Betsy Gotbaum

After City Councilman John Liu told reporters he thinks Bill Thompson is a good comptroller and doesn't want to run against him, I asked Liu if he would run against Betsy Gotbaum (if term limits are extended and she chooses to run for re-election).

“Next year I’m going to put myself before the voters,” Liu said.

Liu had previously indicated he might run for comptroller.  read more »

Here's Betsy Gotbaum with Hillary Clinton at Ground Zero earlier this morning.

Earlier today, Christine Quinn gave a press conference on food stamps in the Bronx. I didn't make it, but a few hours later her office sent out to me a video of the event.  read more »

As a meta-news side-note, this is a further bit of evidence of YouTube becoming an important part of local politics. This has already happened at the level of presidential and and high-profile statewide races -- Macaca! -- while lawmakers in the city have generally been slow to adapt.

But it's changing. Quinn, a likely mayoral candidate, has quietly created her own Youtube channel, where her staff uploads videos of her press conferences.

No, it's not a wax statue! It's really Cynthia Nixon, doing her part to make sure that no one in New York was denied a chance to get in on last weekend's Sex and the City opening (other than Michael Bloomberg).

TOP: With Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum (photo from Gotbaum's web site).

BOTTOM: With Comptroller Bill Thompson (photo sent to me by his spokesperson).  read more »

Simcha Felder, one of Michael Bloomberg’s closest allies in the City Council and a supporter of congestion pricing, said yesterday, "I clearly think I made a mistake on that vote." Felder made the remark during an interview on The Perez Notes, an online radio show based out of La Guardia Community College.

Here's my partial transcription:

SIMCHA FELDER: Let me just say, the plan that I was in favor of would not have charged people who got on the F.D.R. and did not get off on the zones. Which meant it would have discouraged people from coming into the zone when it was busy. At the end of the day the plan that we voted on was actually going to tax people whether they got off or on, no matter what, which think was a mistake on my part. So, if, Roberto, you’re asking me to tell your listeners what did they lose, I would say that my vote initially had good intentions but at the end of the day I think I made a mistake. I clearly think I made a mistake on that vote.  read more »

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Despite the recent acquittal of the three police officers on trial for the death of Sean Bell, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly still leads the pack of potential mayoral contenders, according to a new Quinnipiac poll.

That seems in part due to his name recognition and in part because most voters probably aren't thinking about a race that's still a year and a half away. Considering also that most candidates haven't even declared, the significance of the results are limited.  read more »

 

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum continues to be a pioneer, among local officials, in her use of YouTube.  read more »

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning finds that, among possible mayoral candidates, Ray Kelly is favored by 22 percent of respondents. He's followed, in order, by Anthony Weiner, Marty Markowitz, Christine Quinn, Betsy Gotbaum and Bill Thompson.

Polls at this stage in an election cycle should be taken with a massive grain of salt (as in, many of these candidates haven't officially declared they are going to run for mayor yet, and Betsy Gotbaum has said she won't run), but it seems to say something, at least, about Kelly's potential if he ever chose to get in. Also, although the poll was taken without listing party affiliations for the candidates, it is expected that Kelly would run as a Republican.

More of the release after the jump.  read more »

Another top aide is leaving Betsy Gotbaum’s office.

Gotbaum’s communication director, James Vlasto is leaving effective March 20, according to an email he sent to friends today.

“Now is the time to move on. I intend to stay active as a consultant to help those involved in public policy and to assist them in making their views known through the press,” he wrote.  read more »

 

Here is Betsy Gotbaum’s latest video, featuring herself, Eric Gioia, and others discussing access to public benefits—a little like a one-minute highlight tape of a press conference (if such things actually have highlights).  read more »

Adolfo Carrion's communications director, Mike Murphy, is leaving for a job with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

While it's a loss for Carrion, it's something of a win that Murphy wasn't hired by another city comptroller candidate.

