Why is Shelley Silver evil for not passing congestion pricing (he apparently did not oppose it in conference) but McMahon evil for supporting it? Perhaps Bouldin can explain this conundrum. Anyway, didn't Bloomberg's plan largely insulate Islanders from it's impact--the details kept changing, so I can't remember.

Having spoken to one of the dropped SI contenders last week, I think your are mis-labling Lopez's role here. Apparently there was an effort made by Brooklyn to wrangle support for Dominic Recchia, but having at some point woken up and smelled the coffee, Lopez eventually acquiesed to the choice of the leadership of the Borough which represented the majority of the district, and then performed the painful task of burying his own personal choice. I have no knowledge whether he gave Recchia advance warning of this or not, so it is unclear whether Recchia really still thought he was in the race after the rug had been pulled. I'd love the hear the real story.

I am also told that once Brooklyn acquiesed, Lopez and the Staten Island Dems engaged in a game of chicken with Chuck Schumer over the issue of Cusick versus McMahon. That game is now over, likely leaving a head to head between McMahon and Steve Harrison. While a number of other Brooklyn candidates have not dropped out, it's only a matter of time. It seems unliely that anyone wants to run in a mutiple-Brooklyn candidate race against one Islander. Peter Abbate is not going to give up his seat, and while Vinnie Gentile is very popular in the areas of the Island he represented, he's not going to beat Mike McMahon in most of those places, since McMahon represents those places himself (though Gentile might have beaten Cusick in those areas).

Steve Harrison is now outgunned in money, name recognition and geographic base. His opposition can no longer be slammed for backing Noach Dear, because McMahon didn't. The Democrats now have a far stronger candidate, and Harrison's presence in the race only helps the Republicans.

Harrison should do the decent thing and run against Marty Golden. Vito Lopez should do the decent thing and back Harrison to the hilt. Those Brooklyn Democrats who fear a race against Golden will bring out Republican resources should take a chill pill, with the Congrssional seat now marginal, those resources are coming anyway, they might as well make the most of it.