Major Owens

How many black elected officials from Brooklyn were at the rally for Barack Obama on the City Hall steps this afternoon?

Enough that State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem muttered to himself at the podium, “Oh man, we’re going to have to mix this up a bit.” He then introduced state Senator Eric Adams--who's from Brooklyn.  read more »

One day after Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, former congressman and Brooklyn mainstay Major Owens is announcing his support of Barack Obama for president.

In a public statement (going out any minute), Owens says,

"Obama stands for the concerns of the masses in the black community who have been let down by the broken promises of past leadership. Our leadership on both sides of the aisle has continued to fail us by supporting the war in Iraq and by standing by while poverty, disparities in our healthcare system and lack of affordable education opportunities for young people weaken our communities. It is time to shake loose from the past and Senator Obama’s record shows that he will deliver on his promise to stand up for us in the White House.”

Also, if you missed it, Horowitz has a nice write-up of the scene during Hillary's visit to Williamsburg here.

It’s hard to say much about newly elected Congresswoman Yvette Clarke without first talking ab  read more »

One theme Yvette Clarke rode to victory on Tuesday was that she was the only woman in the four-way Democratic primary for Rep. Major Owens's seat in Brooklyn.

But in the race to fill her soon-to-be-vacated seat City Council seat, so far, women candidates are scarce.

One knowledgeable reader suggested the following as a list of possible contenders to take her place:

-- Wellington Sharpe, who has run for numerous offices and was kicked off the ballot in his race against Assemblyman Nick Perry

-- Moses "Musa" Moore, who just lost his re-election as District Leader and is a close ally of Clarence Norman and Carl Andrews

-- Dr. Mathieu Eugene, who heads an after-school program in the center of the district and is a member of Community Board 14 and is said to have support among the area's Haitian community

-- Samuel Nicolas, a lawyer and cousin of police brutality victim Abner Louima

Any others?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here is John Koblin's dispatch from last night's town hall meeting in Brooklyn.

Major Owens plopped down in the front-row in a hot, musty Methodist church in Park Slop, inches from Yvette Clarke who hosted a town hall forum in the congressman's district with Rep. John Murtha and Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Weird, but Clarke tried to diffuse any awkwardness.

"We know that a political campaign is going on," she said, "but Congressman Owens has been an outstanding voice when it comes to addressing the Iraq War and our need to bring our troops home and he's been consistent in that voice and I believe it's important to give credit where credit is due."

Then, she invited Owens - who is campaigning against her - to the microphone. He too stepped around the politics of the race to succeed him. "Jack Murtha is the great hope" and he won't "take any minutes away from that."

Murtha had only a few words for Clarke at the town hall. "I appreciate the opportunity to be here with Yvette. When I talked to her, she was one of the first people to talk to me about this war and a number of other things she's been involved with me, like diabetes research and cancer research and those kind of things."  read more »

John Koblin was back in the 11th Congressional district this morning with Carl Andrews, who bragged about his access to Eliot Spitzer and revealed that he aspires to be a congressman in the mold of Charlie Rangel, Anthony Weiner and Greg Meeks.

Here's Koblin's report:

"Things are starting to shape like a pyramid, or hit a peak for the campaign," says Carl Andrews a little before 8 a.m. at the B/Q Newkirk Avenue subway station.

Shaking hands and greeting sleepy commuters, Mr. Andrews said all the pieces - from yesterday's endorsement from the AFL-CIO to his "broad-based support" - were coming together.  read more »

"A culmination is starting to come to a head," he said.

The Colbert Report's Better Know a District segment profiles New York's 11th, and while funny, our only complaint is that Major Owens didn't drop a rhyme for us.

—Nicole Brydson

Yvette Clarke's campaign has confirmed that Una Clarke has resigned from her position with the Empire State Development Corporation to assist in her daughter's campaign for congress.

The elder Clarke served as campaign treasurer for her daughter's 2004 primary challenge against Major Owens. However, in this election cycle, that role is filled by Ray Trotman, who served as treasurer to Una in her 2000 congressional bid.  read more »

—Nicole Brydson

Like my media colleagues who find themselves engaged in existential debate about blogs, I'm still working out what the proper role for us is. It often seems we can make better use of your time by offering new information and not just rubbernecking at news pile-ups elsewhere.

However, the mere act of referring can serve a useful function, particularly if it's to an otherwise miss-able source.

Hence, we give you Rock Hackshaw, the guy I mistakenly overlooked yesterday, who has some new analysis about the race for Major Owens' seat.

