Recchia is a stronger candidate, who will raise big money. He is also far more socially progressive than Right-to-Lifer Harrison. Any Dem will win the North Shore. In addition to money, Recchia has toe other qualities Harrison lacks, an Italian name and a record, and he can win Gravesend.

Still, no Brooklynite can win this seat, but at least Recchia won't tell Staten Islanders he wants to end the one way toll (even though it should be ended)

McMahon or Cusick should run (Savino is probably a bit too liberal)

that Harrison was a reluctant campaigner and a reluctant fund raiser. Are you certain he's the guy for the District? Is there no Italian or Irish Staten Islander who could better carry the ball?

I was communications director of Harrison's campaign, so I know what went on pretty well.

Steve was not a reluctant campaigner. He was a relentless campaigner.

As far as other potential Staten Island candidates are concerned they had their chance before Steve stepped up to the plate in January 06. No one had the courage to leave their safe seat.

Steve did better than any other Staten Islander or Brooklynite has performed against Fossella and deserves a second chance hopefully with DCCC support and greater local machine involvement. As little money as Steve raised in 2006, he still pulled in more than all but two of Vito’s previous opponents.

In the 2006 election, like others perhaps, I looked at districts in which to volunteer where a progressive Democrat might be able to defeat a Bush Republican. At the time, I was attracted to the attempt to replace Sue Kelly with John Hall because, it seemed to me, many of the necessary elements for victory were present, even though Hall got small amounts of DCCC cash late and never got the WFP line on the ballot. In the early period, Hall had to face a primary challenge in which his main rival was a former Republican funded by DCCC folk.

The 13th felt less viable to me at the time. although it would have been easier for a carpetbagger like me to get on the ferry than the long train/car ride north. The slow start to the race, the apparent lack of active labor & WFP support and stories of people who tried to work on the campaign discouraged me. My personal sense of Staten Island politics is very dated. Years ago, the Island was so small and insular, that everyone knew everyone, so Island roots were essential.

What was the phone-bank experience for Harrison? In the Hall-Kelly race, every democrat, union member etc must have been called 5 or 6 times and most had home visits. SI is the home of many public sector employees. How did UFT, DC 37, and Fire/Police/Sanitation unions endorsements and work play out in the campaign?

A very healthy percentage of Staten Islanders are union workers, but they often don’t vote in their best economic interests. Many of them are Democrats in name only (DINOS) and vote for Republicans like Vito and Lanza.

The Unions themselves were very active in the campaign. However, both the Brooklyn and Staten Island political machines on the whole gave only tepid support (If you read this and gave time and money I wasn’t talking about you). I find it amazing that people who gave money to Council members on both sides of the districts 2009 campaigns for undisclosed offices couldn’t give more to Steve. The same goes for those who give to unopposed judicial candidates or those who wasted money on Suozzi after polling indicated that he wouldn’t get 20 percent. Recchia has raised over $70,000, much of that probably before November. The people giving to a future candidate for an undisclosed office should really have contributed to trying to change who represents them in Congress if they are loyal democrats, which Recchia is not since he cares more about being employed than removing Fossella. Bottom line, if you live in the district and couldn’t afford to max out your donations to Steve, you shouldn’t have given to causes like these. Doing so only helped reelect Vito.

I would be more understanding of Recchia trying to wreck Harrison if he actually needed a job to pay the mortgage or rent and feed his family. But he made 250k as a part timer lawyer while drawing a taxpayer funded salary as a part time Council member.

Dan, I worked on the Harrison Campaign from the beginning and I can tell you that Steve was an excellent campaigner. Steve was out there everyday meeting people, giving interviews (NY-1 with Dominic Carter and Hardball with Chris Mathews among others). Schumer and Hillary endorsed him and campaigned with him on SI and so did other elected officials. Steve was excellent during the 5 debates with Fossella which he won hands down. He was NEVER a relucent candidate and threw himself into the campaign from the beginning.

