Cuomo Wins, But...

Exit polls have him at 57%.

He won 63% in 2010.

His dad won 65% his first re-election campaign.

Schumer and Gillibrand have won elections with over 70% of the vote.

If Cuomo wins near where the exit polls have him, it's a solid win, but it's nothing to write home about.

He outspent his GOP opponent, Rob Astorino, by tens of millions of dollars.

Astorino got no help from the Republican establishment in the state and the head of the Republican Governors Association, Chris Christie, went out of his way to call Astorino a loser and help Cuomo out instead.

The unions made sure Cuomo wouldn't have a third party candidate from the left on the Working Families Party ballot line today, and while Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins was polling near double digits in some of the public polls, the exit polls have him closer to 5%.

That means Cuomo had himself a two man race, a helluva lot more money than his GOP opponent, and a Republican Party establishment that was either helping Cuomo or sitting out the race.

Of course Cuomo won tonight.

But given all the advantages he had in this campaign, he ought to have run away with the night, beaten his 2010 totals, and set himself up for a decent White House run in the future.

If the exit polls are right (and they just might be - the last public poll, Marist, had him at 56% a few days ago), he hasn't done that.

According to the exit polls, his vote totals among all demographics except white women are lower this year than they were four years ago- with white women his totals are the same as they were four years ago.

In short, Cuomo won the election tonight, but it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for another four years.

What Cuomo Needs Today To Really "Win" This Election

Blake Zeff at Capital NY:

Though Cuomo is almost certain to win, the outcome of this struggle on the left isn’t just academic, and it affects him, too.

For one thing, it will have an impact on Cuomo’s share of the vote, which, despite his protestations that he just wants to win, will determine whether the juggernaut image he's shaped remains intact. And the governor well knows that in elections, there are wins and then there are wins.

While he’s cleaning Astorino’s clock, polls also show his share of the vote often sitting under 60 percent.

Here’s what that looks like when you put it into recent historical context for a Democrat in New York State. The governor’s father Mario Cuomo received 64.6 percent of the vote in his first reelection campaign. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand showed the potential for a statewide Democrat to dominate in recent (presidential) years, with the former nabbing 71.2 percent of the vote in his first re-election, and the latter getting 72.2.

Chris Christie got 60.3 percent last year in a neighboring blue state as a Republican, and Cuomo himself got 62.6 percent his first time around in 2010.

He’ll want to outperform those numbers. And for that matter he’ll want to outperform his fellow statewide Democratic candidates, Eric Schneiderman and Tom DiNapoli. That will depend in part on whether disaffected liberals vote for him—or vote at all.

If Cuomo gets 56% of the vote, as the last Marist poll showed he might, that's a clear win and he'll claim it's a mandate and look to push through his odious policies claiming the people of this state voted for them.

But taking 56% of the vote is also a sign of weakness, given that his dad received 65% of the vote the first time he ran for re-election and Schumer and Gillibrand received 71% and 72% in their first re-election bids respectively.

Hell, even Christie got 60% in a blue state.

If Cuomo can't break 60% today, let alone break his 63% mark from four years ago, it demonstrates just how weak he is politically these days, with many on the left despising him and the right despising him too.

Cuomo will put a smiley face on his win tonight, no matter the totals, and claim mandate.

But if he comes in with totals close to what he's been polling at, it's a show of weakness for Cuomo, not a show of strength.

Cuomo Deliberately Widens Rift With Liberal Base In Waning Days Of The Campaign

Since your reading this blog, I know you already know how Andrew Cuomo took deliberate and conscious aim at teachers and public schools in the last week and let us all know he's coming for us in the next term.

Ken Lovett in the Daily News reports that's not the only rift Cuomo has consciously widened with the liberal base as the campaign winds down:

Cuomo in the past two weeks:

— Created a furor among educators by referring to the education system as “one of the last remaining public monopolies.”

— Pressed New Yorkers to vote for him on the Women’s Equality Party ballot line he created — leading many progressives to believe it’s an attempt to kill or weaken the Working Families Party, which party publicly embarrassed him in May before he ended up getting the party’s endorsement after Mayor de Blasio helped broker a deal.

— Did virtually no campaigning for state Senate Democrats who are trying to take control of the chamber. Cuomo had promised to make it a priority.

Working Families Party co-Chairwoman Karen Scharff called the governor's actions “kind of puzzling.”

“Who does that before Election Day?” she asked. “I don’t quite get the goal. The public overwhelmingly supports our public schools, so it’s hard to understand why the governor would attack public education right before the election.”

What's Cuomo's goal?

