Paladino steamrolls to stunning upset
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article190591.ece
Updated: September 15, 2010, 1:38 AM
Carl Pasquale Paladino, the immigrant city worker's son who emerged as the voice of a vehement anti-Albany movement, swept to a stunning victory over Rick Lazio in the Republican primary for governor Tuesday.
With 85 percent of the precincts reporting, he was overwhelming the former congressman by 67 to 33 percent, marking Lazio's second statewide defeat, after having lost the Senate race to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000. Lazio had been the choice of party leaders, as well as convention delegates, and was the early favorite.
But confounding scores of pundits everywhere, Paladino now becomes Erie County's first major party candidate for governor since Democrat James Mead in 1946.
Paladino can attribute much of his success to the surprising strength of the "tea party" movement, which attracted enough anti-Albany voters to polls to provide a crushing cushion throughout upstate, while holding his own in the New York City suburbs.
But nowhere was Paladino's victory so stunning than in his home turf of Erie County, where he swept Lazio by 93 to 7 percent Ô an almost unheard of margin of victory in such a high profile race. The turnout here was about 30 percent, considered strong for a primary.
Now Paladino embarks on an even more daunting challenge against Andrew M. Cuomo -- the Democratic attorney general -- an overwhelming favorite in overwhelmingly Democratic New York.
Paladino appeared ready for the challenge as he greeted a cheering crowd in his headquarters in Ellicott Square -- part of the vast property empire he has built during 40 years as a real estate developer.
"The people have spoken," Paladino said. "Welcome to the people's crusade."
Paladino galvanized the burgeoning "tea party" movement -- which also scored other significant victories around the nation on Tuesday -- to launch a unorthodox and sometimes outrageous campaign. Early on he failed to gain any support outside Erie County, and as late as Monday was dismissed as a "kook" by a national commentator on MSNBC.
But he seemed to revel in his political incorrectness, and all that translated into what had seemed an unlikely victory only a few months ago.
During his victory speech, he challenged Cuomo directly.
"I see a New York that's once again the Empire State," Paladino said, thanking his wife, Cathy, and children. He also mentioned his late son, Patrick, who was killed in a 2009 auto accident.
"I have a message for Andrew Cuomo tonight," he said. "Andrew, I challenge you to a series of debates. I have so many questions to ask you, Andrew."
He congratulated Lazio for running a "clean" race but set the stage for what seems to be a sprited -- though uphill -- battle against Cuomo.
"Andrew Cuomo thinks he can hijack our agenda and the voters won't notice," he said. "Andrew Cuomo thinks he can make shady deals with the pro-tax Working Families Party and the voters [won't care]. All Andrew offers us is status Cuomo.cq
"Yes, we are mad as hell. New Yorkers are fed up," he continued. "I think the ruling class knows. They've seen it. They not only know it, but they've seen it. There's a people's revolution. New Yorkers are mad enough to force change at the ballot box."
The mood was glum at Lazio headquarters in Manhattan.
"This wasn't the evening we hoped for, was it?" Lazio said shortly before midnight. He congratulated Paladino, who he said "excited a lot of people."
But Lazio, at least for now, sounded very much still a gubernatorial candidate.
"I'm going to be part of the public dialogue," Lazio said, noting his apparent victory on the Conservative Party line for governor. He fled the room without taking questions from reporters.
Michael R. Long, the state Conservative Party chairman, insisted Lazio is in the race still, though he opened the door to some potential dealmaking.
"We're going to sit down and talk, but he's the Conservative Party candidate," Long said of Lazio.
GOP Chairman Edward F. Cox dismissed questions about being disappointed in Lazio's loss, calling Paladino a "terrific" candidate.
Much of Paladino's early lead stemmed from upstate counties, where he recorded stunning totals in his home county of Erie and also won in Niagara, Monroe and Onondaga counties.
Long said that Lazio should have challenged Paladino more strongly and earlier for his past political donations to leading Democrats.
"I think a bigger deal should have been made about it early on," Long said of Paladino's contributions to Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Sen. Charles E. Schumer and the current governor, David A. Paterson.
