Gloria Steinem at Harrison's Feb 27th Fundraiser

I didn't catch this at first but Gloria Steinem will be joining Frank Barbaro at Steve Harrison's upcoming February 27th fundraiser at Social in Manhattan.

Cocktail Reception to Benefit Stephen Harrison
Frank Barbaro, Guest Speaker
DATE: Wednesday, February 27th
TIME: 6:30-8:30pm
LOCATION: Social Bar and Grill
795 8th Avenue (btw. 48th and 49th Sts.)
RSVP: Ruth_Benedict(at)comcast.net
Or reserve your space online at steveharrisonforcongress.com

February 27th Fundraiser for Stephen Harrison

Cocktail Reception to Benefit Stephen Harrison
Frank Barbaro, Guest Speaker
DATE: Wednesday, February 27th
TIME: 6:30-8:30pm
LOCATION: Social Bar and Grill
795 8th Avenue (btw. 48th and 49th Sts.)
RSVP: Ruth_Benedict(at)comcast.net
Or reserve your space online at steveharrisonforcongress.com

Video of Steve Harrison at the Barbaro endorsement

Video of Frank Barbaro's endorsement

Frank Barbaro and Stephen Harrison fund raising

Elizabeth at the Daily Politics, the NY Daily News political blog, covers the Barbaro endorsement. For me the most interesting quote of it all is this;

He also rejected the argument that it will take $1 million or more to run a successful campaign against Fossella, who spent $1.3 million to Harrison’s $130,000, saying: “I think it will take $500,000, and I think we can raise that.”

'WE can raise that'. Remember that Barbaro raised $425,000 in his campaign in 2004, so he knows how to raise money and has the connections to do so.

Press release on Barbaro's endorsement

NY Political Icon endorses Democratic Congressional candidate Steve Harrison Former State Supreme Court judge and assemblyman Frank Barbaro endorses Harrison 6 PM December 21 press conference at the ferry terminal in Staten Island.

(Staten Island, Brooklyn) Iconic 80 year old former worker organizer, assemblyman and New York Supreme Court judge Frank Barbaro will endorse Democratic Congressional Candidate Steve Harrison at a 6PM, December 21, press conference at the ferry terminal, St George, Staten Island.

Harrison, is challenging New York 13th Congressional District (Staten Island and Southwest Brooklyn) incumbent Vito Fossella, New York City’s only Republican House member, again in 08, after receiving a higher percentage of the vote in 06 than any Democrat since the district’s creation.

Barbaro, in a prepared statement also marveled at Harrison’s o6 election achievement, calling it remarkable for a first time candidate with limited funds.

Barbaro cites Iraq, universal healthcare, preserving social security and protecting worker rights as among the reasons for his support of Harrison.

“Your positions on these issues demonstrated a deep commitment to American Values set forth in our Constitution and to our core Democratic values.”

Barbaro, whose public service career spans more than 50 years, also lauded Harrison’s community involvement.

“Your record of community achievement rooted in volunteer efforts over many years tells me that you will be guided by those you represent, not self interests or the greed of developers that is strangling our community. It is rare that we find a candidate who is honest and a man of integrity like you who always tells the truth,” said Barbaro.

Barbaro, a former longshoreman and labor organizer, after two unsuccessful runs, was elected in 1973 to the New York State assembly representing the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bensonhurst and Gravesend, serving until 1997, when he joined the State Supreme Court.

After retiring from the bench in 2003, Barbaro in 2004, like Harrison two years later, ran against Fossella, becoming the first Democrat to crack 40 percent against the Staten Island Republican. He also challenged incumbent mayor Ed Koch in a 1981 Democratic primary.

Barbaro, who pursued a law degree at night while working as longshoreman, currently maintains a private law practice in the Albany, NY suburb of Watervliet. Through that practice, he’s still battling Fossella. Barbaro acted as legal council in April for anti-war protesters dubbed the Fossella 5. The group was arrested for disorderly conduct and trespassing after they refused to leave the Republican’s office when his staff wouldn’t contact the Congressman to set up a meeting. The charges were eventually dropped.

Frank Barbaro endorses Stephen Harrison

Yesterday, 2004 Democratic candidate Frank Barbaro endorsed Stephen Harrison in his campaign to take on Rep. Vito Fossella.

This could be a very interesting development in two areas. First it reinforces the activist and progressive trending towards Harrison. In 2004 Barbaro was the favorite candidate of many new political activists coming out of several presidential campaigns. He had the backing of groups like DFNYC and if I recall NDM among others who turned out large amounts of volunteers to phone bank, canvass and poll watch. Barbaro's campaign was actually my first introduction to politics in the district.

The second area is fund raising. Barbaro was almost the dream candidate for this district in terms of fund raising. He pulled in $425,000, keeping Fossella to just a little over a 2:1 financial advantage. When ever we talk about the DCCC getting behind a candidate you hear that they want to see candidate who can raise $250,000+. If Barbaro was in the race today he certainly would have the DCCC very excited by what he pulled in. If Frank can use his connections and fund raising prowess to Harrison's advantage we could see a nice healthy influx of cash. The question is what if any financial impact Frank will have.

Overall great news for Harrison as he probably will capture the few headlines and talk for this race prior to the fourth quarter FEC filings, our first glimpse at what Recchia has been able to amass.

Getting out the vote

Yesterday I talked about the PVI of this district being D+1 and the trouble that puts Rep. Vito Fossella in (he has the 12th least Republican district of any Republican in Congress). While this does not necessarily mean the Congressional candidate should trend towards a 1% advantage or even a 1% increase simply because it is a Presidential election year, it does provide yet another hurdle Fossella will face.

Revisiting some analysis from back in December 2005, I pointed out this bit of information;

If the Kerry/Edwards voters continued to vote down the ballot, last year's results would have been 55%-45% for Fossella (vs. Barbaro), instead of 59%-41%. Fossella and Bush had nearly indentical vote totals in each Assembly District, there was about a 6% drop off for the Democratic challenger Barbaro from Kerry's numbers in each Assembly District.

With a strong ground game (see WFP's efforts in the Craig Johnson race), and some basic voter awareness, we have the potential to be starting off at 55-45%, although the district has been trending more Democratic since 2004 and those numbers in reality are probably a percentage closer. Remember this is a district that went for Gore in 2000, so it is not improbable that a strong Democratic effort paired with a non exciting Republican (anyone other than Giuliani) and this Congressional race could be at 55-45 if not 54-46 before we account for the dynamics of the Vito's corruption and the Democratic nominees strength.