Essentially, he thinks that the withdrawal of Nick Perry - and more precisely, the reduction of the number of black candidates in the contest by one - makes Yvette Clarke an instant, heavy favorite over David Yassky, Chris Owens and Carl Andrews.

Now, I know we had at least one commentator yesterday tell us that Perry's absence wouldn't mean a thing.

Who's right?

From the looks of the attack website StopYassky.com it seems pretty clear that opposition to David Yassky in the race for Major Owens' congressional seat is intense.

Some of it is about development, or more specifically, Yassky's financial support from prominent developers.

But underlying it all is the complicated and fraught issue of race - the fact that he is a white candidate running a Voting Rights district whose seat has been filled since 1968 by Shirley Chisholm and Major Owens.

The Crain's Insider reported this week that three of the five candidates - Carl Andrews, Yvette Clarke and Nick Perry - met earlier this month to work out a deal to consolidate their campaigns.

And Jonathan Hicks just reported that Perry is dropping out.

I have no idea if the idea of a white candidate taking over the historically black district will be enough of a motivating factor for any of the other candidates to subsume their personal interests and drop out.

Does anyone know if we're going to see any further consolidations here?

CLARIFICATION: This item should have been clearer. The description of the opposition to Yassky as "intense" refers to the fact that someone has gone to the trouble of establishing an attack website (and even an attack blog) and that someone else -- Nick Perry -- has chosen to drop out of the race, presumably as part of a concerted movement to keep Yassky from winning.

We don't pretend to know how much any of it matters, or whether these determined Yassky foes are at all representative of broader sentiment in the community.

If anyone would care to elaborate on who's behind the StopYassky stuff and what it really means, please have at it in the comments section.

Also, it appears that Room Eight had the Perry story first. Sorry, Rock.

A scatological tirade by a club member and dissenter today on Daily Gotham paints a compelling picture of how Brooklyn's Independent Neighborhood Democrats have rent themselves asunder with the decision to keep out Atlantic Yards opponents:

Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez rapidly left with a disgusted look on her face. I do not know if her disgust was for the general split in the club, which now yawns like a bleeding wound, or for the actions of one or the other. But Nydia seemed visibly upset. (The club president's accidental elbowing of Nydia in the face as Nydia beat a hasty retreat couldn't have helped!) Major Owens sat with his head down, looking sad over the proceedings.

So far, the brouhaha caused by the decision by the political club to keep out Atlantic Yards opponents has escaped notice on The Real Estate, though sister site The Politicker had it first. It's a great real estate-and-politics story: About 100 apparent Atlantic Yards opponents paid their dues just in time to qualify for the May 18 vote to endorse Congressional candidate and Atlantic Yards opponent Chris Owens (as opposed to David Yassky, the club favorite and Atlantic Yards fencesitter). Then the club decides to move up the registration deadline to May 4 to disqualify those newbies. (A state Senate race is also at issue.)

-Matthew Schuerman

Congressional Quarterly has a skeptical look at the challenges to Ed Towns in the 10th.

Daily Gotham rounds up the race to replace Major Owens in the 11th.

And if you're looking statewide, there's a Democrat-friendly blog, Take 19, devoted to the crowded primary in the 19th, where the winner faces Sue Kelly.

Moskowitz and Miller: Two Rising Stars  read more »

It looks like Chris Owens, son of Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens and a candidate to replace him next year, already has a campaign issue: eminent domain. He’ll be moderating Develop--Don’t Destroy Brooklyn’s jamboree tonight in Fort Greene , which is being co-sponsored by the elder Owens. On the program: "Reception and toast to Bloomfield, New Jersey, merchants who stopped developer Forest City Ratner from taking their properties." -Matthew Schuerman  read more »

Who needs private polls?

Zenobia McNally, the Major Owens-backed challenger to Yvette Clarke, is doing her own test-run of the campaign against Hillary. Outside the Cortelyou Road subway station this morning, she was handing out a flyer that read, in part:  read more »

"The challenges facing our district are many, and we cannot allow an elected official to use our votes as stepping-stones to higher office."

Kieran Mahoney is no doubt following that one closely.

David Yassky, a Brooklyn City Council member and former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer, will run for  read more »

We spent most of the week reporting out a complicated, depressing story on a radical Muslim group in Queens.

But we also bring word that David Yassky is joining the race to replace Major Owens in Congress.  read more »

Over to you, Josh.