That's more or less what happened with John Collins, who was hired by Anthony Weiner, a likely mayoral candidate.

Collins had recently worked for two possible mayoral candidates before going to Weiner: Christine Quinn and Betsy Gotbaum (who had been considered a longshot candidate until this interview put that notion to rest).

Murphy's email after the jump.  read more »

Months after joining her staff as press secretary, John Collins has abruptly departed from Betsy Gotbuam’s office only days after she said in an interview that she won't run for citywide office in 2009 (unless, of course, she inadvertanly winds up mayor if a certain mayor runs for President).

The two have always had different styles. Collins is a young campaign junkie and Gotbaum tends towards a more traditional, less flashy approach.

After receiving an automated response from Collins' legislative email account saying he is “no longer employed by this office,” I reached him by cell phone. He declined to discuss the matter publicly, other than to say that he left for personal reasons. He spoke positively of his former boss.

More after the jump.   read more »

Here's the latest in a line of three YouTube videos put out by Betsy Gotbaum's office , trumpeting her good work for the people of New York City.

At least two possible 2009 candidates are hiring, according to the following, somewhat random list of political jobs I turned up in a quick search yesterday:

Press Secretary for City Comptroller Bill Thompson

Communications Coordinator for Assemblyman Rory Lancman

Communications Director for a City Councilman

Policy and Research Intern for Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum

GOP-hating campaign workers for the Working Families Party

District Manager for Manhattan’s Community Board 8

 

Here's a picture from one of the Department of Education's registration centers in The Bronx, which, according to Betsy Gotbaum and some parents, has been a chaotic disaster.

"The DOE seems to have failed to provide its own staff with correct information, leading to chaos and frustration for Bronx families," Gotbaum said.

Fifteen temporary registration centers were opened citywide in order to place students into junior high and high schools. Among Gotbaum's suggestions for improving the situation: keeping the centers open past 3 p.m.

Here are some ads you'll be seeing in local papers and at bus shelters around the city featuring Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and her education hotline.

Interestingly, the ads were paid for with private money raised by Gotbaum, which at least seems to indicate something positive about her ability to gather the necessary cash should she get into the mayoral race in 2009.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quinnipiac has a poll out today showing New Yorkers think Michael Bloomberg is effective, if not particularly warm and fuzzy.

He wins a hypothetical re-election in 2009 over a fantasy field of candidates including Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani (imagine those campaign ads!).

As for the popularity of Bloomberg's potential mayoral replacements, the poll showed Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who’s been making the rounds and hiring some new people, leading the pack of likely mayoral candidates with a 62 - 25  percent job approval rating. That figure includes 81 percent from Republicans and 62 percent from Democrats. And only 13 percent of people were undecided about him.

Here are the numbers for other likely mayoral candidates: Christine Quinn has a 44 - 16 percent job approval rating; Bill Thompson has an approval rating of 41 - 12, and Betsy Gotbaum’s approval rating is 39 - 18. Each had more than 40 percent of people undecided.

I'm not sure if this is exactly what people meant when they spoke about the revolutionary impact YouTube would have on politics. But we're getting there.

It's a clip of Betsy Gotbaum blasting the MTA for its performance during the rain storm earlier this week. It's the second video release her office has put out in recent days.

Betsy Gotbaum wants answers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority about today's uncomfortable commuting situation (see above).

In a public statement, she said, "The question is, if the subways become flooded and service is disrupted this easily during a simple storm, what will happen during a hurricane? Will the MTA bring the city to a standstill?"

Anyone?

 

 

Here's one way of explaining precisely what Betsy Gotbaum has been doing since she got into office: a Gotbaum highlight reel.

Here's a shot of Ed Koch having lunch in Manhattan yesterday with Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. From the looks of it, the former mayor was either intensely interested in what she was saying or he had issues with something he ate. I'm not prepared to guess which.

 

 

 

 

 

“I need your help once more. And this time I’m confident we can win.”

