"But, then again, what did Hillary know about the problems of New York so they they would vote for her? How much of the vote for her was the "Clinton effect"? Are New Yorkers, er, New Yawkers, satisified with her performance since then?
I ask this honestly as I do not know."
What she did was start campaigning long before she was a candidate, making plenty of inroads with local politicians, groups and communities. She in fact spent a great deal of time in upstate NY, which is the polar opposite of downstate- upstate being 2 to 1 Republican or better. She got connected and it showed/paid off- she won upstate counties that havent gone Democrat for a statewide position in decades. She was a far superior candidate.
I wouldnt call her first term great, nor would I call it a bust. But the fact that the GOP first troted out Jeanine Pirro to run againts her is laughable and shows that the GOP learned absolutely nothing. Pirro's replacement John Spencer is nearly as obscure statewide as Lazio. Pirro meanwhile is going to be crushed by Andy Cuomo in the AG's race. It's unique and humorous that Pirro is essentially a retread in the same election year, withdrawing her Senate candidacy to run for state AG, but it's an indication of just how weak the GOP has become in NY state. But an awful lot of it is selfinflicted.
State Senate majority leader (yes, the GOP controls the NY state senate) Joe Bruno undercut Gov George Pataki last year to override his budget veto- a major embarassment.
I'm no stranger to politicos eating their own when theyve fallen out of power and favor, its just that the NY GOP has been doing it while theyre still in office, and its cost them plenty of power and positions.
