Rochester

No drama here.

Just a light schedule starting at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow, when Hillary Clinton meets with firemen and union leaders for a post-election breakfast in midtown.

Then, according to her agenda, she's off to thank all the voters other parts of the state: Long Island, Rochester, Albany, Syracuse and Cheektowaga.

--Azi Paybarah

Jason Horowitz takes a look at Pete King, a wartime congressman who, unlike most of his Republican colleagues and fellow candidates, isn't scared of talking about the war. "I am what I am," he said. He's a hawk, but will that hurt him in November?

Choire Sicha hits the roads of Hillaryland, where the onetime "cutie" stares daggers into John Spencer at the debate in Rochester. He also observes the sophisticated mechanics of the Hillary news cycle: reporters want to know about 08, so Hillary talks about 08, and then reporters write about Hillary talking about 08.

John Koblin has the goods on Bill Clinton's three-day 60th birthday bash. He tells us who's going (Burkle!) how much guests are paying (60 - 500 grand) the entertainment (The Rolling Stones, golfing) and who's tired of Bill's endless fund-raising carnivals (much of New York.)

Steve Kornacki follows the ripples of Barack Obama's announcement that he is "considering" a presidential run all the way into the House. Sure, the country's lone black Senator is generating great excitement, but what about guys, like, Charlie Rangel, who have helped run the country for decades? Why hasn't anybody ever been excited about any of them?

And Joe Conason is evermore depressed by the Republican leadership and the spiraling situation in Iraq.  read more »

Hillary was hawkish on North Korea, less aggressive on universal health care, and non-committal about 2008. There were no questions about gay marriage, abortion, and Hillary didn't wear her cross. Best slip was when John Spencer said he did not support building a 2,000-mile fence along the US-Mexico border which, according to his website, he supports.

Choire Sicha, our man in Rochester, emailed to say:

A CNN reporter got John Spencer in the media room. But not Hillary--she's signed a few baseballs and she's out!

And any anybody who went to Hillary's debate watch party on Third Avenue, feel free to boast about how much fun you had.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

According to our man in Rochester, Choire Sicha, pre-debate excitement is already starting.

"A rowdy crowd of 15, count 'em, 15 folks have turned out to loudly protest for.... 'marriage equality,' of all things."

Hillary Clinton has said earlier that she supports "full equality for people in committed relationships."

-- Azi Paybarah

A phone bank in midtown to help Democrats take the state senate starts calling people at 6:15

NY1 has a town hall meeting 7 p.m.

RNN has an AG debate at 7 p.m.

DFNYC's research and advocacy group meets at 72nd Street at 7:15

Candidates in the Brooklyn 11th congressional district have a candidate's forum at the Montauk Club at 7 p.m.

The congress and the presidency are discussed on C-SPAN at 8 p.m.

And Spitzer has a debate-watching party in Rochester at 8:30.

-- Azi Paybarah

Via AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Rep. Patrick Kennedy said Friday he was entering treatment for addiction to prescription pain medication, a decision made after a highly publicized car crash near the Capitol that the congressman said he cannot recall. Kennedy, D-R.I., said he would seek immediate treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Roll Call (subscription) reported yesterday that a poll prepared for Randy Kuhl's Democratic challenger, Eric Massa, has the Republican leading by three points, which is within the 4.4 percent error margin.

Although in a Republican dominated district, Kuhl is one incumbent of many that Democrats believe they can oust in this year's midterm elections. In 2004, Kuhl won the district with 51% of the vote.

From Roll Call:

In the poll, 33 percent of the voters had a positive view of Kuhl's job performance, while 50 percent had a negative opinion.

"Add yet another incumbent to the growing list that national GOP groups will be asked to bail out," pollster Alan Secrest wrote in his polling memo.

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported last week on Kuhl's proud moment in front of the camera with President Bush, noting that it was Karl Rove who had snapped the picture. It was Kuhl that persuaded the president to visit Canandaigua last month.

An excerpt:

Democrats say it could be dangerous to pose for pictures with a president whose job approval rating has plummeted to the mid-30 percent range in recent polls. Bush lost New York in both the 2000 and 2004 elections, but won in Kuhl's district.

—Nicole Brydson

The weekend-long 30th annual delegate assembly of The National Education Association/New York kicks off tomorrow in Rochester with Eliot Spitzer and author Jonathan Kozol expected to address the delegates.

Tom Suozzi and Assemblyman Michael Gianaris will speak on separate panels at a symposium on reapportionment hosted by Citizens Union at The Newman Center at Baruch College.

George Pataki will be in Nashua, Bedford and Manchester, New Hampshire.

Bill Clinton will be attending the Clinton Global Initiative town hall debate on HIV/AIDS at the Mother AME Zion Church in Harlem.

—Nicole Brydson

The Democrat running for Senate in Missouri is still avoiding Hillary like the plague.

Which says nothing positive about Hillary '08, however she does in Rochester.

