Chris Callaghan

Here's one small-but-telling reflection of the effectiveness of campaigning as a tax-cutting Republican these days in New York:

In the high-tax counties of Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester, voters not only delivered large margins, as expected, to Eliot Spitzer over John Faso, but they also did so for embattled Comptroller Alan Hevesi, in what was supposed to have been Tuesday's only competitive race.

Hevesi won Suffolk County, 164,539 to Christopher Callaghan's 143,470. In Nassau, Hevesi beat Callaghan 180,071 to 145,308 .

And in Westchester, the beating was particularly bad: 129,051 to 82,520.

Yes, most voters hardly knew who Alan Hevesi was, let alone Chris Callaghan. But still.

-- Azi Paybarah

Today's Siena poll has Alan Hevesi and Chris Callaghan in a statistical dead heat.

Hevesi's 39 to 35% lead is within the 4% margin of error for the poll, for which 500 likely voters were surveyed. This is a little different from the latest NY1/Newsday poll of 1,502 registered voters, "of whom 952 were likely voters," that had a 2% margin of error and had Hevesi up by 10%.

"Although nearly two-thirds of voters believe that aside from the scandal Hevesi has done a good job as Comptroller and 59 percent say the job he's done is more important than the scandal in deciding how they vote, Hevesi's support is eroding and doing so rapidly," Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said

Last month, Siena showed Hevesi leading Callaghan 52-25%.

Today's Siena poll also showed that basically, no other race is even close. Eliot Spitzer leads by 45, Hillary Clinton leads by 37, and Andrew Cuomo leads by 21.

-- Azi Paybarah

Another sign of the massing of the union ranks behind an effort to ensure Alan Hevesi's survival on Tuesday...

It's a piece of literature the AFL-CIO is giving its members, reminding them that comptroller Alan Hevesi has shown "a keen awareness and understanding" of their issues, and "has served the taxpayers of this state, our public employees and al New Yorkers with great distinction."

The piece also notes that Chris Callaghan opposed a defined benefits plan for pension recipients -- not a minor point for organized labor. Callaghan has said that's true, but for future employees, not those currently vested in the pension.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Tom Suozzi is backing Alan Hevesi for re-election.

John McCain endorsed Chris Callaghan.

Jonathan Miller, who wrote a story in this week's Observer about the relationships between Senator Bob Menendez and hard-line anti-Castro activists, has more here on a related group of hard-liners recently called before a grand jury in Newark. The group includes one prominent Menendez fund-raiser and an employee of another Menendez supporter who died in 2000.

Bob Corker, Menendez and Sheldon Whitehouse all have double-digit leads in their Senate races.

Aides to Tom Reynolds got tips on how to manage the Mark Foley fall out two days before the story became public, indicating, again, that the congressman's office was aware of the issue.

The state Senate Democrats are paying for only one ad this year, and it's for Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Rudy Giuliani leads John McCain in a recent Florida poll, but trails him in another poll out in Michigan.

Greg Sargent critiques the Times' coverage of John Kerry's Iraq comment.

Another site wonders whose job sucks more: press flack for George Allen or John Kerry.

Jerry Skurnik writes about a judicial race in which "for reasons that are both too complicated and murky, there is no Democratic candidate for the other slot."

And pictured above is Borat.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Pictured here is the guy driving Chris Callaghan's Tax-Less Express, standing in between two cars that make up part of Hillary Clinton's motorcade. They were parked outside the Poughkeepsie Journal today where she was having an endorsement meeting and Callaghan's bus happened to be passing by.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Alan Hevesi's campaign is going on the offense, sort of.

They released statements from current city comptroller, Bill Thompson -- who seems to have been the chief object of speculation about who might replace Hevesi -- and former state comptroller, Carl McCall saying that they intended to vote for him against Christopher Callaghan.

But as Charles Schumer demonstrated yesterday, there's a difference between voting for someone, and endorsing them.

The E-word is nowhere in the statements from Thompson and McCall [after the jump].

More unequivocal in their support of Hevesi is the United Federation of Teachers, which is working hard to keeping him in office.

