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Editorial / Periscope - Niall O'Dowd

White House Dreams

June 28, 2007

By NiallO’Dowd

NOT since Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 has a New Yorker ended up in the White House. Since his time the presidential compass has moved inexorably west and south with the exception of John F. Kennedy in 1960, who was the last East Coast president. The city that never sleeps woke up last Wednesday morning giddy at the news that it may very well have three New York-based candidates for president in 2008.

They would be Rudolph Giuliani, currently leading the Republican pack, Senator Hillary Clinton on top with the Democrats, and now Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire mayor who last week switched his registration from Republican to independent in anticipation of running as a third party candidate. The New York Post pronto dubbed them “The Three Amigos.”

It was good news for Irish America. All three candidates have deep roots in the Irish community and close ties that will surely be invaluable if one of them ends up occupying the White House.

The very fact that they are New York-based means they have been around Irish issues all their political lives. In Clinton’s case that is a given because of her husband’s work on the issue when in the White House, but Giuliani and Bloomberg have also been very active.

The fact that the three contenders could have been staples for a good ethnic joke as in, “Heard the one about the New York Jew, Italian and a WASP woman who ran for president?” hardly seemed to matter. The only thing we are missing is an Irish angle.

Adrian Flannelly, the noted Irish radio host, may well be the happiest camper around. He has excellent ties into both Giuliani and Bloomberg from their times as mayor when he effectively ran their local Irish campaigns for them.

Given that Senator John McCain, one of the Republican front runners, is holding an Irish fundraiser this week and has been appearing regularly at Irish functions over the past six months, it seems there is considerable interest in the Irish vote in next year’s election.

Clinton, of course, has held several Irish fundraisers around the country in recent times and plans more in the near future. Ethnic outreach has become a major feature of her no frills, no mistakes campaign. She held a dinner with Indian Americans on Sunday night in Manhattan that raised a whopping $2 million.

Bloomberg is loving the presidential attention. Now instead of being a lame duck in his last two years he has taken flight into the viewfinders of a large and hungry media, desperate for a new angle on what is already a stale story. They flocked to cover him.

“He has certainly brought some fresh air into the longest and already most airless presidential campaign in memory,” noted The New York Times editorial writer.

Then he did what no other candidate has done so far and began talking real issues. “Americans care whose going to pay for their Social Security, who is going to pay for their medical care. They care about immigration, about gun control, about Iraq, about our reputation overseas,” he said. Americans, he stated bluntly, want non-partisan solutions to non-partisan problems.

The media was momentarily shocked that the incessant coverage of the horse race, the polls, the money raising marathon was not front and center, and real life issues were. It was reminiscent of the experience of the 1970s third party candidate Dr. Barry Commoner, one of the first environmentalists, who was once asked by a reporter, “Dr. Commoner, are you a serious candidate or are you just running on the issues?”

Bloomberg would certainly run on the issues, but how far he go is debatable. No third party candidate has ever been elected president.

“When you leave New York ya ain’t going nowhere,” as the phrase goes. The three amigos will be hoping to prove that one wrong as they saddle up for the showdown.

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