Perhaps this:

"You would think that this is the time (Cuomo) should be bringing everybody back home," said one Democratic operative. "But this is the reason there is no enthusiasm at the top of the ticket and that can impact the down-ballot races."

Cuomo definitely wants a State Senate run the same way as it currently is - by an amalgam of Republicans and Independent Democrats who govern rightward - so that could be one of the reasons  he's taking on the base here.

Or it's possible that he just can't help himself.

In his memoir, he took on the left as well.

He seems to genuinely despise the base of his own party.

Not that teachers and public schools are "left" in any way for most people.

But for a politician who calls the public schools a "monopoly" that he plans to "break", I guess they just might be.

In any case, you should vote your conscience tomorrow and support candidates you can legitimately support and vote against the ones you can't.

I am supporting Howie Hawkins and Brian Jones for governor and lieutenant governor.

Marist Poll Shows Cuomo Running Away With Race

Those of you hoping GOP challenger Rob Astorino could close in the waning days of the campaign to make this election a squeaker, the latest Marist poll will disappoint you:

THE LATEST NUMBERS: A Marist College/WNBC/Wall Street Journal poll found 82 percent of New Yorkers back a 21-day quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola-stricken areas, and 63 percent of those surveyed said they supported Cuomo’s handling of the situation. Horse race: Cuomo 56, Astorino 30, Hawkins 6.

As some surmised, Cuomo's handling of the Ebola case got him derision from public health officials, scientists and many in the media, but helped him win support from the general public.

If Cuomo wins the election with anything close to these numbers, he will claim a mandate and attempt to push through his agenda no matter the opposition.

Given that the Senate looks like it will remain in the hands of the GOP's Dean Skelos and the IDC's Jeff Klein, this means pro-charter, anti-teacher legislation will sail through pretty easily.

Unless something changes quickly, it's going to be a dark few years.

Why Cuomo Can Be Beat In His Coming Assault On Public Education

At the end of Jeff Smith's entertaining and astute review of Andrew Cuomo's memoir comes this:

Ebola antics aside, Andrew Cuomo will win reelection comfortably next week, but he has almost never looked weaker, especially with an open federal investigation grinding away. And that’s a fact that he’ll have plenty of time to chew over during the months ahead, as he and Ms. Lee nibble on fresh, locally sourced home-cooked meals at the Governor’s Mansion for the next four years.

Under investigation by a federal prosecutor and publicly warned by the same federal prosecutor to stop tampering with that investigation.

A punchline on The Daily Show for his fumbling, stumbling Ebola response this past week.

Reviled by people on the left in the state, 34% of whom voted for Zephyr Teachout in September's primary - the highest total for any challenger to a sitting governor in a primary since the current system was first instituted.

Reviled by parents and educators for his education policies, many of whom are vowing to vote for one of Cuomo's two opponents next week - Republican Rob Astorino or Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.

Cuomo attacked teachers and schools yesterday when he threatened to "break" the public school system and impose "more rigorous" teacher evaluations with "sanctions" on teachers already struggling under his nightmarish APPR evaluation system.

The NYSUT leadership waved a flag of surrender in the face of that attack.

The AFT and UFT response was muted as well.

So Cuomo's not going to get much pushback on his coming attacks from the union leaders.

But judging by the outrage I saw on the Internet and heard at school yesterday, he's going to get a lot from ordinary people.

And given all the other trouble Cuomo's got (and he's got trouble - his campaign has asked for helped from Bill Clinton this week on the campaign trail, suggesting his internal polling is showing a closer race than the public polls have so far shown), that pushback from ordinary people, teachers and parents, can stand for a lot.

This is NOT the Cuomo of the first term, with an 80% approval rating that allowed him to govern with a "My way or your roadkill" mentality.

This is the Cuomo under federal investigation, the Cuomo who groveled to the Working Families Party in May for their ballot line, then lost half the counties in the state in his primary anyway, the Cuomo who's become a punchline on TV and a punching bag in the newspapers.

This is the Cuomo so scared of his standing with the public that he attempted to look tough with his Ebola response and instead just looked weak and desperate.

This is the Cuomo in enough trouble in this election that he needs Bill Clinton to save him in the days before voting.

This is the Cuomo that CAN be beaten in a battle over education policy.

Open Thread: How Many Lies Did Cuomo Tell During Tonight's Debate?

