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After Victory, Clinton Will Face Vietnam Vet
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Syracuse Post-Standard
By Frederic Pierce
Staff writer |
There were no surprises in New York's U.S. Senate primaries Tuesday, but strategies are sure to be altered this morning.
When the polls closed at 9 p.m., Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's quest for re-election became a different race.
Clinton's more than 5-to-1 thumping of anti-war candidate Jonathan Tasini, coupled with the solid victory of conservative John Spencer in the Republican primary, has shifted the war debate in the Senate race to the right.
"Today the campaign begins, and New Yorkers will begin to see the difference," Spencer said Tuesday night. "The more they learn about her record, the more they'll see that I'm someone who will stand up to terrorism and support our military."
Spencer, a former Yonkers mayor and the designated GOP candidate, beat Kathleen "KT" McFarland with more than 60 percent of the statewide vote for the right to wage an underdog battle against one of the famous women on the planet.
A Vietnam War veteran who supports President Bush's military effort in Iraq, Spencer questioned Clinton's patriotism for criticizing the Patriot Act and launched a television ad that paired her image with that of terrorist Osama bin Laden.
That's a far cry from Tasini's recent effort to paint Clinton as a right-leaning hawk who voted to authorize military action against the government of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
With Tasini quieted, the anti-war torch has been passed to Howie Hawkins, the Syracuse resident challenging Clinton on the Green Party line.
Hawkins wasted no time Tuesday in calling for a debate against the incumbent, a possible 2008 presidential candidate who he, like Tasini, believes is out of touch with average New Yorkers.
"Hillary Clinton is fond of wrapping herself in the American flag," Hawkins said. "Why doesn't she have the courage to embrace democracy here at home and debate how best to achieve peace at home and abroad?"
Onondaga County Democrats, however, supported Clinton with nearly 85 percent of the vote more than the 83 percent she got statewide, according to unofficial returns from the county Board of Elections.
Tasini had entered the race as an opponent of the war, and stood to the left of Clinton on issues ranging from the death penalty and gay marriage to universal health coverage.
Clinton, a Democratic Party moderate, must now turn her attention to the right, where Spencer has strong conservative credentials on social issues like abortion rights and supports all aspects of the Bush administration's anti-terror actions including the Iraq war.
"Hillary Clinton is a voice of reason on the issue of the war and has been critical of the Bush administration's policies," said Robert Romeo, chairman of the Onondaga County Democratic Committee. "Her message resonates with Upstate voters and New Yorkers and I think we'll find John Spencer's doesn't."
Like Spencer, McFarland, a Pentagon official under former President Ronald Reagan, had adopted a strong, pro-military stance. But she, like Clinton, held more moderate views on social issues like abortion rights.
Recent polls had marked Spencer as the favorite, but left some room for optimism in McFarland's camp.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Aug. 24 gave Spencer a 30 percent to 23 percent lead over McFarland among enrolled Republican voters. The same poll, however, found that 42 percent of those voters were undecided.
Those undecided voters apparently never made up their minds. If they did, they didn't go to the polls.
Of course not many people did Tuesday, especially Republicans, who generally vote more regularly than Democrats.
"There wasn't much for us to vote on," said Bob Smith, chairman of the Onondaga County Republican Committee. "The Senate race was more of a New York City-Yonkers thing. It really didn't excite Upstate voters. Most Republicans here are more focused on the general election."
Spencer's victory makes the lines between the Senate candidates crystal clear on nearly all issues.
Earlier this summer, many New York Republicans viewed the primary as a battle between the conservative wing of the party that pushed former Assemblyman John Faso to victory at the party's state convention, and the moderate "Rockefeller Republican" wing that had unsuccessfully pushed former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld to carry the GOP flag in the governor's race.
"She's trying to be all things to all people, but she can't hide from her record," Spencer said of Clinton. "Meanwhile, it's very clear where I stand."
Frederic Pierce can be reached at fpierce@syracuse.com or 470-6062
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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