Senator Gillibrand

[Franzl]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

[Josh/Devilman88]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

To me yes. I believe we need more women in government. I pray that there is a day when there are more women in the congress then men or at least equal to.

[Franzl]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

To me yes. I believe we need more women in government. I pray that there is a day when there are more women in the congress then men or at least equal to.

I would have no problem with that. But the important thing is that these women are qualified. In the case of this appointment, obviously, Congresswoman Gillibrand is definitely alright.

I don't like artificial quotas, though. Positions should be filled with the most competent people, regardless of race/gender/ethnic origin etc.

[Josh/Devilman88]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

To me yes. I believe we need more women in government. I pray that there is a day when there are more women in the congress then men or at least equal to.

I would have no problem with that. But the important thing is that these women are qualified. In the case of this appointment, obviously, Congresswoman Gillibrand is definitely alright.

I don't like artificial quotas, though. Positions should be filled with the most competent people, regardless of race/gender/ethnic origin etc.

Of course, but there are alot of qualified women that don't run because of the fear of sexism.

[Purple State]

Every major news source is now confirming.

Now time to wait for noon to watch. Anyone know of a good place to watch online?

[Lunar]

Gillibrand is the 1st NY Senator in the United States to support Gay Marriage

Here's another interesting wrinkle from Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-NY) imminent promotion to the Senate: She appears to have switched her position on gay marriage from a standard "safe" Democratic stance, to now being a full supporter.

Empire State Pride Agenda has put out a press release saying that Gillibrand has spoken to them, and they are glad to say that New York will have its first Senator who endorses full marriage equality. This is a big change for Gillibrand, who previously had a conventional Democratic position of endorsing civil unions and non-discrimination laws, but not being for gay marriage.

To be sure, Gillibrand's voting record on gay rights was not anything that could be called bad. There weren't too many votes on gay issues in the last two years, but she did vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, as well as the hate crimes bill.

Gillibrand's House district voted twice for George W. Bush, then narrowly flipped to Barack Obama in 2008. So one can see why Gillibrand was less than willing to support gay marriage. But if we're looking at this from the assumption of political opportunism, this in turn gives us a new realization: We are now in a world in which endorsing gay marriage can actually be a politically beneficial choice in a statewide setting.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/gillibrand-inches-leftward-now-supports-gay-marriage.php

[Brittain33]

Senator Gillibrand is a true maverick.

[Lunar]

Gillibrand is the first New York senator to support gay marriage. I'm pretty sure she's not the first overall.

Senator Gillibrand is a true maverick.

Ooops.  Corrected for accuracy.

Ben Smith thinks that Schumer being a serious driving force behind the Gillibrand pick (a notion some people here disagreed with me over ), could sink some of Kirsten's top challengers in 2010.  For legislators in NY, don't mess with chuck.

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[Verily]

I would be pretty satisfied with a pro-gun Senator who voted against the bailout.  Of course, she will get a primary challenge - bet on it.

Verily - the NY State Assembly Majority Leader is Sheldon Silver, who is certainly not from this area.  I think, as noted before on this thread, that there's only one Dem state assembly member and no Dem state senators from this area.  In other words, there really isn't much of a Dem bench here.  Of course, maybe there will be a nasty primary battle or something with all the Republicans who will run.  The CD is part of Dutchess, extends around Albany and goes up to the Adirondacks.

Btw, I should mention this since I didn't before - it seems plainly obvious to me that Paterson was going to pick Kennedy before TSHTF.  Makes the denial ultra-sweet in my view.

Actually, Silver is Speaker of the NYS Assembly.  The NYS Assembly Majority leader is Ronald Canestrari, who indeed is from the Albany area.  His assembly district includes part of CD20.  I don't know whether Canestrari lives in the CD20 part of his assembly district, though.

My bad.  So noted.

Canestrari's Wikipedia page says he was the mayor of Cohoes, NY before becoming an Assemblyman.  Cohoes is in Albany County, which is not on CD 20.  So if Canestrari hasn't moved since his mayorial days, he'd be a carpetbagger.

You're right, which I noted on page 30 in my post about Assemblymembers (there's only one, a Republican, who actually lives in NY-20).

Assuming all of them still live in the areas they represented before entering the Assembly, anyway. Which is not completely certain by any means.

