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Tasini Exit Interview
Albany Times Union Blog
4:17 pm by Elizabeth Benjamin |
I just got off the phone with former Democratic U.S. Senate contender Jonathan Tasini, and he is NOT endorsing Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins - or anyone else - in the U.S. Senate race.
Why? It's simple, Tasini said:
"I am a Democrat. I ran as a Democrat. I decided not to endorse the incumbent, and to stay out of endorsing anyone else. Between now and November, that could change. Something could happen and she (U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY) could decide the war was really bad and wrong, and then I would reconsider."
Tasini said that he agrees with Hawkins on many points, and would stand with him - if asked - and call for allowing all qualified candidates to debate, regardless of how much money they've raised or where they are in the polls.
Tasini used to be a member of the Working Families Party, and switched his enrollment to the Democratic Party (on the very last day possible) for the sole purpose of taking on Clinton in this year's primary.
He said he joined the WFP because of his "disappointment" with the Democratic Party, and intends to remain a Democrat because of the notion that he might help "fix" it.
All of this is going to become clear in the book Tasini says he is now writing about the campaign. He even claims to have an interested publisher, whose name he would not disclose.
Tasini said he's also talking to fellow disaffected Democrats about starting a "progressive caucus" in the state party, because they see the existing reform caucus as a failure.
As I was talking to Tasini, the WFP issued a statement from its executive director, Dan Cantor, that restated both the party's enthusiastic support of Clinton and its opposition to the war.
"Voters who oppose the war should vote for Hillary Clinton, the best candidate for the job, on the Working Families Party line, because doing so will send a message that it's time to bring the troops home," Cantor said.
Tasini rejected that suggestion as "absurd, shameful and preposterous."
But when I pointed out that Democrats don't have a whole lot of options this fall, and asked who he planned to vote for, he replied:
"That is a sad reality for Democrats, but the idea that they should vote for someone who supports the war on the WFP line is absurd. I will make my decision in the privacy of the voting booth."
For the record, Tasini said he is not at all disappointed with his campaign, which netted him about 17 percent of the vote. In his mind, this was "fantastic," given the fact that he was underfunded and had near-zero name recognition in comparison to Clinton.
Ralph Nader said he thought Tasini's showing was "extraordinary" - for basically just those reasons.
Tasini said he figured that for every $100 his campaign spent, he got 67 votes, while she got 2 for every $100 she spent.
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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