Police and Fire endorsed Fossella but Sanitation endorsed Steve. Steve was endorsed by 1199, UFT and many other unions (I have the list somewhere but can't find it right now).

We were blogging everywhere and got donations from Kos and ActBlue. We made phone calls and phone banking was done from UFT Headquarters. We handed out flyers at shopping centers, SI Ferry, etc. Steve had the Working Families Line. The only real drawback to his campaign was the lack of attention until the last week or 2 of the campaign of the DCCC. We were begging them, emailing, making calls, etc for their financial backing as individuals (not to mention what Steve was doing). Without their financial backing we were unable to get Steve known in 2 major areas of Brooklyn which could have made a difference in the race results. He was almost unknown in Gravesend and Bensonhurst and ads both on TV and Radio that Vito was able to buy were not answered because we didn't have the money to do this.

Look, Steve raised about $137,000 and did a lot with it. Vito raised $1,400,000 and SPENT $1,600,000 putting him over $200,000 in debt against Steve. Vito doesn't have his cash cow Financial committee funds from banking, real estate and the stock market for 2008 so he's about 1/4th million down in donations from here alone. The country is turning and people are disgusted and more eyes are opening so I feel that Steve is in a good place for 2008 to beat Vito.

Are you afraid of letting folks know Harrison's position on choice or gay issues?

I must add that Recchia endorsed Harrison, but didn't deliver Gravesend for Steve.

I must add that Recchia endorsed Harrison, but didn't deliver Gravesend (which he represents as a part time Council member and perhaps full time lawyer)for Steve.

Harrison supports Gay Marriage and is more pro choice than Vito.

The order of the comments is getting screwed up

The "Recchia is "Stronger" (which he's not)is a new one but it is on top. This is in response to that comment.

Steve is not a right to lifer. He believes that there should be some restrictions when it comes to abortion, which is different than the right to lifer Fossella, who we all are trying to unseat.

Other than the choice issue, Steve is as progressive as anyone I know. I can send you cached versions of the campaign website with his his issue stances and policy statements.

Zap. Keep it professional, please.

Glad to hear Harrison is not a total right-to-lifer (only partially anti-choice), and is good on gay issues. If I'm not mistaken, this is a considerable advance from the past when he ran for City Council. Of course, back then he was a DINO who'd supported Marty Golden and given money to Fossella. Glad to see he's grown. (and apologies on calling you out, I now know it was not your fault the comment was held back; I wish they'd delete my snide comment to that effect, as it's unnecessary and DEAD WRONG).

As to Recchia not delivering Gravesend, I'd be interested if you can point out any seriously contested race where a Democrat ever beat a Republican in those particular ED's of Gravesend (and Recchia running against a Russian Jewish Republican doesn't really count, as those locals are even more prejudiced against Russians than they are against liberals).

Hey, Anomyous Coward, I LIVE IN GRAVESEND and Recchia is my Councilman. Try Colton's race and then also try a race in Bensonhurst that Peter Abbate just had. Both were contested by the RNC and these 2 incumbants both won.

Additionally, this neighborhood has changed dramatically in the past 15 years. Many of the Italians who were the majority of this neighborhood have left it. The older Italians have moved closer to their children who now live in places in NJ, SI, LI, etc. Unfortunately many have passed away also. This area is now a mix of Russian, Jewish, Italian (minority), Arabic and even Asians and Mexicans.

Russians vote according to who their TV,Radio and newspapers tell them to vote for. I had a long telephone conversation with Adele Cohen on this subject during Steve's campaign so I know how it works.

The Jewish community if you're pro Israel you have their support. They stuck with the RNC because they felt that they were protecting Israel with the war in Iraq. I have to say that for the most part this is the Orthodox/Conservative sect and mostly come from Syria.

The Arabic community supported the Democratic Party and so did the Asian community.

