Thursday, September 20, 2007

Total Defeat

Circle your calendars, and mark September 18 as the day Democrats lost the 2007 elections.

Democrat candidates were shut out in virtually every primary on September 18, losing big in you name it, Independence, Conservative, Working Families and even Republican contests.

In Troy, Democrat Jim “Jimmy” Conroy saw his Working Families nomination lost. That leaves Conroy with one ballot line for November and Mayor Harry Tutunjian four lines, and a whole lot of momentum from a series of economic development announcements. That about wraps it up for “Jimmy”.

At-large GOP candidates easily beat back a challenge for the Independence line and most Working Families nominations owned by Democrats were won by enrolled Working Families members who want some independence for their party from the Dem bosses.

An attempt by defeated Dem leaders in North Greenbush to back a slate of Republicans went down in flames as the endorsed GOP team of Lou Desso and Mark Evers rolled to a decisive victory. And Dem-backed Working Families candidates lost to another group of true WFP members. Good work.

Just the day before the primary, Dems were called out for their insensitivity in rushing a candidate for a vacancy in the County Legislature created by the tragic killing of Legislator Edward Swartz. And many Dems believe the rush for a contested election in a heavily-Republican area will further damage the sputtering campaign for District Attorney by Dem Rich McNally.

It was supposed to be different, but Democrats find themselves with no momentum and almost no presence on the ballot with November growing closer. Big trouble ahead.