That’s how Norman Siegel starts out a three-page letter to donors announcing that he’ll make a third run at the public advocate’s office.

A copy of the letter was sent to me last night by a
reader who has contributed to him previously.

Siegel, a civil rights advocate who most recently helped a political gadfly get back into mayoral press conferences, ran and lost twice, both times to Betsy Gotbaum.

In his third bid, Siegel says he will “publish reports on effectiveness of city agencies,” “propose and lobby legislation,” and give New York “finally an accessible, effective public advocate.”

He goes on to say, “I learned from prior campaigns that I need money to win. I need money to run ads on television and radio. I need money for direct mail and automated telephone messages. In the past, I was outspent 3 to 1. We can’t let that happen again.”  read more »

Spotted in the City Council Chamber: Tom Weiss, a political gadfly most famous for stalking Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum to the point that Gotbaum invoked him as a reason for not releasing a public schedule. Weiss is in the front row of the Chamber's balcony among other people supporting a proposal to name a street after black nationalist Sonny Carson.

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

Practically every major Democrat in the city was at the corner of 14th Street and First Avenue yesterday afternoon to announce the formation of a what they say is the largest housing coalition in the city’s history.

The group, New York Is Our Home, includes labor and tenant groups, the Working Families Party and others.

The most heated rhetoric (video here) came from the Central Labor Council's Ed Ott, who said, “The price of housing in this city is effectively theft” and that affordable housing units, like the ones in Stuyvesant Town behind him, “are being stolen by the greed of developers and the market.”

Which drew applause and energetic head nods from the crowd of elected officials behind him.

In attendance at the rally were Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, Betsy Gotbaum, Tom Duane, John Sabini, Ruben Diaz, Jr., Keith Wright, Jonathan Bing, Linda Rosenthal, Dan Garodnick, Eric Gioia and Charles Barron, among others. Most of them spoke but none matched Ott’s directness.

After the speeches, the group formed a human chain around Stuy Town, which is several blocks long, and marched down to Union Square.

UPDATE: Adolfo Carrion, Brian Kavanagh and Adam Clayton Powell IV also attended.

A round table discussion with reporters planned by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, scheduled for noon today at the Tweed Courthouse, was just cancelled. A spokeswoman for the DOE didn't have an explanation.

I'm not sure if this has anything to do with it, but Betsy Gotbaum's people were really looking forward to the event, and had even sent reporters a press release suggesting few questions.

Here they are:

1. "Isn't it true that the majority of the gains in 4th grade reading and math scores, so widely touted by this Administration, happened between 2002 and 2003, before the DOE instituted its changes?

2. "Isn't it true that the DOE awarded corporate restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) a $15.8 million no-bid contract after A&M "restructured" St. Louis' schools and left the city struggling to pay off $30 million A&M borrowed for operating costs?

3. "Isn't it true that ten different deputy chancellors have come and gone through the DOE over the past five years, including three deputy chancellors for teaching and learning?

4. "Isn't it true that DOE has hired the former head of Edison to oversee the privatization of New York City schools, despite the fact that two independent studies have shown that the privatization by Edison and other companies in Philadelphia produced no significant gains in student achievement to justify the additional $100 million cost?"

-- Azi Paybarah

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum may or may not run for mayor in 2009, but she certainly sounds up for it.

"I have as much energy as Anthony Weiner, and Bill Thompson, and Christine and Adolfo and Tony Avella, all put into one," she told me.

More here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Public Advocate and prospective mayoral candidate Betsy Gotbaum is not impressed with the early campaign literature of Representative Anthony Weiner.

"I thought it was too long," she told me, referring to a recent three-page mailer from Weiner than described him as being in the "driver's seat" for 2009.

"I thought that if I were a person and I read that letter, I would -- it would not inspire me to give money," she said.

"I like one-pagers," she added.

-- Azi Paybarah

Expect to start seeing more of Betsy Gotbaum starting Monday when John Collins joins her staff as a press secretary. Collins toiled away for a year in Christine Quinn's press office and, as you can see here, enjoys chatting with reporters.

