Long Island Democrat poised to challenge Spitzer in gov's race
By FRANK ELTMAN
Associated Press Writer
January 11, 2006, 5:32 PM EST
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- Fresh from a landslide re-election victory in Nassau County _ once one of the country's foremost Republican strongholds _ Thomas Suozzi appears poised to cash in his political capital by challenging Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor.
Although a relative unknown, Suozzi's dreams of launching from the county executive's seat in Mineola to the governor's mansion in Albany could get a boost of rocket fuel if Ken Langone, the billionaire founder of Home Depot, follows through on his promise to pump millions into a Suozzi primary challenge. Langone is a Spitzer foe who has tangled with the politician over his Wall Street crackdown.>>
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This is not good. We NEED a unified front in this race. For Kossacks who may tell me, "well what's wrong with primaries, they are an exercise in democracy?"
NOT IN NEW YORK. The 2001 Mayoral Primary between Mark Green and Fernando Ferrer probably gave the election to Bloomberg, with Sharpton and other Ferrer supporters essentially sitting on their hands in the aftermath of what they felt was a dirty campaign run by Ferrer.
In 2002 there was a contentious primary between Carl McCall and Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo, the former Governor's son, and current Attorney General candidate, ran against McCall, who was the eventual nominee who lost to Pataki. McCall was ultimately weakened by the money spent against Cuomo in the run up to CUOMO dropping out.
I ask Mr. Suozzi to abandon his potential bid and get back to governing Nassau County! I will vote for him if he wins, but grudingly due to his Langone ties.