Posted on 11/06/2004 6:07:34 PM PST by neverdem
With all the attention focused on the re-election of President Bush and the record voting for New York State's senior United States senator, Charles E. Schumer, the hidden winner of last Tuesday's election may well have been the Working Families Party, which established itself as an emerging political force statewide by getting a little-known candidate elected district attorney in Albany County.
The small grass-roots party, which has strong ties to labor, had already helped defeat an incumbent in the Assembly, elected a member of the New York City Council and pressed the State Legislature to pass an increase in the minimum wage. But before Tuesday, it had never flexed its political muscle so far outside the downstate region.
Suddenly, what seemed to be a uniquely city-centered political phenomenon emerged as a potential statewide force. Although the Nassau County executive, Thomas R. Suozzi, has talked about beating incumbents in his Fix Albany campaign, his results have been limited. But the Working Families Party has, more often than not, succeeded by backing candidates who go on to do well at the polls.
In so doing, the Working Families Party has rekindled a New York tradition of strong third parties, one that has faded with the collapse of the Liberal Party, an identity crisis within the Conservative Party and the lack of a popular leader for the Independence Party. New York is unusual among states in that it allows third parties to cross-endorse major party candidates.
"Clearly they are in the ascendancy at the moment," said E. J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative policy group, who said the party's real test will be in how it fares during the 2006 election for governor.
The party emerged last week not only as a powerful organizing force in helping elect David Soares district attorney in Albany County, but also as a crucial second line on the ballot for candidates in close races.
State Senator Nicholas A. Spano, a Westchester County Republican seeking re-election, earned the party's endorsement for his support for raising the minimum wage, and landed about 1,500 votes on that line. The winner of Mr. Spano's race has still not been determined, but if he wins, it will mean the Working Families Party will have given him a critical advantage.
"They have connected a set of clear and understandable moral and political principles to a political machine with enormous muscle," said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat who is considering running for attorney general in 2006.
The Working Families Party was started in 1998 by a coalition of labor and community groups that were looking to advance an agenda focused on typically liberal issues, like the minimum wage and overhauling the strict Rockefeller-era drug laws. The party charges its members dues, about $5 a month.. It also gets financial support from labor and other organizations.
The group, which was built around a core that included the Communication Workers of America, the United Automobile Workers and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, agreed to be focused and disciplined in its agenda. It has, for example, largely set aside liberal social causes that might alienate some of its target working-class audience. The goal, founding members said, is to build a party that will attract blue-collar Republicans as well as liberal Democrats, along with the growing pool of independent voters.
So far the formula appears to be working. Though the Working Families Party has just 20,000 registered members, Senator Schumer drew about 150,000 votes on the party's line, a record for it. But the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, won only 120,000 on the party's line, suggesting, party officials said, that some or all of 30,000 voters who chose Mr. Schumer on its line also voted for President Bush.
Dan Cantor, executive director of the party, said those who vote on its line are "culturally conservative but economically populist: white working-class people who think the Democratic Party is distant from them." And, he said, "we get a lot of votes in 'of color' turf. Blacks and Latinos don't like to be taken for granted by Democrats and don't want to throw their votes to Republicans."
Political analysts said the Working Families Party stands out because it has succeeded where the Democratic and Republican Parties have largely failed in New York State, getting back to basics, relying heavily on door-to-door operations with very strong grass-roots organizing.
I guess every election cycle, they will run under a different focus-group name.
This is a split in the Dem base, could a Repub President move closer to victory if the GOP and Conservatives join together?
It just pains me to realize that there a probably a few of my Irish cousins out in the sticks, i.e. Long Island, who actually voted for "Chucky Cheese" Schumer.
(Barf.)
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