Here's one:

Hey Cuomo you're lying; AGAIN. Let's talk about the letter to Meryl Tisch on APPR and over testing of kids. #CommonCore #nysgovdebate
— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) October 23, 2014

@GowtFlo @helensmomma https://t.co/FZDQtDLHRY
— Steve McLaughlin (@SteveMcNY) October 23, 2014

Andrew Cuomo's Unfavorables Hit A New High In Latest Siena Poll

Cuomo's up in the race for governor- but so are his unfavorables:

ALBANY—With less than two weeks until the Nov. 4 election, Governor Andrew Cuomo has a 21-point lead over Republican opponent Rob Astorino, though his unfavorable ratings remain high, according to a Siena Institute poll released this morning.

The poll of 748 likely voters shows Cuomo leading Astorino 54 percent to 33 percent.

...

While the poll indicates Cuomo is likely to win by a healthy margin, it appears less likely he'll reach the 63 percent threshold he achieved in 2010, in part because Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins is polling at about 9 percent.

According to the poll, 54 percent of voters view Cuomo favorably, while a record high 43 percent view him unfavorably.

Voters also have a harsher assessment than ever of the governor’s performance, the poll found. A record high percentage—25 percent—said they thought Cuomo had done a “poor” job in office so far, while the percentage who said they believed his performance had been “good” stood at 34 percent, his lowest numbers on that question since he took office. Nine percent said they thought Cuomo was doing an “excellent” job while 32 percent rated his job performance as “fair,” the poll found.

Cuomo's popularity rests in many ways with women and I'll have more about that later.

Suffice to say, Cuomo's in the driver's seat in the race, but his negatives are rising, and he isn't going to top his 2010 totals with Howie Hawkins garnering close to double digit support.

Howie Hawkins: Get Rid Of Common Core - And Standardized Testing

Here's why I am supporting Howie Hawkins for governor in next month's election:

ALBANY—Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins has entered the fight among liberals and conservatives over which side is more opposed to the Common Core standards.

Hawkins, during a conference call with reporters on Monday morning, said he wants New York to ditch the curriculum standards that New York adopted with the majority of U.S. states. But he also wants to get rid of statewide standards—and standardized testing—altogether, a position that he says sets him apart from his Republican opponent, Rob Astorino, who is running on a third-party line entitled “Stop Common Core.”

“My position is we need to opt out of Common Core because it’s dumbing down education,” Hawkins said. “It’s forcing our teachers to teach to the test. That whole high-stakes testing regime, which is part of Common Core, is a big drain on time and money in schools.

“We should let the local teachers and parents and school boards make the decisions about standards, curriculum and assessment,” he continued.

When asked about Astorino, Hawkins said: “He’s talking about setting up our own standardized assessments in New York. I think we’ve got to get away from that and let the teachers teach.”

During that conference call, a reporter noted that many of the state tests are part of a federal mandate:

“If the law says you gotta do it, you gotta do it,” Hawkins said, responding to a question about the federal requirements. “But we are adding to the tests by opting into the Race to the Top money.”

Hawkins' reference was to the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, a grant competition through which New York won $700 million in 2010. The funds required the state to adopt curriculum standards that aimed to boost college- and career-readiness, such as the Common Core.

The grant program also required New York to develop a statewide teacher-evaluation system that rates educators partly based on students' test scores. The evaluation system has resulted in more local testing in some districts, although some confuse that testing as being tied to the adoption of the Common Core.

Indeed, the mandates were made much worse by Race to the Top.

APPR?

Tied to Race to the Top.

inBloom?

Tied to Race to the Top.

Common Core?
 
Tied to Race to the Top.

All that testing added to every subject in nearly every grade in New York schools?

Consequence of APPR which is tied to Race to the Top.

It's true, the Obama administration has now tied some of the worst reforms to No Child Left Behind waivers, so even sending the RttT money back to the feds won't make some of the worst stuff go away overnight.

But the sun is getting ready to set on the Obama administration in a couple of years, so Arne Duncan and the rest of his merry men and women in reform aren't going to be in power forever.

There can be some post-RttT/post-NCLB waiver sanity.

Vote Howie Hawkins on Election Day.

Andrew Cuomo Hates The "Extreme Left" - But There's A Place For You "Extreme Leftists"

Any members of the Working Families Party looking to vote for Andrew Cuomo this November, here's how he feels about you:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo , whose center-right policies have alienated him from much of his party’s progressive base, attacks the “extreme left of the Democratic Party” in his new memoir, according to a report in the New York Times.

While his father Mario Cuomo’s 1984 address at the Democratic National Convention served as a liberal rallying cry, Andrew Cuomo has repeatedly found himself starkly at odds with the liberal wing of the party. Although the governor signed marriage equality and gun safety legislation into law and has staked out a robustly pro-choice position, he has also slashed corporate taxes, capped property taxes, maneuvered to keep his own party from controlling the New York State Senate, lent conditional support to fracking, and earned plaudits from the right-wing National Review for his conservative economic agenda. There’s also the federal probe into Cuomo’s disbanding of his much-heralded anti-corruption commission, which Cuomo had touted as evidence of his commitment to good government.