I'm not sure if anyone Downstate has picked up on an important new report from the Rochester-based Center for Government Research yet, but it seems to provide some serious ammunition for the way New Yorkers see their relationship with Albany.

The report tracks lawmakers' discretionary spending on community projects -- the New York version of Federal earmarks -- and finds the following for the use of $1.7 billion over the last nine years:

Benefits are not distributed equally. The differences among regions and interest groups are stark, even if a perfectly even distribution of funds would not be expected in a state as diverse as New York. Albany and Dutchess counties received about $1,000 on a per-capita basis while 40 other counties were allocated less than $100 per capita. Two counties, Tioga and Hamilton, received none of these funds. New York City's per-capita allocation was the [lowest] among regions at $29.

Certain interests have also benefited disproportionately. The biggest winners have been the five Centers of Excellence, university-business high-tech ventures created by Gov. George Pataki in 2001, which have been allocated $529 million. Business-related projects ranked second with $380 million, while colleges and universities have reaped $221 million.

So who wants to be the state version of Pat Moynihan?

(hat tip: LDL)

The anti-Spitzer PAC effort seems to be gathering momentum, with this report that Ken Langone and Tom Golisano met in Florida.

A Golisano advisor notes that Eliot’s decision to play hardball in a face-to-face meeting with the Rochester billionaire is not looking like such a good idea.

"I assumed at the time that he acted the way he did because he assumed Golisano wanted to run and the thought there was no downside," he said. "Golisano went to the meeting wantting to like Eliot, and prepared to support him."

George W. Bush will be up in Rochester Tuesday, part of that prescription drug tour that hasn't exactly succeeded in changing the subject from Iraq, Dubai, or anything else.

But New York State's Republican candates, of course, are flocking to be seen with their President, right? Not so much.

"Bush who?" joked one Republican campaign aide.

A number of other campaigns also wouldn't go on the record with their Tuesday plans or didn't get back to me, but here are those that did:

"Jeanine will be spending time with her kids during their spring break," says Pirro spokeswoman Anne Marie Corbalis.

"We haven't been asked and we will not be in Rochester on Tuesday," says Weld spokeswoman Andrea Tantaros.

"KT has meetings in a different part of the state on Tuesday, but would be very pleased to campaign with the President down the road," says McFarland spokesman Bill O'Reilly.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/...

Canandaiguans to 'get to know' Bush

(March 8, 2006) — President Bush is expected to make his second visit to the Rochester area in less than a year on Tuesday when his plans call for a trip to Canandaigua to discuss his new prescription drug benefit program.

Most Canandaigua residents are happy to hear that President Bush may be coming to town, but they want him to visit the Canandaigua Veterans Affairs Medical Center or at least discuss veterans issues.

To help assuage the pains of Ben withdrawl some of you might be experiencing, here is a belated IMterview with state GOP spokesman Rob Ryan.

azipaybarah: how was your weekend?

Rmoses: good. we had a ball in Rochester that attracted over 3,000 people and netted the party over a million dollars

azipaybarah: who gets that money?

Rmoses: goes to various gop committees

Rmoses: specials elections are tomorrow

azipaybarah: how many do you expect to win?

Rmoses: we have good candidates out there with good messages,

Rmoses: we are deploying people all over the state so I hop we win them all

azipaybarah: would you bet on a full sweep?

Rmoses: lol, although I am a gambling man, I won't make that bet

azipaybarah: me either

azipaybarah: so who was the big headliner in Rochester?

Rmoses: Steve Minarik

azipaybarah: hearing any complaints from GOP donors about having to trek out to Rochester?

Rmoses: its beautiful this time of year, and by the response it didn't seem like to many complaints

azipaybarah: Rochester in February...cold just thinking about it

azipaybarah: did you get a chance to catch Tom Suozzi's announcement on saturday?

Rmoses: the real story is despite all of their arm-twisting and backroom dealings, Denny Farrell and Eliot Spitzer have failed in their attempts to undermine democracy, and scare Tom Suozzi out of the Governor's race.

Rmoses: pretty pathetic

azipaybarah: sounds like you're voting for him

azipaybarah: would you?

Rmoses: no chance of that! we have great candidates

azipaybarah: which is the greatest?

Rmoses: all would be better than eliot or tom, thats for sure

azipaybarah: that's not the answer i was looking for

Rmoses: Weld seems to be gaining quickly and garnering the most support in the party

azipaybarah: is this IMterview tougher than you thought it would be?

Rmoses: you are much better at it then Ben

Rmoses: maybe he should take a longer vacation

azipaybarah: noo!!!!!!

azipaybarah: does the spin ever stop?

Rmoses: let the dems spin, were gonna win

azipaybarah: and you rap too?

Rmoses: learned it from my homie Ray hernandez at the Times

azipaybarah: can you rhyme anything with Spitzer?

azipaybarah: or Suozzi?

