeal. That’s what a Presidential primary is for.
Even John McCain did not have much national appeal, until he went all maverick-y in the 2000 Republican primary.
Occasionally someone gets national attention, such as President Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, but otherwise very few would be Presidents have a national appeal before the primaries.
srv
Oh, my, Alinsky Eruption:
rikyrah
Watch Courtney B. Vance, Gloria Reuben &
Stephen King ‘Find Their Roots’ (Full Premiere Episode Now Online)
By Tambay A. Obenson | Shadow and ActSeptember 24, 2014 at 1:08PM
Last night, the season premiere of the popular PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” hosted by Dr. Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., aired on the network, starting at 8pm. The emotional genealogical exploration, during which Courtney B. Vance, Gloria Reuben and Stephen King, searched for clues about their biological parents, delivered as you’d expect, is now available online for you to watch, courtesy of PBS, if you missed yesterday’s broadcast.
Looking further out, every Tuesday from here-on, a new group of guests will discover their diverse histories, including actresses Angela Bassett and Khandi Alexander, actor Ben Affleck, journalist Anderson Cooper, tennis great Billie Jean King, and rapper Nas to name a few.
Watch the full episode of last night’s season premiere, featuring Courtney B. Vance, Gloria Reuben and Stephen King, below:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/watch-courtney-b-vance-gloria-reuben-stephen-kind-find-their-roots-full-premiere-episode-now-online-20140924
skerry
@Steve in the ATL: My Republican Hoosier mother finds Christie “uncouth”. His personality does not sell well in “the heartland”.
Cuomo is basically an unknown. He doesn’t get much national airtime and I doubt Mom would even know who he is.
I tend to use Mom as a barometer. She is your stereotypical, Fox watching, Republican ticket voter who tends to be uninformed, but has lots of opinions.
There are good reasons I left Indiana.
Mike J
@skerry:
Indiana wants me, Lord, I can’t go back there
p.a.
More better Democrats, please. Please.
skerry
@Mike J: exactly
BillinGlendaleCA
@gene108: Christie won’t play in Peoria. He’s a creation of the national media.
Bill Arnold
@srv:
(Links for the lazy)
I liked NYMags snarky take on this
The actual free beacon article includes scans of the letters.
C.V. Danes
@constitutional mistermix: Exactly.
David in NY
@constitutional mistermix: You know, I am concerned that the Working Families Party (which can be useful when both other candidates suck) may have miscalculated terribly. They struck the deal with Cuomo in part (I hear third hand) based on threats from Cuomo that he would change the voting system in New York to weaken third-party access and render the WFP basically powerless (which he might well have been able to do). But they’ve still got to get 50,000 votes for Cuomo on their line to keep their ballot position. And I’m not sure they can get them. I have often voted on their line but have no intention to vote for Cuomo, and I bet there are lots of others, even actual WFP members, like me.
C.V. Danes
$150/k per day is a lot of lipstick for that pig.
Redshift
@srv: It should be hilarious watching wingnuts try to convince normal people that this is some kind of scandal.
kindness
Those that solicit whores get what they paid for.
That explains any Wall Street or wealthy votes for Cuomo but I sure don’t get why other’s would choose him.
Thank God for Jerry Brown.
C.V. Danes
@David in NY: I thought the whole thing with WFP machiavellian bs. Sickening.
skerry
@Jim C: That’s the same line they are throwing at Alison Grimes in Kentucky. She is currently Secretary of State, but the media is trying to cast her as a newcomer against the turtle.
Villago Delenda Est
Andrew Cuomo and Mitt Romney….two examples of apples that fell several time zones downwind of the tree.
p.a.
The Dem bench for 2016 seems thin. Who can challenge Hillary from the left? As a US Senator Obama is a presidential anomaly (lately). Most pres have been governors. Who’s out there? I don’t want the Mark Penn/Lanny Davis Democrats back in the WH.
David in NY
@C.V. Danes: Not sure your exact point. Cuomo was certainly Machiavellian and combined both carrots (agreement to higher minimum wage, actual Democratic control of Senate, etc.) and sticks (got de Blasio, unions, etc. together in room to pressure WTF to back him, brutally threatening to get legislature to end or curtail “fusion” voting). As to
WFP, if they can actually get what Cuomo promised (if!), they’ll have actually achieved something. If Cuomo backs off, not so much.
Napoleon
@Mike J:
I loved that song as a kid (and I guess I still do).
