We've all heard about that Obama surge in voter interest and more tangible measures of participation, such as registration and voting. It's real. The campaign of Jim Gennaro, the City Councilman who's running against odious reptilian wingnut Frank Padavan in SD-11, just emailed some astonishing numbers.

(Gennaro, with Democratic super-activist and City Council candidate Steve Behar to his immediate stage left)

Newly Registered Voters Provide Dems, Gennaro With Strong Advantage
New Voters in Northeast Queens, Excited by Prospect of Change at State and Federal Levels, Are 6-1 Democratic

FLUSHING, NY (Sept. 23, 2008) – State Board of Elections records for Northeast Queens show a wave of new voters registering for this year's state and federal races, with the overwhelming majority of them enrolling as Democrats. The new voters, clearly eager for change in the upcoming presidential and state legislative races, give a distinct advantage to New York City Councilman Jim Gennaro, a Democrat who is running to replace 36-year Republican incumbent Frank Padavan in State Senate District 11.

Between January and August of this year, 6,859 new voters enrolled in Senate District 11, according to the Board of Elections. Of them, 711 are Republicans and 4,083 are Democrats, giving the latter party a nearly six-to-one advantage with these voters.

Democrats also overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans in Senate District 11's overall enrollment, 88,494 to 33,123 (a nearly three-to-one advantage).

Conscious of this disadvantage, Padavan is not noting his party affiliation anywhere on his literature or Web site.

Yeah, if I were a republican, I'd try to hide that too. Unfortunately, there's that pesky thing called a voting record.

I'm going to write, as soon as I have some breathing room, a few pieces on the use of media by candidates in the changed, atomized environment of the evolving media landscape. Long story short, The New York Times and the other metropolitan dailies are less important to messaging and voter persuasion than they were four or eight years ago. Campaigns that rely on traditional media to reach the high-engagement, high-information voters that decide primaries are well-advised to prepare for a rocky road.

In that spirit, I'm glad to see this, a letter to the editor published in the Astoria Times by Steve Behar, who's running to succeed Tony Avella on the City Council.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed two additional transit fare hikes on top of the fare hike enacted earlier this year. Gas is over $4 per gallon and we all agree it is in our best interest for our environment, economy and national security to use more public transportation.

It does not make sense to call for the increased use of mass transit and increase the cost and lessen the service of our current mass transit system. But elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson, continue to hide behind the MTA and allow it to hoist fare hikes onto the shoulders of Queens' hard-working middle class.

Any additional fare hike is unacceptable. For far too long, opaque authorities have operated in the state without public oversight. We do not elect MTA officials to their positions and, when the MTA raises fares and the public protests, it provides cover for our elected officials.

Patterson has asked the MTA to look its books. Bloomberg has stated, "That's just bad management." State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is looking at the MTA's books and will release the results of his investigation by September. As our elected officials criticize the MTA administration, the same high-paid officials remain in their posts. Even MTA board member Andrew Saul urged lawmakers to re-examine legislation that would restructure the MTA and streamline its operations.

For once, it is time to take a long-term view. The city and state need to focus on getting more people to use mass transit. Driving less means a cleaner environment, a more stable economy less dependent on foreign oil and a stronger nation no longer dependent on oil from unfriendly nations.

We need more local bus service to make it easier to commute to and from work. Since most trains travel straight through most of Queens, we need more Long Island Rail Road service. We need more express buses, including the use of "rapid transit buses" to make a Queens-Manhattan commute without a car easier for residents not near an LIRR station. We need more energy conservation, substitution of carbon-based fuels and advances in technology to create biofuels and cheaper and more efficient solar and wind powered energy.

We had our first energy crisis in the 1970s. Why have we not learned our lesson yet? We need lower-cost mass transit, not more expensive mass transit. Without leadership and vision from an MTA that answers to the public, this will never happen.

The first step must be a moratorium on all proposed MTA fare increases. Second, the MTA must be audited and restructured in a way to streamline its operations and make its officials accountable to the people it serves. Third, city and state officials must make a real effort to increase mass transit and make it an easy and inexpensive option for the hard-working people of the five boroughs.

Steve's a good guy, heavily politically active, and a friend of mine, but he's also doing something that every candidate should be doing: using new and untraditional media to get his message out.

It’s May and not only Bike Month but the time of the annual fundraiser for the Drum Major Institute , my favorite action-oriented think-tank.*

This year the Drum Major For Justice Awards will be held Tuesday May 20th 2008 6:30-8:30 PM at Cipriani 23rd Street. (at 5th Ave.). More Here

I went last year. It was fun: good food, good booze, -- most important-- good schmooze. I plan to go this time, too. You should consider it. If you do, come say “hi!”

Honorees, this year are

David Simon creator of HBO show “The Wire.”

Melissa Mark-Viverito, East Harlem NYC Council Member (people tell me she’s as smart and focused as my Council Member Rosie Mendez; she’s certainly as progressive) and

Steve Phillips California civil rights lawyer, donor and chair of PowerPAC.org.

Tickets are very expensive, but there are special lower rates for activists and bloggers. If you cannot bargain yourself into a price acceptable to you, you should go back to organizing school for retraining.

*Actually it would be a tie, in my book, between DMI and Demos but DMI wins because it has a great blog.

I met Diane Benson, Congressional Candidate in Alaska, about a month ago and was very impressed. But only got to hear her speak as a candidate tonight. Again I was impressed. Diane is a genuine American who has worked hard all her life to get an education and to better the life of her son. Often she and her son have worked hard for our country and for their community. She has the confidence of someone who worked their way through school driving trucks while raising her son. She has the confidence of a woman who worked in the male dominated workers camp on the Alaskan pipeline. She has the confidence of someone who has had to work for everything, being given nothing easily. The contrast with the spoiled brat who inhabits the White House is about as striking as you can get.

So today I get several emails and instant messages having to do with the number one State Senate race we can win...the one Jimmy Dahroug almost won in 2006. This is our top priority race and we shouldn't fuck it up. So this diary is hopefully going to get everyone back on the right track.

First off, let me indicate that Jimmy Dahroug has a new website. Here it is:

http://www.jimmyforsenate.com/

Second, it seems that someone over at the NY Times has done a really sucky job of doing his research because he discusses this race without even mentioning Jimmy Dahroug. Well, if the NY Times can't figure out who's actually running in the top State Senate race in NY State it shows a sharp decline in the quality of their reporting. To the NY Times: Get your damned act together. Seriously. Don't be so sloppy. It just makes you look bad.

It is rare that I make it to political events in Manhattan, but so many people were urging me to meet Jimmy Dahroug, candidate for State Senate in Suffolk County, last night at a Manhattan fundraiser with Jim Dean of Democracy for America as a special guest. I am glad I went even though it meant being late for my son's bedtime, an event I don't like missing. In the end I barely met Jim Dean and only briefly got to talk with Jimmy Dahroug, but did get to hear both speak and got to meet several other candidates running for City Council in 2009: Josh Skaller (DFNYC organizer and president of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, running for Bill DeBlasio's seat...what, Josh, no website yet?), Costa Constantinides (on the steering committee of the Democratic Lawyers Council working on voting rights and running in Astoria...and with the name to match the district) and Steve Behar (running in district 19 in Queens). By the way...rumor has it some of you out there think Josh Skaller is mole333.