Rmoses: nothing you can print

azipaybarah: fair enough

azipaybarah: (I promised Ben I wouldn't walk out over censorship this week)

Rmoses: lol, good for you

Rmoses: my fingers are getting tired

azipaybarah: fair enough

azipaybarah: the politicker wins by TKO!

The recent New Republic has a piece challenging the notion (subscription required) that Hillary's Upstate success means she can succeed on a national level.

First, it argues that she didn't really do all that well in 2000 Upstate, where Lazio narrowly beat her. Second, it argues that Upstate is more liberal than most of America, and that Hillary's success has been more retail than any national candidate could duplicate.

These points seem only partially right. National elections aren't fought by sweeping whole states; they're won and lost on the margins, and Hillary's narrow defeat upstate was -- in that sense -- quite a victory. And since then, she's defused some of the suspicion and dislike.

The same point applies to the argument that Upstate is more liberal than America. Sure it's more liberal than Alabama; but the central question of "electibility" is whether Hillary can pull a few more votes in Ohio than John Kerry.  read more »

On the other hand, the New Republic's attempted debunking is prescient, in a way. John Spencer seems set to hand Hillary Schumeresque margins all across the state, and if he does, the modest lessons that can be drawn from the Rochester suburbs will rapidly be transformed into "Kerry's-a-great-closer"-style mythology.

Mid-January is rolling in, and soon the world will know whether Rochester billionaire (and gubernatorial tease?) Tom Golisano will take on Eliot Spitzer. In recent reports, Golisano got a spousal nod and planned to toss money into the wind. But on the whole, the rumblings from Rochester have been pretty faint lately. Perhaps this explains it. According to one associate, he's down -- but definitely not out -- with the flu: "I'm told that he ordered up a bunch of briefing books on issues from various think tanks, and he's propped up in bed with the sniffles, reading through them."  read more »

The Rochester billionaire is, as his hometown paper points out, the GOP's "X-factor."  read more »

There’s a letter from Stepin Fetchit in the John Ford papers at the Lilly Library.  read more »

There’s a letter from Stepin Fetchit in the John Ford papers at the Lilly Library.  read more »

So Tom Golisano has officially gone Republican, as per a statement posted today on his website.

The Rochester billionaire name-drops John McCain, Joe Bruno, and Tom Reynolds as pols who lobbied him to cross over, and insists that a new ballot line won't mean new principles. In short, he says he's still committed to lowering taxes and spending, squeezing out the influence of special interests, rooting out Medicaid fraud, and strengthening public schools.

By way of self-definition, he also adds: "I don't believe you have to be born into the Republican Party to be a good Republican, after all, Ronald Reagan, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg all switched Parties to become Republicans."

And: "I am most comfortable in the McCain/Reform wing of the Republican Party."

Our former intern, Azi Paybarah, just spoke with Golisano adviser Roger Stone, who said that the newly-minted Republican doesn't plan on attending the October 12 G.O.P screening in Plattsburgh.

"When you have the kind of resources he has, you can afford to wait a little bit," he told Azi. "So, no he does not intend to go to any of these dog and pony shows."  read more »

Hat tip to Ira Stoll at the Sun, who rightfully kicks us under the table for not posting Golisano's move earlier.

The Clinton Global Initiative, Bill's big conference, was held in midtown last week with an unlikely prime sponsor: Tom Golisano.

The Rochester mogul, and likely contestant for the Republican nomination for Governor, writes in the event's program: "Although my philanthropic efforts to date have been concentrated primarily in my community in Upstate New York, I have long desired to enter the global arena of giving but was waiting for the right opportunity."  read more »

He continues: "I believe wholeheartedly in President Clinton's vision of bringing together this group..."

Actually, Golisano is one of a number of Republicans seeking statewide office who have reasons to be, at least, cordial to the Senator: there's her old Watergate friend Bill Weld, for one; and Ed Cox, a famously loyal Nixon son-in-law who has talked about how valuable Bill Clinton was to his father-in-law's political rehabilitation.

Stephen J.  read more »

We know it's her job and all, but we thought we'd point out that Hillary is still fighting to direct Homeland Security grants to sparsely populated rural areas.

The latest: "Grants to be awarded to Fire Departments in Angola, Central Islip, Dobbs Ferry, Glenham, Great Valley, Marathon, Marion, New Windsor, Niagara Falls, Patterson, Rochester, Schenectady and Scotia."  read more »

That includes, for example, $108,000 to the Humphrey Volunteer Fire Department in Great Valley, NY.

We don't begrudge them the new truck, but we're not sure what it has to do with homeland security.

I don't think I'm the only one who missed this article in the Rochester paper November 11, which floats speculation that Rochester billionaire Tom Golisano will run for Governor on the Republican in 2006.

Steve Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic Chairman and a close Golisano advisor, indulges it, at least:  read more »

"I would say that you will see Tom emerge now that he is no longer in a position at Paychex," Pigeon said.

After a week of campaigning in which he came under heavy attack from the campaign of his Republican  read more »