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Why did Norman Siegel Lose?
Writing in Norman's name may feel right, but it eludes an important issue: why did he lose?
I campaigned for Norman Siegel for two reasons: I admired his work as a lawyer (both while at NYCLU and after) and he was endorsed by DFNYC. I handed out leaflets and went door-to-door in my fairly liberal neighborhood where many people opposed him.
I never had a sense, however, of an overall strategy of the campaign. Did anyone else? How did the campaign expect to win? Why didn't it? Who voted for Siegel and who didn't? As I understand it, he did somewhat worse this time out than four years ago. Why? I dont know, but it seems to me that this year's defeat of Siegel was not a turnout issue, but a voter rejection of him.
We (or at least I) need a careful review of what went wrong and right with the campaign so as to minimize future losses.
My analysis
Here is the analysis I wrote after the primary. It does NOT address all your questions, but it is a piece of the picture. Or, perhaps, a different way of asking the same questions.
There is a massive disconnect among NYC voters, the Dem party in NYC and progressives. This disconnect means record low voter turnout, dominance of primaries by political machines, and a chance for incumbents and Republicans to do better than they should. I think the victory of Betsy "who's she?" Gotbaum is an example of this. No one knew who she was, so the machines, Bloomberg and a few commercials by her got her through. GRassroots organizers and hard core folk like you and me did all we could for Norman, but the basic fact was that NYC grassroots are pretty inactive. Without a MUCH more active and MUCH more savvy grassroots, a candidate like Seigel has no chance.