Capitalizing on progressive discontent with Cuomo’s policies and his sudden dissolution of the Moreland anti-corruption commission, challenger Zephyr Teachout managed to secure 34 percent of the vote against Cuomo in New York’s Democratic primary last month.

Given his center-right track record, it’s hardly unsurprising that Cuomo is no fonder of the left than the left is of him. According to the Times – which got its hands on a copy of his new memoir, All Things Possible: Setbacks and Success in Politics and Life – Cuomo rips the “extreme left” in the book, particularly for what he depicts as its hostility to the rich. Leftists, Cuomo writes, “speak of punitively raising taxes on the rich and transferring the money to the poor” and seek to “demonize those who are very wealthy.”

In short, Cuomo loves the so-called "free market" (which is of course rigged for the already wealthy and powerful), worships wealth and power and loves himself some rich people.

Everybody else?

You're either "extreme left" or "extreme right" and he hates you and thinks there's no place in New York for you.

Fortunately if you're on the "extreme left" (i.e., not a worshiper of wealth, as Cuomo is), you have a choice this Election Day:

ALBANY — The only thing standing between Gov. Cuomo and his hopes for a resounding victory on Election Day might be a 61-year-old United Parcel Service worker from Syracuse.

Howie Hawkins has taken a leave of absence from his job unloading UPS trucks to run as the Green Party candidate for governor.

Casting himself as the “progressive choice” in the race, he has gained traction among Democrats unhappy with Cuomo for embracing tax cuts and charter schools, and for not banning fracking, a gas-drilling technique.

“Cuomo is weak on his left,” Hawkins said. “I am working hard to earn those votes and I am hearing from a lot of those people that they are coming to me.”

...

In a Quinnipiac poll released last week, Hawkins received close to 10% of the vote. That could deprive Cuomo of the wow-factor landslide he craves, and, at the same time, strengthen the hand of the political left.

The electorate’s “mood is not good and what Howie Hawkins provides is a vehicle for the protest vote,” said Nassau County Democratic chief Jay Jacobs.

 Vote Howie Hawkins on Election Day.

Eva Moskowitz Expands Her Empire

No surprise here - the pro-charter shills at SUNY approved 17 new charter schools for New York City, including 14 Success Charters:

The state approved 17 new charter schools for New York City on Wednesday, substantially increasing the size of one of the city’s largest and most polarizing charter networks, Success Academy, and setting up a battle over where the schools will be located.

The state’s charter schools committee, part of State University of New York’s board of trustees, approved 14 new Success Academy schools, which will bring the network to a total of 50 schools serving 16,300 students by 2016, the network said. The new schools would begin with kindergarten and first grade, and then grow each year as new grades are added. Three new Achievement First charter schools were also approved.

...

The new Success charters are approved to open in Districts 2 and 3 in Manhattan; 9 in the Bronx; 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 22, and 23 in Brooklyn; and 24, 27, 28 and 30 in Queens.

The city is now on the hook to either find space for these charters or pay their rent.

At two Success Academy schools where the city is paying the rent, it's costing $32,000 per student.

With 14 new Success schools to come and space already at a premium, expect the city to be on the hook for millions of dollars in rent for these newly-approved charters.

That money will come directly out of the public school budget and be given to Eva Moskowitz even as she spends millions on herself and on pro-Success/anti-public school advertising.

While the battles over space and funding for the 17 new charters are going to be hard-fought, the bigger battle is going to come in the spring when charter sdvocates push to either raise or eliminate the charter school cap in the city.

Governor Cuomo gave Eva and the other charter school entrepreneurs a giveaway in the last budget when he forced the city to either find space for new charters or pay their rent.

You can bet a re-elected Cuomo will be out to help Eva and his charter buddies in the cap battle too.

It is really important that public school advocates and supporters vote AGAINST Andrew Cuomo in next month's election.

Holding Cuomo below 50% in the election will go a long way toward weakening him for the cap battle in the spring.

The latest Quinnipiac Poll has Cuomo at just 51% support, with Rob Astorino at 31% and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins at 9%.

Given the fights to come over charter funding, the cap, Common Core and other education battles, putting Howie Hawkins in double digits and holding Cuomo under 50% of the vote is very important.

It will be a hell of a lot easier to fight a weakened Cuomo in these battles.

Cuomo's Lead Down To Twenty Points, Hawkins Almost In Double Digits

From State of Politics:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo leads his Republican opponent Rob Astorino by 20 percentage points, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday morning.

