The fate of the Murphy-Tedisco race remains undetermined this morning (and for the next few weeks most likely) with just 60-some votes separating the two candidates. The fact that Murphy is where he's at compared to the slim chance he had six weeks ago is truly outstanding and a testament to the candidate he has been (also many thanks to Tedisco's horrific campaigning skills). With that said, we have seen very little of Governor Paterson in the 20th District since his toxicity was to be kept far away from the first time candidate. Then all of a sudden, he showed up at Murphy's party unexpectedly and tried comparing himself to the man in the lead.
From The Daily Politics:
But now that Murphy is running neck and neck with his Republican opponent, Jim Tedisco, overcoming his virtually nonexistent name recognition political inexperience and a 12 percentage-point deficit in the process, it was safe for Paterson to come out of hiding. He even made a speech, I'm told.
"We were in the neighborhood, looking for a place that was open to have a little drink," Paterson joked when I noted his surprise appearance.Asked during a brief Q&A with reporters if he thought Murphy's strong showing might bode well for his own future, Paterson replied:
"Well there's nothing like comebacks by underdogs, so if it works for Scott Murphy, there's no reason it shouldn't be able to work for me if I have the right message and I conduct myself with the professionalism and with the heartfelt concern for the neighborhoods around the state the way he has the neighborhoods around the 20th Congressional District.""...I've had a lot more difficult times than I'm having right now," Paterson continued. "But it's the resilience that tests people, not where they are at a particular moment. We've all had difficult times. The question is: Who recovers from them? Because the definition of success is that you got up one more time than you got knocked down.
Paterson knows how to make an attempt at humor, but there's just too much baloney in that highlighted paragraph up above.
First of all, Murphy didn't make a comeback, he started at the bottom and made his way up to the top in a short span of time. Paterson on the other hand, started off quite well a year ago and put himself in the tank by showing us his poor leadership skills. Oh and "professionalism" is clearly not a word that Paterson knows how to translate into action.
Now as for being heartfelt, Murphy has shown the district that he cares, but Paterson's fumbling of the budget and pushing aside the needs of New Yorkers shows his concerns rest in wishes of the well-funded lobbyists that visit him in Albany. If he would have championed the fair tax and not items such as the soda tax, he might not have slipped as much as he did.
Politically speaking, this is the worst time Paterson has ever experienced. As for the future (meaning from now until the primary next year) there is still time for the governor to get back up, but the question is if he can...or even knows how. There really is no comparison between him and Scott Murphy, unless you count the "D" after their name of course.
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