This is the second time Gotbaum has snapped up an operative associated with a potential 2009 rivals. She previously hired Mark Benoit, who ran Anthony Weiner's campaign in 2005.

-- Azi Paybarah

Coverage of yesterday's remarkable exchange between the Clinton and Obama campaigns is here and here.

Hillary may lose the black vote, according to Errol Louis.

Eliot Spitzer has a budget fight on his hands with 1199 SEIU and the Greater New York Hospital Association.

Spitzer may ignore recommendations from a Pataki-controlled committee in deciding who gets the state's horse racing franchise.

There is major under-reporting of crimes in the city's public schools, according to a report by Betsy Gotbaum.

2009 mayoral candidates weigh in on a report that said state and local taxes in New York are higher than in most other major cities.

The student paper at Brooklyn College has removed a story posted its website (and linked here) about Wesley Clark's upcoming memoir and presidential plans.

The Post editorial board's treatment of Hillary continues to trend away from benign. "If she was that close to the levers of power, how is it that she seems to have learned so little of what the responsibilities of office really are?"

And newly City Councilman Mathieu Eugene has to find a home in the district quickly.

-- Azi Paybarah

Betsy Gotbaum held a press conference on the City Hall steps today to talk about school safety. Interestingly, she seemed to come at the issue from a civil liberties point of view. (She held the press conference jointly with NYCLU head Donna Lieberman.)

In criticizing the Bloomberg administration's efforts to reduce crime in public schools -- the mayor's management report cited a sharp increase in safety incidents -- Gotbaum said this:

"Turning a few schools into armed camps in the Impact Program is not the solution. We can't reasonably expect parents to send their children to dangerous schools and we certainly can't expect teachers to teach in them."

I asked Gotbaum if it was an issue of not having enough enforcement, or of having too much.

Her answer:

"The answer to question is that it's both. We have to revisit the entire policy. I don't believe that the armed camps approach, the Impact schools, have been working. It can't work in all the schools in the city."

She added, "It seems to me that adults who don't treat kids with respect are, in the long run, going to get it right back."

-- Azi Paybarah

8:30 a.m. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association host a public forum on recycling at Local 831 headquarters at 25 Cliff Street near Fulton Street.

9:30 a.m. Long Island Rail Road/Long Island Bus Committee meet at the MTA Headquarters at 347 Madison Avenue.

11 a.m. Congress members Anthony Weiner, Nydia Velazquez, Greg Meeks, Jerry Nadler and Yvette Clarke join union members to pledge their support for the Employee Free Choice Act legislation at 45 West 14th street [added].

11:15 a.m. Council Speaker Christine Quinn makes announcement with local officials on plans to deliver NYC delicacies to wounded New York veterans at City Hall.

Noon. Rainforest Action Network and other environmental groups protest Merrill Lynch's investment in TXU, a Dallas-based coal-burning utility company at the Citicorp Building at East 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue.

Noon. Opening of the exhibit, "Arturo Toscanini: Homage to the Maestro" at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at 111 Amsterdam Ave.

2 p.m. Citymeals-on-Wheels hosts a belated Valentine's Day party for homebound elderly at the Bay Ridge Center for Older Adults in Brooklyn.

6 p.m. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein hosts a roundtable discussion on Children First reforms at Hostos Community College in the Bronx.

7:30 p.m. Council Speaker Christine Quinn attends book signing event with Senator Schumer at 809 Washington Street.

8 p.m. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman moderates a discussion on Rules for a Global Neighborhood in a Multicultural World, taped at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Airs on C-Span.)

Governor Eliot Spitzer meets with Senator Chuck Schumer and community members in Parish, New York.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani participates in a town hall meeting with first responders in South Carolina.

Sen. Hillary Clinton addresses the Nevada State Education Association in Las Vegas.

