Dorothy Siegel, a member of the Working Families Party and longtime activist, explains why Cynthia Nixon has what it takes to beat Cuomo.
She writes:
“Teachout never had a chance of becoming governor, unfortunately. Cuomo controlled ALL the levers of power. Anyone who didn’t support him got their hands chopped off. Teachout couldn’t raise money because people/players feared what Cuomo would do to them when he found out. She only raised around $500,000, compared to Cuomo’s $24 million.
“Yet, such was the simmering hatred of Democratic voters for Cuomo in upstate NY that Teachout won almost every upstate county — on a shoestring, and with the active opposition of the Democratic Party establishment that Cuomo controls. That hatred will not change. Nixon will win big upstate — bigger than Zephyr, in part because she will have more money and will have twice as much time (six months vs three months) to introduce herself to voters.She also has the ability to garner lots of free media because of her celebrity, which will be enough to counterbalance Cuomo’s millions, at least upstate.
“In 2014, NYC and the suburbs (2/3 of the vote) went pretty strongly for Cuomo, in large part because most voters hadn’t heard much about Teachout. And most city and suburban Democrats had a hazy “he’s ok” opinion of Cuomo. Now that Cuomo has an acid-tongued, smart and well-funded opponent — and assuming he will continue to put his foot in his mouth — THE TRUTH about Cuomo will finally come out, ESPECIALLY his anti-public school actions of the past eight years. Recall, if you will, that Cuomo was the major promoter of uber-testing and using tests to evaluate teachers. Once voters are reminded of that evil work, Cuomo will be ESPECIALLY unpopular in the NYC suburbs, where Opt Out was a powerful force.
“I am cautiously optimistic that Nixon — and the rest of us pro-public school folks — will help people see Cuomo as the school-privatizing Trump Democrat he is.
“My friends, I see a path to victory. I believe Nixon CAN win, if everything falls into place in this Very Angry at Corporate Democrats political year, In any event, she will do “surprisingly” well against Cuomo. Mark my words.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
She should come out for the immediate legalization of cannabis. That would ensure a win. I know people who are planning to move out of NY for that reason alone.
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No logic not to legalize that which is costing the city so much otherwise.
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Ask Dorathy if the WFP is going to snub Nixon like they did Teachout. How about the WFP endorses her as fast a Gilabrand endorsed Cuomo.
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The WFP endorsed Cuomo after he promised to help real Democrats win control of the State Senate. As soon as he got the WFP endorsement, he broke his promise.
Cuomo also had the help of union leaders in getting the WFP endorsement. They will endorse him again.
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So why bother even mentioning that Dorathy is a member of the WFP? Is it her contention that Cynthia Nixon may win in spite of her party’s forgone conclusion to endorse Cuomo? What is different this time? We spend a lot of time criticizing Cuomo, DeBlasio, and other politicians on this site. Why give a pass to the groups, parties, and individuals that support them?
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Bill — I wish I had your sense of certainty about what the WFP will do at its convention in May. There are 232 state committee members, most of them activists (you know, the kind of uncynical people who actually volunteer regularly to help elect progressive candidates) from across NYS who will come together and decide who should get the WFP line. I’m one of those state cte members, and I’ve talked to a lot of the other members, and damned if I know how the vote will go.
Perhaps I should be listening to you, Bill. You appear to have some kind of Supreme Wisdom, born of an easy cynicism perhaps, that assures you that YOU know how the WFP endorsement vote will go — to Cuomo. On the other hand, I think I’d rather WORK to get Cynthia the WFP line, and then WORK to get her elected. But maybe you’re right, Bill — it’s so much easier to sit home and grouse about everyone else.
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Here is what I know…
1) You don’t know me or anything about me. (I’m not sitting at home right now)
2) The working families party endorced Cuomo for the same reasons that are essentially shaping up in this election. Own it.
3) Using terms like “will do surprisingly well” means little or nothing.
4) The WFP is not above being criticized. Nor is any party, group, or person. I’m sorry, but many felt let down by the WFP. And rightfully so. Sorry you take such offense.
I hope the WFP learned their lesson and really start to think about how Cuomo hurt their influence. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your hard work. It’s really going to pay off one day.
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One more thing…. Teachout received over 34% of the vote WITHOUT the WFP and many other unions and groups. Cynthia Nixon has her to thank because she will get every single one of them this time around. I believe she has the ability to clime to victory with or without endorsements from political parties/groups. The WFP’s endorsement will be irrelevant in this election.
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Looks like your work payed off. WFP just reststored their reputation. It will be interesting to see if other political groups criticize or praise the WFP decision to endorse Nixon. The good thing about voting with your conscious and for the greater good and not doing what is politically beneficial is you will learn exactly who your friends are. Let’s see if NYSUT and the UFT do what is right.
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There’s a Republican Kennedy in Louisiana. Why not a Democratic Nixon in NY?
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I hope NYS ends up with a better Dem contender. Nixon has some pretty good progressive activism under her belt, & the right personality for a political fight, but no experience in office. That might work, if she proves to be adept at negotiating consensus, but she’ll need to do a lot of touring & listening to folks upstate, & modifying her platform accordingly. Otherwise what we’ll have is a Dem contender who may move downstate Dems left of neoliberal, but pushes upstate redder, resulting in a Rep govr.
http://theweek.com/articles/763195/cynthia-nixon-future-democratic-party–good-ill
“Would Nixon’s populist campaign improve on that result [Cuomo’s decline in Dem voter support – re-election saved by downstate voters], reversing the Democratic Party’s transformation into a party that appeals primarily to upper-middle-class and wealthy urbanites and working-class minority groups? Or would she instead solidify the widespread impression that Democrats increasingly view the problems afflicting small town and rural America, along with the struggles of the white working class, with contempt? [ referring to Nixon’s “the fact of the matter is, our working class doesn’t look like the working class of 1955. Our working class is largely women and people of color” – a NYCentric viewpt that does not reflect upstate reality]”
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Cuomo is responsible for Marriage Equality and the strongest anti-gun legislation in the nation – interesting to read the
animus to him
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Cuomo is also responsible for opposing school funding, giving free space to charters in NYC to charter schools, pushing Common Core, pushing test-based high stakes teacher evaluation, preserving GOP control of the State Senate even though Democrats have a majority, and enacting a 2% annual cap on raising school taxes, which can happen only with a supermajority of 60%.
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Cuomo is indebted to hedge fund tycoons and DFER. They love charters, do nothing for public schools.
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