By Michele Reaves
Staff writer
Jacob Roberts said Sunday he just didn't give himself enough time to run in Syracuse's mayoral race.
Roberts joined the campaign less than a month before the August petition deadline. He needed 1,500 signatures to get on the November ballot. His campaign petition was 500 signatures short, so he could run only as a write-in candidate.
Roberts confirmed Sunday that he has dropped out of the race.
He said he attended all the mayoral debates and felt his ideas closely matched Howie Hawkins' plans.
"Primarily, one of the things that we hold true is power to the people, grass-roots democracy," Roberts said.
Hawkins welcomes Roberts' support.
"We were hoping that he would be with us on this campaign," Hawkins said.
Roberts said he and Hawkins plan to release an alternative to the Destiny USA project this week. He would not give details of the idea.
Roberts said he also backed Hawkins because he liked how Hawkins fared against Mayor Matt Driscoll, a Democrat, and Republican-Independence-Conservative candidate Joanie Mahoney at debates.
"I had a chance to watch Howie and see how he was able to stand up to the two other candidates as a third-party candidate," Roberts said.
Hawkins may have a good chance to win if people look at the candidates' ideas and not vote along party lines, Roberts said.
"The word I heard on the street . . . was that we need solutions," he said. "We need people that are going to bring strong solutions to the table."
Roberts said he might run again in the future. In the meantime, he will devote his energy to Hawkins' campaign.
It is unclear what impact - if any - Roberts' decision will have on the race. Traditionally, write-in candidates struggle to attract even a small percentage of the vote.
Neither Driscoll nor Mahoney could be reached for comment.
Staff writer Ngoc Huynh contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.
Posted by syracusegreens at October 10, 2005 01:54 AM