Sen. Barack Obama holds a town hall campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa.

-- Gillian Reagan

The city school bus fiasco continues to be a boon for critics of the Bloomberg administration and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

Elected officials like Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, City Council Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson and state Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., never managed to gain much public traction when they've criticized the mayor on his educational policy in the past, when the arguments often focused on incremental philosophical differences and varying interpretations of statistical trends.

But the bus issue has provided a way in -- and will doubtless continue to do so for as long as there's snow on the ground -- for officials skeptical about the administration's ambitious but little-understood plans for the city's public education system.

Little kids, bad weather, missing school buses. Nice and simple.

How long before this story dies down and the administration gets the bus issue behind them? And how much damage has it done to their ability to implement an education agenda between now and 2009?

-- Azi Paybarah

Driving Miss Gotbaum    read more »

Driving Miss Gotbaum    read more »

Driving Miss Gotbaum    read more »

The mayor just announced the creation of an Office of Economic Empowerment within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The announcement was made along with news of $150 million in funds to support initiations outlined by his anti-poverty task force.

According to today's release, "The Office of Financial Empowerment's work will focus on five interconnected priorities: financial capacity, financial education, watchdog protection, strategic partnerships and best practice."

Mayoral spokesman Jason Post said the office does not come with any new powers, but rather, an ability to concentrate on a specific area of consumer protection.

The announcement is another step in Bloomberg's effort to address poverty, a topic that according to his 2005 election opponent, the mayor hardly mentioned in his first term.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is not entirely happy with this development. Here's what she said about City Hall's latest initiative:

"Given the new office's stated mission, I hope it will be an energetic supporter of my bill to allow advocates to set up help tables in Job Centers and other benefits offices. Unfortunately, the Administration opposes the legislation, though vital supports for families living below the poverty line and the working poor are underutilized because of the often insurmountable obstacles put up by City bureaucracies."

The following line from Betsy Gotbaum's prepared testimony to the City Council's Education Committee caught my eye:

"Are we really going to sit by idly as the Department [of Education] continues to award no-bid contracts without consulting its stakeholders - our students, parents, and educators?"

This may be nitpicking, but when's the last time students had a say in the awarding of school contracts? Or cared to have one?

-- Azi Paybarah

One frustration about covering Michael Bloomberg is, sometimes, his utter refusal to play along with the storyline of the day.

Today reporters tried picking his brain about Betsy Gotbaum, who recently repaid the city for four years' worth of traveling expenses, and about John Kerry's severely over-covered joke about soldiers in Iraq.

Here's what we got.

On Gotbaum:

Mayor: I don't know what she did. She should talk to her lawyers and whatever the law is she should certainly obey. But I just don¹t know. Yes, Miss?

On Kerry:

Mayor: I don't know, you know. You better ask Senator Kerry. I think our troops are out there fighting and dying for us and we owe them a great debt of gratitude. No matter what you think about the war, young men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we enjoy and we should say thank you to them and pray that they all come home safely. Thank you very much.

-- Azi Paybarah

Things are looking up for Bill de Blasio.

Not only did he win a valuable chit by helping put Yvette Clarke over the top in that suspenseful congressional primary in Brooklyn, but 1199/SEIU has just given a strong vote of confidence to his future political ambitions.

The powerful health care union workers donated $4,950 to De Blasio's 2009 political committee. (The committee isn't formed to support a run for any specific office.)

The only other people who got that kind of money from 1199 are citywide incumbents Bill Thompson and Betsy Gotbaum.

Update: Here is a statement from Jennifer Cunningham, executive vice president of politics & legislation for 1199 SEIU:

"Bill DeBlasio and 1199 SEIU have a long and special friendship that dates back many years. Bill is a person of great integrity, passion and commitment, and all New Yorkers would benefit from his remaining in public service at the expiration of his City Council term."