The poll found Cuomo receives the support of 51 percent of voters polled compared to Astorino’s 31 percent. Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate, received 9 percent.

Without Hawkins in the race, Cuomo leads 55 percent to 34 percent.

Cuomo’s lead in the August Quinnipiac poll was wider, when the governor led Astornio 56 percent to 28 percent. Hawkins was not included in that poll.

Had Teachout been in this race on the Working Families Party ballot line, she would have been garnering over 10% support and Cuomo would have been under 50%.

As it is, Howie Hawkins is near double digits and may end up over 10% when all is said and done.

We'll see if Cuomo can win this election with over 50%.

It's a sign of weakness that he's down near 50% now.

As for Astorino, he's picked up three percentage points in support since the last Q poll while Cuomo has lost five percentage points.

But with less than a month to go now, it's hard for Astorino to close that gap - especially with this:

Cuomo’s favorable rating is at 50 percent, with 39 percent of voters holding an unfavorable opinion of him.

Astorino, meanwhile, is underwater: 27 percent hold a favorable view of him, while 29 percent do not. Forty-three percent of voters don’t know enough about him to form an opinion, the poll found.

I think the best we can hope to do here is hold Cuomo below 50% come next month.

Still, given how this was supposed to be a coronation for Il Duce, with wide support and overwhelming re-election numbers that set him up for a presidential run in the future, that would be a pretty big thing.

Cuomo's Staff Has Howie Hawkins Barred From Campaign Event

Man, this is lame:

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins was kept out of an Andrew Cuomo campaign rally today by the governor's campaign staff.

Hawkins, of Syracuse, said he had RSVP'd to the event, as supporters were instructed to do. Other people who didn't register were allowed inside the Southwest Community Center, as long as they showed identification.

But Hawkins was refused entrance to the indoor event. He said he had planned to listen to Cuomo. He was hoping to invite Cuomo for a ride around the South Side neighborhood on a pedicab, Hawkins' answer to Cuomo's bus tour through Upstate today.

Cuomo's campaign staff said his campaign rented the community center for Saturday's event. The campaign paid about $150 to $200 an hour for about six hours, a spokesman said.

Hawkins said he had tried to use the community center to launch his campaign for governor. He was turned down, he said.

Apparently Il Duce may not be offended by the sight of a campaign opponent.

First he refused to acknowledge the presence of his primary opponent, Zephyr Teachout, at the Labor Day Parade in NYC.

Now he has his staff bar the Green Party candidate from attending a rally - even though Hawkins wasn't planning on disrupting the event and had played by the rules the Cuomo campaign wanted "supporters" to play by.

Just another example of Cuomo's authoritarian ways.

Cuomo Has Big Lead Over Astorino But His Job Approval Matches All-Time Low

If the election were held today, a weakened Andrew Cuomo would win re-election pretty handily - but that doesn't mean he hasn't been damaged by months of scandal and controversy:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a wide lead over his Republican gubernatorial challenger even as the governor's job-performance rating has fallen back to its lowest point since taking office, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College poll.

In the first public poll since the Sept. 9 Democratic primary, the governor holds a 25-point margin in the race among likely voters, with 54% of poll respondents supporting Mr. Cuomo. The Republican, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, pulls 29% and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins gets 9%.

Among registered voters, Mr. Cuomo maintains a 54% to 26% lead over Mr. Astorino, versus 54% to 23% among that group the last time the poll was conducted, in August.

But all is not well in Camp Cuomo:

The governor's job-approval rating fell to 42%, from 47% in August. Mr. Cuomo's rating stood at 42% in March but had climbed to 48% in the intervening months.

Mr. Miringoff attributed the decline not to any particular aspect of Mr. Cuomo's policies or management, but to voters' displeasure with their perceived lack of progress in the state as a whole. Half of respondents believe the state is moving in the wrong direction, the poll found, up from 45% in August, and 57% believe New York is in a recession.

But, Mr. Miringoff added, "his approval rating isn't converting into votes for Astorino."

Astorino's not winning this election - he's outgunned financially, Cuomo has been hammering him for months now with negative ads and he's not getting any help from his fellow Republicans (GOPer's in the legislature have mostly stayed on the sidelines in the contest and Chris Christie, the head of the National Governors Association, seems to be supporting Cuomo since he refuses to back Astorino with any money and keeps holding press conferences with Cuomo.)

So barring a pre-election indictment or some other major scandal, I don't see how Astorino comes even close to winning the election.

But Cuomo is not winning this election because he's some widely popular figure or people in the state think things are going swimmingly.