But Long, whose party also has much at stake in the fall elections, did little to hide his distaste for Paladino.
"The sad part is he rented the Republican Party in a lot of ways by singing the song angry people wanted to hear while at the same time he's been an insider," Long said of Paladino's deep-pocketed political contributions over the years and his dozens of state contracts over several administrations for state agency office space in the Buffalo area.
The Lazio-Paladino race boiled down to downstate vs. upstate in the last few days as Lazio stumped through his native Long Island and Paladino concentrated on west of the Genesee River.
So most observers expected the race to be determined by which region could turn out their voters. Though Lazio enjoyed strength in numbers from Nassau and Suffolk counties, Erie County GOP Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy predicted that Paladino would generate more enthusiasm upstate and be able to counter Long Island's numbers.
And in a rare Republican primary, Paladino hoped to appeal to those most likely to vote.
"It's a low turnout Republican primary, and he has appealed to the conservative part of the Republican Party," Republican pollster Barry Zeplowitz said of Paladino. "Lazio has run on the presumption he's going to win the primary."
As a result, Langworthy planned a major get-out-the-vote effort in Erie County in conjunction with other Paladino-supporting counties such as Niagara. In turn, most observers felt the Nassau County organization -- one of the most respected in the state and led by veteran Chairman Joseph N. Mondello -- would make every effort to support Lazio.
But it has been a long struggle for Paladino to even get this far.
As he entered the race in April, he was universally considered a long shot. He was a one-time Democrat who had never before run for public office, was little known outside his Western New York base, and had a penchant for making outrageous statements.
And when a local Web site revealed a string of racist and pornographic e-mails Paladino forwarded to a group of friends, he was widely condemned and even urged in many quarters to drop from the race.
Keith Olbermann -- the left-leaning MSNBC host -- back in April even called Paladino "the 'tea party' candidate for the clearly jinxed office of governor of New York State" and noted that Paladino's e-mails "contain racist jokes, porn and bestiality."
"Carl 'My E-Mails May Contain Bestiality' Paladino, tea party candidate for governor in New York: today's worst person in the world," Olbermann said to the usual backdrop of horror-movie organ music.
The e-mails also seemed to catch up with him at the State Republican Convention in Manhattan in June, when he could garner only 8 percent -- virtually all from Erie County -- of the convention vote. He even resorted to nominating himself when party leaders would not let him address the convention.
But Paladino never even hinted that he would exit the race, acknowledged the e-mail mistake, and declared he would never be politically correct.
"The liberal elite are hysterical; they are panicking because they know we're coming," he said then. "If they want me to back down, they will be disappointed." He also promised to spend up to $10 million of his own money, and acknowledged spending $5 million in the primary alone.
By last weekend, Paladino had charged back from big deficits in the polls to draw virtually even with Lazio, according to the Siena Research Institute.
Veteran political observers such as Victor N. Farley, former Erie County Republican chairman, said Paladino's timing was perfect. "I believe nature abhors a vacuum," he said. "There was a negative energy building up with the recession, and there are a lot of unhappy people. They had something to yell and scream about."
Farley said the "tea party" movement also heavily contributed to the Paladino surge, pointing to a list of local "tea party" activists. "They've been sitting there in their little rowboats with their hands on the oars, waiting for something to show up," he said. "The 'tea party' showed up."
One of those activists, Rus Thompson of Grand Island, said "tea party" groups statewide, with their ability to organize and communicate with one another, were instrumental in building momentum.
"We were visiting 'tea party' groups all over New York State when Republicans were slamming doors in our faces," said Thompson, now a Paladino staff member. "All in all, the 'tea party' has carried Carl."
In the last few days, he added, about 30 "tea party" groups banded together to endorse Paladino, while many of them operating phone banks.
The primary election also included a race for lieutenant governor between Lazio's running mate, Chautauqua County Executive Gregory J. Edwards, and Paladino's running mate, former New York City Councilman Thomas V. Ognibene of Queens. But it was too close to call, as Edwards was leading Ognibene by 51 to 49 percent, with 74 percent of the votes counted.
______________________________________________________________
Carl is a very successful colorful local guy.
