Friday, January 1, 2010
Well, everyone seems to be celebrating the end of a long, hard decade. I don't have the heart to tell them that like the whole 2000/2001 thing, this is actually the last year of the current decade that we just entered. Properly speaking, the decade runs 2001 to 2010. But screw "properly," people just want to be able to turn their back on the Bush years.
But if they were hoping for peace and quiet, 2010 is probably not going to be the year for that. On the national stage we have mid-term elections again, this time with the tea party people in full swing, and no doubt all the mud you can throw. Closer to home, I kid you not when I say that every office of note in the state of New York is up for election this year. A short list:
That's a grand total of 246 state and federal elections. Even just paring it down to the races likely to be competitive, it's going to be utterly mad.
We're likely to see a fight over Senator Gillibrand's seat, with the Republicans probably running either George Pataki (R-Dull) or more likely Representative Peter King. You may remember him as the guy who strongly and publicly endorsed racial profiling, equated Italian-Americans to the mafia, and supports the use of torture.
There's also likely to be a knife fight over at least a couple congressional districts. The Republican National Congressional Committee has telegraphed it's intentions of going after Eric Massa, and if King takes up the Senate bid it could result in an open seat fight in the heart of Long Island, a district where the party balance is closer than their current representative would suggest.
Closer to home, the usual suspects are running for reelection (at least so far): Volker, and Burling, as well as the newer names like Lee and Ranzenhofer. Without getting into too much privileged information, you can bet that we're going to be seeing what we can do about that.
There's reform efforts afoot in the State Senate, questions about who the nominee for Governor is going to be, and possible intra-party fights brewing about AG and Comptroller. Knowing how I feel about blue-on-blue fights, you can imagine how much those last couple bring joy to my heart. Or whatever that itchy, maddening sensation in my chest is.
Fortunately for me, in all the areas I care most about, it's going to be a target rich environment. E-minus 304 days.
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