Carolyn Maloney has been the congresswoman from New York’s Upper East Side since 1993. (The district now includes a chunk of Queens, as well.) Known as the silk-stocking district, it was once as safely Republican as could be found in New York, and it still has more Republicans than anywhere else in solid-blue Manhattan. But it has been safely Democratic now for quite a while. It still is, but Maloney has had to spend more money this year than in her last three elections combined — a good example of how the Democrats have been forced to use resources just to hold their own.
Last night, she had the last of three debates with her Republican opponent, Ryan Brumberg. The fact that an incumbent facing a relatively unknown opponent felt that she had to agree to three debates is itself a sign of perceived weakness. And as the New York Observer reports, Brumberg held his own and even got off a nice piece of political theater:
Perhaps the most memorable moment of the debate occurred during the Q&A portion, when an audience member asked Maloney how she could justify supporting the health care reform bill, which the audience member called “an abomination.”
“I am proud to have been a part of that,” Maloney responded.
“Every single President has tried to get health coverage for the 33 million Americans who are uninsured.”
About half the audience applauded loudly, with a few shouts of “Yeah!” peppered in.
Then a member of audience shouted, “Nobody read it!”
“I read it,” Maloney quickly shot back. “It was read and discussed for at least three to six days before the caucus.”
For his rebuttal, Brumberg dragged a large white cardboard box from beneath the debate table. He pulled stacks and stacks of paper out of the box and placed them onto the table. The stack stood two to three feet tall. It was the health-care reform bill.
“I tried to read it,” he said. “It’s not a quick read — I’ll let that stand for itself.”
From the same box, he picked up two packets of paper, each about the thickness of a college essay. They were the Social Security bill and the Civil Rights Act, he said. Then he pulled a small booklet from his breast pocket.
“The Constitution,” he said.
Real Clear Politics regards the seat as safe. But while a recent poll had Maloney ahead by 20 points, she was below 50 percent, usually a sign of trouble for an incumbent, especially one who has been in for almost two decades.
So if Brumberg wins or even comes close in NY 14, it would be as clear a sign in the political world as the precipitate withdrawal of the sea from the shore is in the physical world: a tsunami is coming.
