By Dee Richard
This week was a busy week. All the organizations and nonprofits are starting their various new year's projects and all the political types are getting ready to hunt for bear. Both 2008 and 2009 are going to be extremely busy years, enough to keep all our Queens political junkies happy. There are many political positions on the national and state level up for grabs as well. Did any of you watch the Iowa or New Hampshire caucuses? Were you surprised at any of the results? It's going to be a most interesting two years coming up.One interesting turn of events was Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion's decision to drop out of the city's mayoral race and run for New York City comptroller instead. How will Bill Thompson, the current New York City comptroller and one of the front-runners in the mayoral race, be affected by that decision? It was taken for granted that Thompson would have the support of African Americans and Carrion would have the Hispanic vote locked up. What happens to the Hispanic minority vote now? Was a deal cut? If so, how does it shake out? Who benefits the most by that deal? Will the Hispanics join the Thompson team? Or will they go somewhere else and support someone else? If so, who? If both minority groups throw their support behind Thompson, that's a pretty formidable number. The interesting question is who inherits them? If that combination develops, how does that affect our Queens Congressman Anthony Weiner's chances of getting elected New York City mayor? I am sure you all realize by now he also has his eye on that prize, which brings up the question, which group is more powerful? Is it the Jewish voting block or the minority blocks combined or otherwise? What an interesting political season is coming up! All of the above speculations are only pertinent to one race, and there are so many others in the hopper. It's going to be a season of lots of fun, whether you are an active participant or just an interested observer. Whatever you do, try and get involved in the political process. Not only is it a privilege, but it is your civic duty as well. I am sure we will all be running into each other on the various campaign trails. Here is an afterthought: If a deal was cut for Carrion to run for New York City comptroller, how does that affect David Weprin's or Melinda Katz's chances, as they too are both interested in the comptroller's seat?What do you think of Bloomberg's current maneuverings? By that we mean his getting involved with the independents. Is he running or isn't he? There seems to be a huge number of the electorate that is totally dissatisfied with the status quo. They are understandably upset by the continuous partisan bickering, which causes practically total gridlock. They are so totally involved in “gotcha,” it leaves very little time to accomplish legislative issues. All over the country, the constant mantra is that we want and need change. Apparently, our electeds are not listening or paying attention to their constituents' dissatisfaction with the status quo. Is this an opportunity for Bloomberg to come to the country's rescue? Could he have the same positive results in Washington that he has enacted in his past two terms as mayor of New York City, where he has done an excellent job? It may be time for shining knight Bloomberg to come to our rescue, shake up Washington, D.C., and start to get things done.What will be interesting is to see the results for Bloomberg and other political powerhouses at the Oklahoma bipartisan forum. Stay tuned for additional information as we acquire it. Remember, guys, you read it here first.If you have interesting input, do not hesitate to e-mail me at deerrichard@aol.com. I would really like to hear from you. That's for this week. I always look forward to hearing from you directly, with information on people, parties, politics or some plain old-fashioned gossip.I also like to receive your voicemail at 718-767-6484, your faxes at 718-746-0066 and your e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.Till next week, Dee.