Since most of the Mexicans that are here are illegal they don't vote so have no say in elections.

As for Steve giving money to Fossella and Golden, he did this as Community Board 10 Chairman which was about 4 or 5 years ago. Heck, I donated to Guiliani when he first won, want to hold that against me also? Additionally, I just went to Steve's Money Line site and don't see Recchia donating to his campaign either as an individual (although he could have donated under $250.00 and his donation wouldn't show), as a politician or as a PAC. Another thing, I know Recchia's parents (father recently deceased) live in Gravesend but is Recchia's home address in CD-13 or CD-8 which would be Nadler's district?

You may or may not be right about the demographics, but even if you are, how could Recchia's help translated into that many more votes. Were the Orthodox going to abandon a vote based on their scred principles on Dominic's say so?

Anyway, in discussing Recchia's influence, we are only talking about the EDs within the 13th that are represetned by Rechia, not the entirety of Colton or Abbate's districts. And what evidence do you have that either Colton or Abbate was seriously contested anyway? Certainly not their vote totals or the expenditures of their opponents.

And while I appreciate one must win over former Fossella supporters to win, that doesn't mean one has to nominate one. Anyway, the only conclusion you can draw for your sorry excuse for Harrison's past support for Republicans, sometimes for open seats, is that he was doing it for his own personal self interest. Are you saying that selling out to reactionaries is morally superior to being one? That would be a great argument for Judas if he were running against Pontius Pilate.

As to residency, it is not a legal requirement for Congress, but is of little moment anyway, as s Brooklynite is not going to win. But, to the extent indentification with the interests of the district is relevant (I think highly), Recchia meets such a standard (the same could not be said for DeBlasio).

Steve Harrison ran without any real institutional support. He entered late, and was hugely outspent, and he ended up doing pretty well. He will always have trouble raising money, but that's because he will never be the darling of developers. He has worked on the Community Board, and he's opposed to over-development. There are times when Vito opposes over-development as well, and I think that's why Steve made a donation to him.

Steve Harrison is not an image of the MoveOn grassroots candidate, but he's a decent fellow who will say the same thing to different audiences. In my personal conversations with him, he does seem a bit of a inadvertent candidate- he would not have run if another candidate had stepped to the plate.

But when he was given the chance to run, he did his duty.

He's not as strong on gay marriage or abortion as I would like, but this district is quite conservative. And to tell the truth, I would rather have someone who is honest and lives by their convictions (within limits!) than someone who will give me the answer I want about gay marriage and then give Bush power to go to war. Steve was opposed to the war and he would not have given up Congressional authority to Bush.

I also want to give blame where blame is due: Steve Harrison lost in part because Brooklyn Democrats did not help him. Vito Fossella is slime who repeatedly compared Harrison to Osama bin Laden, and most Democrats here did nothing to fight him.

Whomever the Democratic candidate will be, I will be out there volunteering, and I urge everyone else to do the same. But Steve Harrison has already run in the district, and that is a huge advantage.

I plan to support Steve Harrison again.

Steve supports Gay marriage. In both private conversations with him and on the stump he has always supported Gay marriage. Where did this rumor start that he doesn't support Gay marriage?

You're absolutely correct. Steve supports gay rights AND gay marriage.

Look no candidate is going to meet all our bullet points. Steve is and has been totally against the war, he's against over development, for environmental protections and protecting our wetlands. Steve will fight for the people and not for corporations. He's in favor of Social Security, Medicare, better education for our children and more progressive issues than you would imagine.

Sidnora is also correct that we should worry about races here in our own backyard instead of those miles from us. I know I want to see Steve run and hope he'll announce this soon so we can all get started working on his campaign and making sure that he'll be the winner in 2008.

I wasn't sure about Steve Harrison's stand on gay marriage. I was trying to cover my butt by writing "He's not as strong on gay marriage or abortion as I would like." Sorry if I've spread false rumors. My bad!