He's winning because he's the incumbent, Democrats have wide majority in the voter rolls, and he's been savvy enough to hammer Astorino for a while and make sure he can't win a two man race.

Oh - and he was especially savvy enough to make sure this two-man race didn't become a two-man and one-woman race.

Had Zephyr Teachout gotten the Working Families Party nod and been running against him from the left this November, then Cuomo would have had some trouble.

Alas, "progressive" Bill de Blasio and the heads of the five families, er, unions, made sure that didn't happen, so Cuomo will breeze to re-election.

The goal in my view is to continue to bang him up this election season the way he was banged up during the primary in order to weaken him as much as possible for the second term.

With a criminal investigation of his administration over Moreland still hanging over his head and with a lot of Albany people behind the scenes looking to stick it to him, Cuomo can be weakened to such a point that he won't be able to shove through his corporatist agenda this second term the way he did his first.

And remember, there's still a shot that the US attorney's Moreland investigation goes horribly wrong for Cuomo.

In the end, barring something unforeseen at this point, Cuomo's going to win re-election, but his power has waned considerably since he first was elected and now it's important for those in the opposition to weaken him even more.

New York Republicans Create "Stop Common Core" Ballot Line

From Liz Benjamin at State of Politics:

According to a Facebook post last night by GOP consultant Vince Casale, there’s an effort underway to create a statewide “StopCommonCore” ballot line for the November elections.

To create an independent line, state law requires the collection of a minimum of 15,000 signatures on an official designating petition.

“Once created, you will have the opportunity to vote for candidates who have expressed their opposition to Common Core and will fight to end these untested and unfair standards put on our children,” Casale wrote.

“Voting on the ‘StopCommonCore’ line will also send a strong message to Albany that the parents and taxpayers of New York want action NOW!”

Casale directed interested parties to a website that has more details about this effort, as well as a downloadable petition.

Though the main objective here is ostensibly to elect candidates who have pledged to support repeal of the Common Core if they’re successful at the ballot box, it just so happens that all the candidates in question are Republicans.

Back in May, state GOP Executive Director Jason Weingartner sent a memo to the party’s 62 county chairs informing them of a plan to develop a second ballot line for the statewide slate.

At the time, one county chair told the NY Post the line would most likely be education-based and have something to do with the Common Core, in hopes of harnessing some of the grassroots anger the curriculum has caused.

This is essentially a Republican ballot line, so not only will these candidates be anti-Common Core, they'll most likely be anti-traditional public schools/pro-charter school and anti-union.

In short, just like Democrats like Barack Obama and Andrew M. Cuomo.

If you're looking to protest Common Core and you're a supporter of traditional public schools and unions, better to vote Zephyr Teachout in the Democratic Primary and Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate, in the general election.

Still, I'm happy to publicize anti-Common Core efforts from any part of the political spectrum.

The larger the protests and opposition to the Core grow, the sooner we can stick a stake through the heart of the Common Core and bury it in the crossroads of four different corners of the state.

Working Families Party Rank-And-File Call "Bullshit!" On Governor Cuomo

As in literally:

For four hours on Saturday, the W.F.P.’s convention was a collective group therapy session, where dozens of members of the left-wing of New York’s Democratic party aired their long-building displeasure with Cuomo.

...

It was a bizarro version of the Democratic convention earlier in May, where Cuomo was the unquestioned star and lawmakers carefully avoided criticizing him.

At the Desmond, Cuomo was target practice.

He won the line, but not before many W.F.P. members took the podium at the hotel to flog him publicly, repeatedly calling him a “liar” who’d abandoned his own party.

Among the dissidents was former ACORN head Bertha Lewis. She took the podium and said of Cuomo’s nomination, “Well, I beg to differ.”

“We gave him four years and we said then, never again,” she said.

She brought the crowd to its feet.

In a brutal speech in support of Teachout, Capital Region delegate Susan Weber decried Cuomo’s support for charter schools run by “rich bastards” and urged the party not to accept the deal with Cuomo.

“What's the problem with that deal? He’s a liar,” she said referring to Cuomo. “He won’t keep his promise. He’ll figure out a way to squirm out of it.”

“I was under the impression we were never going to do the same thing we’ve done before and expect a different result,” she said.

“There's a word for that and it’s called psychosis. We are not psychotic!”

...

Pro-Cuomo speeches were frequently interrupted by cries of “coward!” and “bullshit!” from the audience.

None of the rank-and-file party members spoke on Cuomo’s behalf.

In the end, Cuomo got what he wanted - the WFP ballot line and no WFP candidate running from his left in the general election.

And Cuomo made no bones about that today:

On Sunday, Cuomo was in New York City to march in a parade in honor of Israel. He told reporters that the fight on Saturday night didn’t matter.

