Showing posts with label Fernando Ferrer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fernando Ferrer. Show all posts

Friday, July 23, 2010

John Liu: Mayor Of NYC: 2013

New York City Councilman John Liu at the West ...Image via Wikipedia
When I showed up for John Liu's inauguration and the after party, I got the sense that John Liu feels like Bill Thompson deserved to have another shot at the top job. It was not explicit, but it was implied, it was in the air. And that was a statement to how genuinely and strongly John Liu felt about Thompson's candidacy. They really like each other. Thompson's margin was closer than anyone thought, way closer than I expected.

Personally I was rooting for Bloomberg for deeply personal reasons. (Independent For Bloomberg) And I really liked the emphasis on immigration and immigrants that the Mayor put during the inauguration ceremony. Immigration colored the entire inauguration ceremony. (The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws) I loved that. He has been an excellent Mayor. He is a personal hero of mine. (Larry Ellison) He not only brought business sense to city government procedures, running for and being Mayor has been the best business move he ever made. Look at what that did to his net worth. His company's market valuation went up and up.

And it was great to have John show up for this Holi event put together by the Madhesis in town: Happy Holi. He did not show up for the votes. There were hardly any voters in the room. I greatly appreciated that. Although I feel like I have a doctor-patient relationship with the Madhesis of New York City. ("Madisey") Internalized prejudice is as big a problem as prejudice.

But then there are friendships, political loyalties, party affiliations, and then there is politics.

My Number One Prediction For 2013

All sorts of motherfuckers are going to run for Mayor in 2013. It is going to be one crowded Democratic primary. There is going to be no particular itch for Bill Thompson. If it is going to be Bill Thompson's year, the dude is going to have to prove himself all over again, almost from scratch.

That is going to be a statement on the long shadow Mayor Bloomberg has cast over this city for a decade. People are not going to wait in line. There is no line. There never has been. You don't wait in line. That is not how democracy works.

Three Years: A Very Long Time In New York City Politics

John Liu doing a good job as City Comptroller for three years and being in the news for three years is not going to be the same John Liu who spoke at his inauguration and introduced his brothers "Bobby and Teddy." The only reason for John to not run for Mayor would be because he feels it is better to seek guaranteed reelection than to take an iffy shot at the mayoral office.

The problem with that risk averseness is if he does a lousy job as Comptroller, his reelection is not going to be guaranteed. If he does a good job, it is going to be very hard for him to resist the enormous grassroots pressure he is going to feel to run for Mayor. Motherfuckers are not going to shy away and make room for Bill Thompson - already people are like Bill who; the same thing happened to Fernando Ferrer, two months after election day people were like, Fernando who - but many of the motherfuckers are going to wilt and wither if John Liu shows up as candidate. He is going to have a Bloomberg like aura for having done a good job as Comptroller.

One Shot: The American Way

Howard Dean did not run for president again in 2008. If it is about running for City Council, you can try it out a few different times, maybe, but that does not apply to the major offices. The office of Mayor of NYC is the number two political office in America. It is a big one. I don't see Bill Thompson even running. 2000 was close for Al Gore also. He did not run again in 2004.



Black Power?

Paterson imploded. Rangel is imploding. Thompson has evaporated already. Bill Perkins is the only black guy in town who appreciated the idea of the first black president. I am surprised he is not running for Congress from Harlem.

12% of America is black. 12% of New York City is Asian. Blacks have had their day. It is time for some Asian power.

As for Rangel, I think I am going to save my compassion for the tsunami victims.

Having What It Takes

John Liu has what it takes. He has the political ingredients. Either you have them, or you don't. John Liu has them. Just look at some facts. No politician in town today is on better terms with labor than John Liu. How did he do that? You got to marvel. He is more popular with blacks than any black politician in town. How did he do that? He earned more votes than Bloomberg last year. How did he do that? The story from last year's election is not that Thompson's margin was close, but that Liu got more votes than Bloomberg. John Liu could have beat Bloomberg, Thompson was not able to. Bill Thompson failed.

2013 Or Never

I am making the judgment call that either John Liu is going to be Mayor in 2013 or he is never going to be Mayor. Democracy asks for basic humility. It is ultimately the voters who decide, and that's the way it should be.

First of all, if he decides not to run despite being the best candidate around, that is going to show he has good political judgment but not good enough.

Second, his not running will mess up all future rounds for him. Look at a few scenarios. Someone else wins. If that person is Democratic, and is so bad that he/she is destined to be a one term Mayor, Liu still could not run in 2017. If he/she is good, Liu can not run until 2021. But if the 2013 person is a one term Mayor, and some other Democrat wins in 2017, that will bar Liu from running against the incumbent in 2021.

