Monday, April 8, 2013

Outside Group Starts Spending to Block Quinn - NYTimes.com

"She wants you to think that she's a progressive, but on the issues New Yorkers care most about, she is always on the wrong side," a male narrator intones. "All that's clear when the smoke lifts is her political ambition."As a succession of blurbs from newspaper articles suggest that she has waffled on key issues, the narrator concludes, "When Christine Quinn doesn't support our values, how can you support her for mayor?"So goes a commercial attacking Ms. Quinn that, starting on Monday, is scheduled to appear on cable television stations like MSNBC and Bravo for three weeks. The 30-second commercial, the first of the mayoral race, comes quite early in the primary season, underscoring the competitive nature of the contest to succeed Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.The commercial is not the work of one of Ms. Quinn's opponents for the Democratic nomination, but of a coalition of left-leaning labor unions and Democratic activists who say they are not backing anyone in particular.The organizers have pledged more than $1 million to the campaign and are spending $250,000 for the initial television advertising, said Scott Levenson, president of the Advance Group, which produced the spot. Another commercial is to be released this week, followed by several mailers and radio ads.
Readers of this blog know that I support Bill deBlasio.  But I also pride myself on giving my honest opinion.  I'm no professional political analyst, but my take is that Quinn's front runner status is illusory, and her name recognition will ultimately work against her, as her negatives will be driven sharply up over the next several months. This is just the start.  I was not at all surprised to see this blurbed on NY1 this morning (neighbor's house).  Everyone else in the race and their backers will be gunning for her. 

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