[Brittain33]

Ooops.  Corrected for accuracy.

And I deleted post-correction.

[Lunar]

GOD.  MSNBC is talking endlessly about how the failure to pick Caroline is a failure for women and bragging about about how Caroline accomplished so much "for a woman."

[ilikeverin]

Well, at least he replaced a women with another women.

Is that necessarily a good thing?

To me yes. I believe we need more women in government. I pray that there is a day when there are more women in the congress then men or at least equal to.

I would have no problem with that. But the important thing is that these women are qualified. In the case of this appointment, obviously, Congresswoman Gillibrand is definitely alright.

I don't like artificial quotas, though. Positions should be filled with the most competent people, regardless of race/gender/ethnic origin etc.

Of course, but there are alot of qualified women that don't run because of the fear of sexism.

At least you picked the right stage to cry sexism at.  Past the self-selection stage, women and men fare almost identically in elections (get the same amount of votes, do just as well in primaries, etc.).

[Lunar]

She now says she supports a bill to keep handguns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

She's really embracing her femininity too, talking about how women's rights are human rights.


I wonder if she's going to face serious primary opposition.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

She now says she supports a bill to keep handguns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.

She's really embracing her femininity too, talking about how women's rights are human rights.

I wonder if she's going to face serious primary opposition.

Walter's heroine Carolyn McCarthy says she will run.

[Matt Damon™]

Is the Gillibrand pick officially a done deal yet or not?

[minionofmidas]

GOD.  MSNBC is talking endlessly about how the failure to pick Caroline is a failure for women and bragging about about how Caroline accomplished so much "for a woman."

Lol. Because Gillibrand is so male. And has "accomplished" so much less.

[Wiz in Wis]

Given that she will be working on Obama's agenda in a solidly democratic Senate... when will she be given an opportunity to piss off Democrats? Of course she will support 90% of what every other democrat supports. My guess is that she never votes against Schumer... at least until 2011

[Keystone Phil]

I love that he's present but why the hell is Al D'Amato at the announcement (and basically right behind the podium)?

Anyway, this is a great day for New York and for the GOP. Let gun control nut McCarthy run a nasty primary challenge. I'll love it. And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Anyway, this is a great day for New York and for the GOP. Let gun control nut McCarthy run a nasty primary challenge.

Which will do the GOP...absolutely no good whatsoever because they aren't winning a Senate seat in New York.

And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

You're getting a bit ahead of yourself there, especially considering Obama won the seat.

[Keystone Phil]

And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

You're getting a bit ahead of yourself there, especially considering Obama won the seat.

It's likely that we'll get it.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

You're getting a bit ahead of yourself there, especially considering Obama won the seat.

It's likely that we'll get it.

Based on what? Like I said, Obama won the seat and the special election will be held during his "honeymoon".

[Keystone Phil]

And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

You're getting a bit ahead of yourself there, especially considering Obama won the seat.

It's likely that we'll get it.

Based on what? Like I said, Obama won the seat and the special election will be held during his "honeymoon".

All you have going for your side is that Obama won the seat which really doesn't mean too much. Admit it.

It's a Republican district with a Republican bench. Oh, and the Special will likely be sometime in March or April, I assume. I don't think Obama is going to be looking so pretty then.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

And then who can forget picking up a House seat?

You're getting a bit ahead of yourself there, especially considering Obama won the seat.

It's likely that we'll get it.

Based on what? Like I said, Obama won the seat and the special election will be held during his "honeymoon".

All you have going for your side is that Obama won the seat which really doesn't mean too much. Admit it.

There's currently only about a dozen or so Republicans in seats Obama won.

It's a Republican district with a Republican bench.

Kind of like IL-14 or MS-01 right?

Oh, and the Special will likely be sometime in March or April, I assume. I don't think Obama is going to be looking so pretty then.

What's going to happen before then to ruin him?

And do you seriously think you stand a chance of winning a Senate seat in New York in 2010? (As your above post implies.)

[Brittain33]

Kind of like IL-14 or MS-01 right?

We are out of the "send Bush a message!!" era. It's going to come down to candidate quality and there is no Democrat with the organization and profile to be that person now, while there are Republicans. We will have to see what happens.

[Holmes]

Gay marriage support = yay.