"We never disappeared from him," UFT director of legislation and political action, Marvin Reiskin, told me last night. Reiskin said the union is sending out mailings to their members reminding them to vote for Hevesi and the UFT is talking to other unions about how to help Hevesi's re-election.  read more »

Update: The Bronx Democratic Chairman Jose Rivera just put out a statement saying he is sticking with Hevesi. "He is a gentleman, a great public servant, a wonderful father, and yes, a good, caring husband." -- Azi Paybarah

At an event yesterday at which Christopher Callaghan was endorsed by Staten Island Republicans, most of the officials focused on Callaghan's discovery of Alan Hevesi's chauffeur scandal.

Most of them.

When Rep. Vito Fossella endorsed Chris Callaghan, the congressman, who a few months ago was found to have misused campaign funds on ski trips for his family, made no mention of Hevesi or the scandal that is ostensibly giving Callaghan a fighting chance on Election Night.

When I asked Fossella afterwards if he, like most of the speakers there, thought that Hevesi should be removed, he said, "I think the purpose here is to say Chris Callaghan will bring a much-needed dose of good government. From what I've seen, I'm hard pressed to see how he can stick around."

Later, I asked Fossella if his own situation had been at all similar to Hevesi's.

Fossella: "No."

Me: What's the difference?

Fossella: "We complied with all the letters of the law and we're fine with it."

The Chairman of the Brooklyn Republican organization, who had said that anybody who did what Hevesi did should be led out in "handcuffs and chains," said he had never heard of Fossella's transgression. (And didn't he didn't seem too interested in the details when I spoke to him.)

-- Azi Paybarah

The New York Times enthusiastically endorses Eliot Spitzer for governor, begrudgingly endorses Andrew Cuomo for attorney general, and backs Dave Mejias and John Hall for congress.

Ben notes Vito Fossella's re-election race gets more interesting.

In the comptroller's race, The Poughkeepsie Journal endorses challenger Chris Callaghan, and writes:

"In light of all the scandals and ethical lapses in our political systems, voters should give Callaghan a chance to serve, even though Hevesi is the more qualified candidate."

As for Hillary's debate this morning with John Spencer: a surprising note. John Spencer said he thought Hillary would be a "tremendous" candidate for president. He won't vote for her, but tremendous.

The Observer's Choire Sicha went down to watch the debate live and emails to say:

"At the ABC studios on 67th and Columbus, Bill came to pick Hillary after work. aww! They went down the line of supporters together, then hopped in the waiting van and headed south past Lincoln Center."

-- Azi Paybarah

Tom Reynolds cancels an appearance at a Pennsylvania fundraiser.

Alan Hevesi's spokesman can't say why his candidate isn't debating Chris Callaghan. "If Mr. Hevesi needs a ride, we'd be happy to pick him up so he won't have to use a state worker to chauffeur him to the debate," Callaghan said.

Hillary Clinton,who opposes same-sex marriage, quietly supports a bill to give insurance benefits to same-sex couples.

Mentioning the wiretapping scandal in Jeanine Pirro's own ad is "a way to become better known, and to play the victim, in hopes of drawing sympathy," says Patrick Healy. But the blockbuster claim that there was no wiretapping is "not yet supported" by the US attorney's office.

The Wall Street Journal says John Faso did a public service by getting Eliot Spitzer to make a no-new-taxes pledge.

Ned Lamont uses an old Joe Lieberman ad to make his case in a new ad airing today.

"After 18 years, it's time for somebody new," Lieberman says in the Lamont ad. "It's time for a change."

-- Azi Paybarah

And speaking of Hevesi -- sorry, but that's all anyone up here is talking about -- here's an interesting study in the evolution of political rumor to political scandal:

Chris Callaghan just told me that when he first put out the press release accusing Alan Hevesi of chauffering his wife around on the state dime, he didn't actually know if it was true. Had Hevesi denied it, Callaghan said, he would have dropped the matter. (Whether or not his sort would have sought another outlet is a different matter.)

In retrospect, Callaghan says, he thinks Hevesi owned up to the discretion for one simple reason:

"He didn't know what I knew."

-- Azi Paybarah