New York City women who support Barack Obama held a rally at City Hall yesterday, ostensibly to counter the post-Palin storyline of female voters moving to John McCain.

At the end of the rally, I asked some attendees if thought Palin was being treated fairly during the campaign, or if, as Hillary Clinton asserted during her campaign, sexism is still an issue on the campaign trail.

“I can’t speak for Ms. Palin,” said City Councilwoman Letitia James.

“Nor do I think that we need to waste much time on it!” shouted actress Kathleen Turner.

The crowd roared. Afterwards, Representatives Nydia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke took turns at answering the question.

Representative Nydia Velazquez picked a theme and stuck to it in her high-ish profile slot last night at the Pepsi Arena: Small business will take a beating in a McCain administration (and prosper in an Obama-led White House).

"John McCain would not just hold back female entrepreneurs, he would hurt all small businesses," she said. "He has pledged to continue the Bush tax cuts that favored Fortune 500 companies over entrepreneurs."

One of few New Yorkers with a prime time convention speaking slot, did not directly address Latino voters in her speech (though she did conclude it in Spanish) Velazquez has previously said that "there is a
problem of connecting with Latino voters from the Obama camp."
The speech followed an op-ed she co-authored in the Daily News with Representative Anthony Weiner, in which the two called for tax incentives for small business and beefing up the federal Small Business Administration.

DENVER—Bill Perkins, one of the first New York elected officials to endorse Barack Obama, jumped out of his seat and let out an ear-piercing whistle as Hillary Clinton addressed party unity in a speech to the New York delegation this morning.

“I think she hit a home run,” he said when I asked him about the speech later; he also called it “a transformational expression of support.” Perkins went on, “If that enthusiasm continues, then it’s done and she gets credit for moving [her supporters] into the victory column.”

Representative Charlie Rangel, who gave a fist-bump to Chuck Schumer after giving his own address, called Clinton’s speech “fantastic.  read more »

At a press conference on the City Hall steps just now, incumbent State Senator Marty Connor was endorsed by the five members of Congress whose districts overlap with his: Ed Towns, Nydia Velazquez, Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler. (Yvette Clarke is endorsing him too, but did not attend).

Afterward, I asked the group what they think of Chuck Schumer’s support of Connor’s opponent, Dan Squadron.

Nadler, the only one to answer the question, offered the following:

"Well, Chuck is entitled to put considerations of personal friendship over everything else that we have talked about, and he’s said that’s exactly what he has done. Marty’s opponent worked for Chuck, is the co-author of his book with him, and I understand a personal loyalty," Nadler said.  read more »

Rep. Nydia Velazquez was hardly the only Hillary Clinton supporter to do something like this, but she was certainly the most vocal among New York’s congressional delegation: As the primary season was winding down, Velazquez – in an effort to prop up Clinton’s vice-presidential prospects – went before the press and declared that Barack Obama and his campaign had "a problem of connecting with Latino voters."

Clinton would solve this problem for Obama, Velazquez said, because “the Latino community sees her as a Hispanic leader.  read more »

Representative Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn warned again today that Barack Obama has a lot of work to do with Hispanic voters--a consistent notion among some concerned supporters, but one that the L.A. Times seemed to contradict today.  read more »

Charlie Rangel and the New York Democratic congressional delegation announced their endorsement of Barack Obama today in Washington, D.C.

Rangel said, “We come here collectively to endorse the decision that has been made by our fearless leader, who comes as a member of the state of New York that makes us so proud, and we’re here to laud her efforts and what she is about to do.”

He added, "It was a great campaign."  read more »

Before Hillary Clinton’s speech last night at Baruch College, Representative Nydia Velazquez waded into a thicket of reporters and explained why she thinks Barack Obama should choose Clinton as a running mate.  read more »

Citizens Against Government Waste published its annual list of congressional earmarks (they actually call it the Congressional Pig Book list).

Of course, what one person calls wasteful spending, another person calls bringing home the bacon, and now that Democrats are in the majority, New York was supposed to be getting more federal money.

The state made out with a good portion, particularly in the Catskills, where Maurice Hinchey brought in $43.7 million.

Here is a list of what some members from New York, and a few from elsewhere, brought their districts, according to the list. (It's in numbers of millions):  read more »

By this fall, according to activists, the city could lose over 10 percent of the remaining 90,000 affordable housing units that exist under the federal Section 8 program if Congress doesn't plug a $2.4 billion budget shortfall at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A pair of U.S. representatives, Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn and Queens and Jerrold Nadler of Brooklyn and Manhattan, are holding a rally tonight to pressure Congress to approve supplemental funding so HUD can continue to guarantee owners of Section 8 buildings rents to match the market. Without such gurantees, there's a risk of apartments leaving Section 8 for the increasingly expensive open market.

“If owners can’t rely on the subsidy then they will opt out of the Section 8 program,” Patrick Coleman of the group Tenants and Neighbors, one of the rally’s organizers, said. The rally's at 6:30 at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square South.  read more »