If anyone can kick some butt in NY it will be him.
He wants to slash the civil service and cut taxes 20%
It's going to make for a very interesting campaign.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article190591.ece
Updated: September 15, 2010, 1:38 AM
With 85 percent of the precincts reporting, he was overwhelming the former congressman by 67 to 33 percent, marking Lazio's second statewide defeat, after having lost the Senate race to Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000. Lazio had been the choice of party leaders, as well as convention delegates, and was the early favorite.
But confounding scores of pundits everywhere, Paladino now becomes Erie County's first major party candidate for governor since Democrat James Mead in 1946.
Paladino can attribute much of his success to the surprising strength of the "tea party" movement, which attracted enough anti-Albany voters to polls to provide a crushing cushion throughout upstate, while holding his own in the New York City suburbs.
But nowhere was Paladino's victory so stunning than in his home turf of Erie County, where he swept Lazio by 93 to 7 percent Ô an almost unheard of margin of victory in such a high profile race. The turnout here was about 30 percent, considered strong for a primary.
Now Paladino embarks on an even more daunting challenge against Andrew M. Cuomo -- the Democratic attorney general -- an overwhelming favorite in overwhelmingly Democratic New York.
Paladino appeared ready for the challenge as he greeted a cheering crowd in his headquarters in Ellicott Square -- part of the vast property empire he has built during 40 years as a real estate developer.
"The people have spoken," Paladino said. "Welcome to the people's crusade."
Paladino galvanized the burgeoning "tea party" movement -- which also scored other significant victories around the nation on Tuesday -- to launch a unorthodox and sometimes outrageous campaign. Early on he failed to gain any support outside Erie County, and as late as Monday was dismissed as a "kook" by a national commentator on MSNBC.
But he seemed to revel in his political incorrectness, and all that translated into what had seemed an unlikely victory only a few months ago.
During his victory speech, he challenged Cuomo directly.
"I see a New York that's once again the Empire State," Paladino said, thanking his wife, Cathy, and children. He also mentioned his late son, Patrick, who was killed in a 2009 auto accident.
"I have a message for Andrew Cuomo tonight," he said. "Andrew, I challenge you to a series of debates. I have so many questions to ask you, Andrew."
He congratulated Lazio for running a "clean" race but set the stage for what seems to be a sprited -- though uphill -- battle against Cuomo.
"Andrew Cuomo thinks he can hijack our agenda and the voters won't notice," he said. "Andrew Cuomo thinks he can make shady deals with the pro-tax Working Families Party and the voters [won't care]. All Andrew offers us is status Cuomo.cq
"Yes, we are mad as hell. New Yorkers are fed up," he continued. "I think the ruling class knows. They've seen it. They not only know it, but they've seen it. There's a people's revolution. New Yorkers are mad enough to force change at the ballot box."
The mood was glum at Lazio headquarters in Manhattan.
"This wasn't the evening we hoped for, was it?" Lazio said shortly before midnight. He congratulated Paladino, who he said "excited a lot of people."
But Lazio, at least for now, sounded very much still a gubernatorial candidate.
"I'm going to be part of the public dialogue," Lazio said, noting his apparent victory on the Conservative Party line for governor. He fled the room without taking questions from reporters.
Michael R. Long, the state Conservative Party chairman, insisted Lazio is in the race still, though he opened the door to some potential dealmaking.
"We're going to sit down and talk, but he's the Conservative Party candidate," Long said of Lazio.
GOP Chairman Edward F. Cox dismissed questions about being disappointed in Lazio's loss, calling Paladino a "terrific" candidate.
Much of Paladino's early lead stemmed from upstate counties, where he recorded stunning totals in his home county of Erie and also won in Niagara, Monroe and Onondaga counties.
Long said that Lazio should have challenged Paladino more strongly and earlier for his past political donations to leading Democrats.
"I think a bigger deal should have been made about it early on," Long said of Paladino's contributions to Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Sen. Charles E. Schumer and the current governor, David A. Paterson.
But Long, whose party also has much at stake in the fall elections, did little to hide his distaste for Paladino.