Jim C
@skerry: Ha! I could imagine Yertle’s people trying to portray her as such, but regular media trying to frame a State Gov’t Official? That’s a topper.
The Other Chuck
@p.a.:
Biden?
skerry
@Jim C: I present 3 quick finds as evidence
Chris
@skerry:
Romney and McCain didn’t play all that well in the heartland either, did they? If Christie can navigate the primary like they did, he’s good: they’ll vote for Attilla the Hun once he’s put up against Hated Liberal [whoever].
Just One More Canuck
@Bill Arnold: Dinesh D’Souza makes an appearance in the article. Sadly, it was not in the BJ approved form of “Convicted Felon Dinesh D’Souza”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: I said before GWBridge mess that Christie had to run two perfect campaigns in the primary and in the general. I think that’s still true, and that much harder now that he’s got not only the bridge but a budding pension scandal to deal with. Cruz, Santorum and Paul I think could each make a heyday out the pensions. I’m still waiting for the grey flannel suit to come forward.
What always confused me about Christie, even pre-scandal, is that given his relative youth, he’s not waiting till 2020 or 2024, giving him time to fatten the old coffers and polish his reputation with the already, and still, fawning press corps
Alce_e_ardilla
@burnspbesq: about as likely that Cuomo will campaign for Democrats in the NYS Senate. I think we all have a better chance at being hit by an asteroid
Alce_e_ardilla
@David in NY: His promises had all the substance of cotton candy.He started reneging on them even before he left the room
Kay
@p.a.:
Democrats have a weak bench at the state level, which no one wants to admit but is obviously true. They refuse to focus on or invest in state races, although most of the people IN those states might care a whole lot about state law and policy because it affects them directly.
For some reason Democrats would rather focus solely on retaining the Senate, although Congress is wildly unpopular now and it’s difficult to get our voters out for a midterm, particularly to re-elect a Congress that a lot of our “sporadic” voters believe is completely irrelevant to their day-to-day lives.
Martin O’Malley is the only governor running as far as I can tell. Jerry Brown would be great, but I am told he’s too old.
They have to fix this. They have to start caring about governors and state legislatures.
Kay
@p.a.:
If they lose more state races, if they lose (again) in FL or MI or WI, or if it’s worse than that and they lose most of those and also lose a state or state(s) they should have held, like CT or IL, I will make a bold prediction. They will start talking about why that happened. Then and only then.
I don’t know why they do it. There’s only so many ads they can run in an Alaska or Louisiana senate race. It’s ridiculous. You would think after 2010 they’d stop with the laser-like focus on DC as the center of the fucking universe, but I guess they have to get the shit beaten out of them again before they get it.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Jerry Brown is too old and, frankly, he makes Joe Biden look like a model of decorum and restraint. We like him here in California, but I don’t think he would translate well to the rest of the country.
gene108
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Right now, nope he won’t play well in Peoria.
I don’t think he’d be a good candidate for 2016. He still has too many rough edges.
If learned to tone his schtick down to play in Peoria, he could be dangerous. When people show videos of him yelling at teachers, he just has to say that was 8 years ago, I’ve changed.
There’s going to be no Republican, in the foreseeable future, who will not have to answer some questions about whacky shit that they either supported as policy or due to personal shortcomings. Personal shortcomings can be smoothed over, in my opinion. Everyone has them.
Bush, Jr.’s PR team turned his inability to talk coherently into folksy-guy-you-want-to-have-a-beer-with-charm.
Purely speculation on my part, but from personal anecdotes, I believe there’s a large cohort of youngin’s, who have issues supporting the status quo. They don’t trust the government. They don’t trust science or other authority type figures.
Who are the anti-vaxxers? People young enough to have infants, i.e. a bunch of mostly 20 somethings.
Get one guy, who “makes sense” and can play to their distrust of authority as some kind of subversive of the status quo and you can have a Republican President. Republicans are not wrong in assessing their messaging is hurting them. If they had another candidate, who could communicate like Reagan, they could retake the White House.
There’s a certain level of discontent in this country that is ripe for demagoguery.
Kay
@Mnemosyne:
I think it infects everything, the DC focus. It leads to delusional thinking, like Cuomo believing he’s ever going to be President.
I give Jerry Brown huge credit for running the state as governor, instead of running for President while also dabbling in being a horrible governor, as a sideline.
My personal hope is the “belligerent and arrogant, yet also delightfully and boyishly corrupt” fad is over, and Christie, Cuomo and Rahm Emanuel all get smacked. This thing is already dated.