“It’s very simple at these political conventions: you either win or you lose,” he said.

“You know, the Democratic Party, we have a big tent, we have a lot of people with a lot of opinions and everybody has a voice and everybody wants to use it. So, part of being a Democrat is the lively debate among the people in the party.”

“But at the end of the day I won the endorsement and that’s what really relevant.”

And he has a point about that.

But the anger that was displayed at the WFP convention last night, as so ably covered by Laura Nahmias in her Capital NY article, as demonstrated in last night's tweets from reporters and other observers at the convention, is not going to go away just because Cuomo won the WFP endorsement.

In fact, if anything, it's going to simmer and bubble to a boil, particularly as the arrogant Cuomo continues to treat liberals and progressives around the state with disdain and scorn.

What happens with that anger after that, well, it's anybody's guess.

But if Cuomo thinks he put to rest his problems from the left with last night's rigged WFP convention vote, he's got another thing coming.

Scott Walker To Fund Raise For Rob Astorino

For teachers flirting with the idea of voting for Rob Astorino, the GOP candidate for governor, as a protest against Andrew Cuomo, take note of this:

Gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino is getting a boost from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at a fundraiser next month, the Republican candidate’s campaign confirmed.

Tickets for the June 9 event at Manhattan’s Union League Club start at $500 and run as high as $2,500.

The fundraiser with Walker is one of the more high-profile events for Astorino since he announced his candidacy this year.

And Walker, a potential Republican candidate for president, is one of the more prominent political figures to come to New York on Astorino’s behalf.

Walker has been blasted by the left for his policies toward unions in his state, but he survived a recall campaign in 2012.

If Working Families Party ends up endorsing Andrew Cuomo for governor, teachers looking to protest Cuomo's corporatist education policies can back Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins for governor.

If WFP nominates their own candidate to take on Cuomo, people can vote on the WFP line.

I don't care how much Astorino claims to be opposed to Common Core.

His stances on so many other issues are too right-wing - and Scott Walker's raising funds for Astorino puts an exclamation point on that.

Progressive should not vote for Astorino under any circumstances.

Diane Ravitch To Run Against Andrew Cuomo In November?

This bit of political news surprises me:

The Working Families Party is eying education activist Diane Ravitch as its gubernatorial candidate should the liberal minor party decide to withhold its backing of Gov. Cuomo, a source told the Daily News Wednesday morning.

The party has spoken to Ravitch, 75, about possibly being its nominee and she has expressed interest, the source said.

"Either way, she'll have a role at Saturday's (WFP) convention," the source said.

It's still unclear in which direction the party will go.

... 

If she runs, Ravitch's candidacy would put a spotlight on charter schools, one of the issues that appears to be a source of conflict between Cuomo and the Working Families Party.

Like the many of the party's leaders, Ravitch is an opponent of charter schools.

"Billionaires like privately managed schools. Parents are lured with glittering promises of getting their kids a sure ticket to college. Politicians want to appear to be champions of 'school reform' with charters," Ravitch wrote in the Los Angeles Times last year.

"But charters will not end the poverty at the root of low academic performance or transform our nation's schools into a high-performing system.

Working Families Party heads want nothing to do with nominating anybody on their ballot line who doesn't have the name Andrew M. Cuomo - that's quite clear.

It's also pretty obvious that many rank-and-file WFP members despise Andrew Cuomo and do not want the party to endorse Cuomo for re-election.

The problem WFP has with putting a candidate other than Andrew Cuomo on their ballot line is that if they garner less than 50,000 votes, they lose that line on the ballot next time around.

This is one of the reasons that some party leaders give for why WFP should not nominate anyone other than Andrew Cuomo - political expediency.

Putting a high profile candidate like Ravitch on the ballot line might solve that problem for WFP, as parents and teachers opposed to high stakes testing, Common Core, teacher evaluations tied to test scores and other corporate education reforms promoted by Andrew Cuomo and his corporate Democratic ilk could flock to support Ravitch in November.

It's an interesting idea, but I have a difficult time seeing the union heads who help fund the Working Families Party letting Ravitch grab the ballot slot when they have contract negotiations to do with Cuomo and they want to use the WFP endorsement as collateral.

Still, crazier things have happened in politics than WFP nominating an esteemed candidate like Diane Ravitch to run for governor.

After watching disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner jump into the 2013 NYC mayoral race, grab the lead in at least one poll, then suffer through a second scandal when it turned out he actually hadn't stopped sexting when he said he had, I'm ready to believe just about anything can happen in politics.

So Ravitch on the Working Families Party ballot line to take on Andrew Cuomo in November?