"The sad part is he rented the Republican Party in a lot of ways by singing the song angry people wanted to hear while at the same time he's been an insider," Long said of Paladino's deep-pocketed political contributions over the years and his dozens of state contracts over several administrations for state agency office space in the Buffalo area.
The Lazio-Paladino race boiled down to downstate vs. upstate in the last few days as Lazio stumped through his native Long Island and Paladino concentrated on west of the Genesee River.
So most observers expected the race to be determined by which region could turn out their voters. Though Lazio enjoyed strength in numbers from Nassau and Suffolk counties, Erie County GOP Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy predicted that Paladino would generate more enthusiasm upstate and be able to counter Long Island's numbers.
And in a rare Republican primary, Paladino hoped to appeal to those most likely to vote.
"It's a low turnout Republican primary, and he has appealed to the conservative part of the Republican Party," Republican pollster Barry Zeplowitz said of Paladino. "Lazio has run on the presumption he's going to win the primary."
As a result, Langworthy planned a major get-out-the-vote effort in Erie County in conjunction with other Paladino-supporting counties such as Niagara. In turn, most observers felt the Nassau County organization -- one of the most respected in the state and led by veteran Chairman Joseph N. Mondello -- would make every effort to support Lazio.
But it has been a long struggle for Paladino to even get this far.
As he entered the race in April, he was universally considered a long shot. He was a one-time Democrat who had never before run for public office, was little known outside his Western New York base, and had a penchant for making outrageous statements.
And when a local Web site revealed a string of racist and pornographic e-mails Paladino forwarded to a group of friends, he was widely condemned and even urged in many quarters to drop from the race.
Keith Olbermann -- the left-leaning MSNBC host -- back in April even called Paladino "the 'tea party' candidate for the clearly jinxed office of governor of New York State" and noted that Paladino's e-mails "contain racist jokes, porn and bestiality."
"Carl 'My E-Mails May Contain Bestiality' Paladino, tea party candidate for governor in New York: today's worst person in the world," Olbermann said to the usual backdrop of horror-movie organ music.
The e-mails also seemed to catch up with him at the State Republican Convention in Manhattan in June, when he could garner only 8 percent -- virtually all from Erie County -- of the convention vote. He even resorted to nominating himself when party leaders would not let him address the convention.
But Paladino never even hinted that he would exit the race, acknowledged the e-mail mistake, and declared he would never be politically correct.
"The liberal elite are hysterical; they are panicking because they know we're coming," he said then. "If they want me to back down, they will be disappointed." He also promised to spend up to $10 million of his own money, and acknowledged spending $5 million in the primary alone.
By last weekend, Paladino had charged back from big deficits in the polls to draw virtually even with Lazio, according to the Siena Research Institute.
Veteran political observers such as Victor N. Farley, former Erie County Republican chairman, said Paladino's timing was perfect. "I believe nature abhors a vacuum," he said. "There was a negative energy building up with the recession, and there are a lot of unhappy people. They had something to yell and scream about."
Farley said the "tea party" movement also heavily contributed to the Paladino surge, pointing to a list of local "tea party" activists. "They've been sitting there in their little rowboats with their hands on the oars, waiting for something to show up," he said. "The 'tea party' showed up."
One of those activists, Rus Thompson of Grand Island, said "tea party" groups statewide, with their ability to organize and communicate with one another, were instrumental in building momentum.
"We were visiting 'tea party' groups all over New York State when Republicans were slamming doors in our faces," said Thompson, now a Paladino staff member. "All in all, the 'tea party' has carried Carl."
In the last few days, he added, about 30 "tea party" groups banded together to endorse Paladino, while many of them operating phone banks.
The primary election also included a race for lieutenant governor between Lazio's running mate, Chautauqua County Executive Gregory J. Edwards, and Paladino's running mate, former New York City Councilman Thomas V. Ognibene of Queens. But it was too close to call, as Edwards was leading Ognibene by 51 to 49 percent, with 74 percent of the votes counted.
______________________________________________________________
Carl is a very successful colorful local guy.
If anyone can kick some butt in NY it will be him.
He wants to slash the civil service and cut taxes 20%
It's going to make for a very interesting campaign.