-- Azi Paybarah

Lenora Fulani is one of those people who no one can find anything nice to say about, so small wonder that four politicians--Betsy Gotbaum, Alan Hevesi, Jerrold Nadler and Chris Quinn --have joined hands (and followed in Scott Stinger's footsteps) to oppose $12.5 million in tax-free financing that the Bloomberg administration will consider at a public hearing tomorrow for a Fulani-affiliated nonprofit youth program, the All Stars Project. What makes this interesting is that Bloomberg has had trouble distancing himself from Fulani ("a virulent anti-Semite," according to Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum) or her mentor Fred Newman (the "figurehead of a cult that sexually exploits women"), although he did cop 74,000 votes from the Independence Party last year, which was once led by her and in which she is still influential. -Matthew Schuerman

The misspelling of Betsy Gotbaum's name on this flier I picked up last night isn't Yvette Clarke's fault, technically.

On the bottom of the flier, it says the piece was "Donated by: Omar Boucher."

According to a person from a rival campaign more knowledgeable about FEC rules than I, that's an important difference. Since the piece was "donated to" and not "paid for by" the campaign, it means the piece was produced without the campaign's coordination.

And far be it from me, in any case, to judge others harshly for the odd spelling lapse.

But still... Gobaum?  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

It seems Betsy Gotbaum, who one detractor calls "The Phantom," is still keeping her public advocacy a largely private affair. In the Post this morning, Maggie tallied just three reports, a policy brief and two guides to have emerged from the public advocate's office between Jan. 1 and June 30.

Gotbaum's work rate may or may not have slackened since she served as president of the New-York Historical Society. Maybe it's like comparing apples and oranges.

So none of this is intended to pick on her, but just as a constructive exercise...

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how she (or her successor) might make more productive use of the office?

--Jason Horowitz

The New York Young Republican Club hosts Ken Mehlman at their monthly meeting.

The Log Cabin Republicans hold a meeting on 'Making the Case for Marriage Equality.'

Construction begins on the World Trade Center memorial and museum.

Local immigrant organizations deliver thousands of voter registration forms to the Board of Elections.

Betsy Gotbaum releases a report on gender participation in the Public Schools Athletic League on the steps of City Hall.

John Edwards campaigns with Ned Lamont in Connecticut.

Tom Suozzi announces the first Nassau county Restaurant Week in Mineola and then unveils plans for state education reform at City Hall.

—Nicole Brydson

Betsy Gotbaum discusses the findings in her review of a city hunger hotline at Campo Ministerio Serepta soup kitchen on the Lower East Side.

Jonathan Tasini holds a press conference on the significance of the Connecticut Democratic Primary for the anti-war vote against Hiliary Clinton on the steps of City Hall.

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi shares his knowledge of New York government with teens from Bukharian and Queens at the Teen Lounge at the Central Queens YM/YWHA.

Gay Men's Health Crisis commemorates its 25th anniversary with a vigil and candlelight march beginning at the Colonial House Inn.

—Nicole Brydson

At least some New York officials are thinking optimistc thoughts about 2009.

At a fundraiser last night, I'm told, Betsy Gotbaum indicated that she plans to run for comptroller or mayor.

Could anyone who was there share any information about it?

-- Josh Benson

At least some New York officials are thinking optimistc thoughts about 2009.

At a fundraiser last night, I'm told, Betsy Gotbaum indicated that she plans to run for comptroller or mayor.

Could anyone who was there share any information about it?

-- Josh Benson

Anthony is the only candidate in an early 2009 poll who seems to draw real interest, with 23% of the registered voters polled saying they'd "like to see the Democrats nominate" Weiner.

Ray Kelly, the favored subject of media speculation, gets 13%; Betsy Gotbaum gets 12%. Adolfo Carrion and Bill Thompson do worse.

It's a weird question though; many of the (majority) who backed Mike might like to see the Republicans nominate Kelly. Perhaps they saw the question of who they'd like the Democrats to nominate as, given recent trends, "Who would you like to lose?"