Many city Democrats are heading out to Denver in the next few days, but not Mike McMahon.

A spokesman for the councilman from Staten Island, who is the party and New York Times-backed candidate in the 13th District Congressional race, said he'll be campaigning in the district instead.

McMahon's chances in the race look good--he's leading primary opponent Steve Harrison by a huge margin (64-18 percent) and neither of the Republican candidates for the open seat are particularly promising.

In a contrasting example, Representative Ed Towns, who is also facing a challenger, is very much going, as part of an ongoing effort to associate himself publicly with Barack Obama after having endorsed Hillary Clinton.  read more »

Here's a little more evidence of how frenzied things are getting in Staten Island, now that Representative Vito Fossella's seat might be up for grabs in the fall.

Yesterday I reported that, according to Independence Party state executive committee member Frank Morano, the I.P. is interviewing candidates for Fossella's seat on May 25.  read more »

The jockeying to run for Republican Vito Fossella’s suddenly winnable congressional seat has opened a bit of a rift between Brooklyn and Staten Island Democrats.

The seat is mostly in Staten Island, but for years, Democratic elected officials there have taken a pass at challenging Fossella since that would have meant giving up their own safe re-elections in order to run (and probably lose). The result was a string of unmemorable candidates who got slaughtered by Fossella and his Republican predecessor, Susan Molinari.

The Brooklyn side, at least, has produced some feisty challengers, namely Frank Barbaro and Steve Harrison. This year, in addition to Harrison, the Democratic field will include Councilman Domenic Recchia, who has even more campaign money at his disposal than Fossella. The Brooklyn Dems, in other words, would seem to have a pretty good chance of producing the nominee this year.

But now it's gotten more complicated. There’s blood in the water, thanks to Fossella’s love child scandal (not to mention a pretty good Democratic trend nationwide), and Staten Island Democrats are looking for someone to get in on the action. This is particularly significant because if Fossella resigns, designating a Democratic challenger for the resulting special election will fall to the folks on Staten Island.

Will Brooklyn get edged out?

Here's how Council member Vinny Gentile made their case: “It seems to me that to suggest that it’s a Staten Island seat, if you look at the last three Brooklynites who were the nominees, they did as well if not better than the State Islanders who were nominees."  read more »

The Staten Island chapter of the Independence Party, which supported recently arrested Republican Congressman Vito Fossella in 2006, is interviewing “all prospective candidates” who want to seek their endorsement this year.

Interviews will take place on May 25, according to Frank Morano, an executive committee member of the New York State Independence Party.

Morano said Fossella “would have a shot at the nomination,” but also said that it would not be “a lock."  read more »

Last week I reported that an endorsement vote at a Democratic Club in Bay Ridge was split evenly between Vito Fossella's two official Democratic challengers, Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison.  read more »

The Brooklyn Democrats for Change, a reform club in Bay Ridge, held their endorsement meeting last night to decide which Democrat to endorse against Republican Vito Fossella.

The club’s decision was an even split.

According to a political operative who attended the meeting but is not actively working for either campaign, there were 25 votes for each of the two declared Democratic candidates, attorney Steve Harrison and City Councilman Domenic Recchia.  read more »

One of Vito Fossella’s Democratic challengers, Steve Harrison, just released a public statement saying that if Fossella runs for reelection, “The people will decide in November if his recent behavior and revelations should disqualify him from continuing in office.”

It's a slightly different approach than Harrison took yesterday, when he told me Fossella's D.U.I. arrest spoke to the congressman's "character" and decision-making ability.

Here’s the statement:  read more »

Vito Fossella’s spokespeople won’t say whether he’ll run for reelection, according to an item in Crain’s today.

“Politics is not what he’s focused on now,” Susan Del Percio--Fossella’s political consultant--is quoted as saying. “He’s focused on doing his job.”  read more »

“I would like to have this race decided by the issues, like the war, health care, the economy, jobs, things of that nature--all of which are important.  read more »]]> Politics Domenic Recchia Stephen Harrison Vito Fossella Tue, 06 May 2008 16:14:27 -0400 Azi Paybarah 68844 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/recchias-strategy-fossellas-arrest

Congressman Vito Fossella’s recent arrest for driving drunk has Democrats thinking they might get a better chance at taking the only congressional seat in the city held by a Republican. (The district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn).  read more »