Obama needed to run in 2008 or he was just another Evan Bayh. Only John Liu can decide if he will run for Mayor in 2013. But if he runs, I am predicting he will win. (Jupiter And Obama) My grade for work done so far as Comptroller is an A+. If he runs, many of the motherfuckers who might otherwise run will stay out. That is not going to be true if Bill Thompson runs. John Liu has been casting a long shadow. That is remarkable for a dude who is not a billionaire. His power and potential for more power comes from sheer political skills. That is remarkable. That is beyond outstanding.

Another Dude Called John



John Liu Inauguration January 1: I Am Invited
Tibet Is Not The US South Of The Civil War Era
John Liu: Victory
John Liu Has Me Excited
NYC Local Races
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Saturday, May 29, 2010

My Talk With Kevin Lawler Of Reshma 2010

I am going to be a super engaged volunteer. That is my default mode. But I have considered going to work full time for Reshma 2010 for three and a half months. And I shared that with Kevin. He is an Obama 08 veteran, and Campaign Manager to Reshma 2010.

Reshma 2010 Get Together In Little India

I shared some thoughts. I explored a possible role for me. I shared some stories from my work into Nepal's democracy movement a few years back. I had a few things to say about the campaign.

(1) Can't Get Into On Autopilot To A Grand Loss Mode

I saw that happen to the Fernando Ferrer campaign in 2005. You showed up at the campaign headquarters. And there were these tens of super busy people. They were going to put in their hours, even work hard. But there was little experimenting, little of trying to come in from a few different angles.

First of all, Maloney is no Bloomberg, not even close. She leads in the polls now, but Obama too lagged in the polls the longest time. Reshma has raised the most money in the first two quarters like Obama did.

Got to stay in the victory mode. How do you do that? You keep having fun. You keep trying out new things. You keep working the things that work. You feel the growth of the snowball of support.

Carolyn Maloney is never going to run for president, she is a spent force, Reshma could. Maloney has done some good work, but she has had her turn. She is pre-Obama at many levels. Reshma is post-Obama. Maloney is not known nationally for any kind of thought leadership, Reshma is oozing with new ideas. Reshma deserves to win, she is going to win.

(2) Produce Plentiful Video Clips

It is free to do. Produce five minutes of video per day. Produce a video clip for every event small and big. Getting 50-100 hits on a video clip is good enough. You do this for the core team, for the staff and volunteers. Text does not do what video does. The video format has greater emotional appeal. Use a flip camera. Let some staffer volunteer to do the editing.

(3) The Subway Stops: Where It Is At

Showing up at rush hours to hand out small flyers would be a great way to reach out. My first day canvassing in Astoria was 100 knocks, 10 talks. At the subway stops you might approach 500 people in an hour, give out perhaps 200 flyers/post cards/business cards. Even if you net 20 potential voters, that is a lot. All you want is to get people to visit the site.

How many subway stops are there in the district? They are in the 20s. How about having someone at each stop every day during rush hour for the 30 days before the primary? This is about volume.

Kevin told me they already have a cropped map of the NYC subway system that shows only the stops in the district.

(4) Build A Brain Trust

Reshma has to come across as a thought leader. Got to start collecting a brain trust of people from academia and think tanks who will offer advice on all the key policy areas. What would a 2016 platform look like? Build towards that.

(5) Phone Marathons

Modern campaigns are able to pin down the potential primary voters. Being able to call them all would be a thing to do. Working the phone has to be something all staffers do, regardless of expertise.

(6) Community Press, Community Leaders

I saw this with the John Liu campaign. John Liu ended up with more votes than Bloomberg even, but during the primary he was shunned by the establishment press. John Liu reacted by aggressively courting small, ethnic newspapers. Their circulations were small, but loyal. They were flattered by the attention and often talked glowingly about Liu.

Identifying and courting community leaders fall in a similar category. In every community there are people who make it their business to reach out to members of the community on a regular basis.

(7) Pro.Act.Ly

The first time I heard about it was in the TechCrunch Disrupt video, and it promises to be a great tool. (Reshma Saujani, Scott Heiferman, Chris Hughes: TechCrunch Disrupt)

(8) Debating Maloney

Maloney is going to try and not debate Reshma. We have to keep nudging her, and we have to make political hay out of her not saying yes, and then we have to beat her at the debates when she finally says yes. The campaign has to do a super job of helping the candidate with the best possible preparation for the debates. Those debates will be the turning points. Start watching videos of Maloney on YouTube. Google her up. Read up on her. Know her strengths and weaknesses.

(9) Money

I am not going to say much about money, except that it is money, message, organization. Those are the three pillars.

(10) Social Media

I am hoping to blog profusely. It can be a tool to boost team morale, and more.
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