The other guys
I bailed on yesterday’s debate to speak with a friend of mine I hadn’t spoken with in a long time. Priorities.
But from the bit I saw, Faso and Suozzi are both very smart, capable candidates, but the references to Buffalo, WNY, and upstate sounded like pandering.
It’s been made crystal-clear to us that this is a downstate race among downstate players. Yesterday, I watched two Italian guys from Long Island basically agree with each other. The only person they were criticizing was the guy who wasn’t there; the guy from Manhattan.
When they answered the casino question, which touched upon very controversial Niagara Falls and Buffalo issues, it sounded very coached to me. Almost phony. Faso reiterated time and time again that he knew Buffalo’s problems because he sat on its control board. Suozzi’s wife’s family hails from Niagara Falls (he said the casino sits in the middle of “downtown Niagara”.
They swiped at Spitzer so much, it became evident that - despite their bleating about his absence - the last thing they needed was him there to defend himself. The penultimate thing they needed was him there to take away any of their TV time.
Suozzi’s Long Island accent is faint, but detectable, and Faso had none. I wonder how that played with upstaters who are weary and wary of more downstate control.
The irony is that they both say very good things - attractive things. A one-hour debate certainly doesn’t lend itself to in-depth examination of what they say, or how they’d do what they promise.
The empty auditorium was something that pissed me off. I had no idea the public was welcome to attend the debate, and had I known I may have gone. Boo to WKBW for not making that clear.
As a Democrat, I prefer Suozzi to Faso. The problem is that Suozzi’s effort is really, really poorly timed. Spitzer is way ahead in the polls for one key reason - he started running in early 2005. He wrapped up all the key endorsements while Suozzi was still running for re-election as Nassau CE. He came in too late with too little money and not a lot of name recognition, as compared with the ubiquitous Attorney General.
Tomorrow night the candidates will hold a statewide town hall meeting.
“Statewide” meaning every major TV market except Buffalo will participate. You should be pissed off about that.
I’ll be out of the area, so I’ll most likely miss it.
Yesterday’s WKBW debate was my first chance to see these guys on TV at any length. I thought they did well, overall. But in the end, it’s all academic.