Let's do it!

Third Party Candidate Makes Cuomo/Astorino Race As Close As 13 Points

No wonder Cuomo and his henchmen are trying to talk WFP leaders into endorsing him and not, say, Howie Hawkins (or putting some other third party candidate on their ballot line):

ALBANY— Gov. Cuomo’s huge lead over Republican challenger Rob Astorino would drop to 13 percentage points if the Working Families Party puts up its own candidate in the governor’s race, a polls shows.

A Quinnipiac University survey to be released Wednesday has Cuomo ahead of Astorino, 57 percent to 28 percent.

But if the ultra-liberal third party decides not to give the governor its ballot line and runs someone else, Cuomo’s lead would shrink to 37 percent to 24 percent, with the hypothetical WFP contender grabbing 22 percent.

Some officials of the WFP are upset with Cuomo for not adopting their entire “progressive” agenda, which includes public financing for all statewide campaigns.
 
The WFP is scheduled to pick its candidate at a May 31 nominating convention.

The Daily News covered this poll too, but gave it a more Cuomo-friendly frame than the Post - a third party candidate would take a chunk out of Cuomo's lead but the governor would still be "poised" to win.

That's true - but you can bet a win with under 50% of the vote is not what Andy is dreaming about for this November.

That won't set him up too well for a 2016 presidential bid if he wins re-election with less than 50% of the vote.

Now the truth is, I don't believe that WFP is going to run a third party candidate and even if they did, I have a difficult time seeing that candidate grab 22% of the vote in the election.

People will talk smack about a candidate from their party that they think isn't sufficiently emblematic of that party, but when push comes to shove during a campaign, they often come back home and vote for that candidate anyway.

Barack Obama is a perfect example of that.

Lots of teachers and liberals complained about Obama during the first term, especially for Race to the Top, but in the end, when faced with the election against Mitt Romney, they got scared and voted Obama anyway.

In the end, I don't think the WFP is going to nominate anybody but Cuomo - the leadership is already set to do just that.

So I have a feeling that Cuomo has a little less to worry about than you might think from these polls showing a WFP candidate taking 22% from him and making his election closer than a two-man race would be.

Still, it is a sign of dissatisfaction with Cuomo and it is something that he will worry about going into a 2016 White House bid.

And he should - truth is, he has the rep among liberal activists for being a very conservative anti-union, pro-Wall Street politician and that's not the kind of rep that is going to help him win Democratic presidential primaries.

Working Families Party Leadership Wants To Endorse Governor Cuomo

No surprise:

The Working Families Party is affiliated with some of the state's largest and most influential labor unions, which specialize in turning out the vote for their candidates.

Bob Master, co-chair of the party and political director for Communications Workers of America's Northeast chapter, acknowledged the union "has not always seen eye-to-eye on every issue with the governor."

But Master is among those at Working Families who ultimately want to back Cuomo. The party's future could be at stake: The party has to receive 50,000 votes on its line to maintain its spot on New York ballots.

"(Over) the last four years, I believe (Cuomo has) compiled a progressive record of accomplishment on issues ranging from marriage equality to supporting our members in contract fights, and that makes him deserving of the WFP endorsement," Master said. "We'll be working towards that end over the next 2 1/2 weeks."

Many in the rank-and-file do not want WFP to endorse Cuomo but my guess is, the leadership will carry the day and Cuomo will indeed be on the WFP line.

That's why it's good to know that Howie Hawkins has won the Green Party nomination and will be running this fall against Cuomo no matter what WFP does:

One certain candidate on the left is Howie Hawkins, running for governor for a second time on the Green Party line. He received more than 59,000 votes in 2010, earning a ballot line for the party in the 2014 election.

I'll be supporting Howie Hawkins on the Green Party line this fall.

Brian Jones Announces He Will Seek Green Party Nomination For Lieutenant Governor

This is welcome news:

ALBANY, N.Y. — A New York City educator says he'll seek the Green Party's nomination for lieutenant governor.

Brian Jones announced his candidacy Wednesday and plans a formal campaign kick-off Thursday in New York City.

Jones has taught in New York City public schools for nine years and is currently working toward a doctorate at the City University of New York. He says he's a socialist who supports public education, unions and efforts to help the poor.

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins said last month that he would challenge Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this fall's gubernatorial election. Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino is running as a Republican.

Hawkins finished third in the 2010 governor's race.

I am already looking forward to supporting Howie Hawkins for governor if he wins the Green Party nomination.

If he is joined by Brian Jones on the ticket for lieutenant governor slot, that seals the deal for me.

Hawkins/Jones for New York in 2014.