Bloomberg: Gillibrand Could Have Been Defeated By Ford Or Zuckerman

NEW YORK — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he thinks Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (KUR'-stehn JIHL'-uh-brand) could have been defeated by either one of the people who are no longer considering running this year.

Bloomberg also said New Yorkers would have been "better off" with more choices.

Both Harold Ford Jr. and Mortimer Zuckerman said this week they had decided not to run. Ford was considering challenging Gillibrand in the Democratic primary and Zuckerman was looking at running on the Republican line.

The billionaire mayor is friends with Zuckerman, a real estate mogul and newspaper publisher. And a few of aides were helping former Tennesee Congressman Ford in his exploratory effort.

Comments

[Matt12]

02:02 PM on 03/05/2010

Zuckerman is a confirmed cipher as illustrated by his “writings” and opinions on TV news shows, who in complicit agreement with Bloomberg, was going to run in the Mayor’s Independent Party, the one he is building for his presidential aspirations run – good luck. As it happens, and reality bites, Zuckerman has no chance of even running a block and winning.

As for Ford, I’m astonished at his ineptness. His NYT interview was a killer (he claimed to be familiar with the city because he had flown by helicopter around it?); and his subsequent conversations with the press and voters weren’t any better. So, sadly, Gillibrand remains the best choice, unless Chelsea Clinton….. well, who knows.

[oldgeek1]

07:28 AM on 03/05/2010

Schumer orchestrated the Democratic take over of the US Senate and if you truly understand and follow politics you know that is no small accomplishment. Bloomberg was promoting Caroline Kennedy as if Schumer’s judgment was flawed. Schumer has his pulse on NY an won elections by huge margins in NY and knows how to run a major campaigns and win. I see no reason to trust Bloomberg’s political sense and judgment. Ford could not even with the Senate seat in his own State, much less NY and Zuckerman thinks upstate NY is Yonkers.

[18]

12:48 PM on 03/05/2010

Bloomberg is just projecting what he wanted to happen. I fully support Kirsten Gillebrand for Senate. I have met her twice and was very impressed. My sister was CFO of a bank and is now on Board of Directors of another bank and she feels Sen. Gillibrand is very understanding of the issues. I am proud that she was one of the first four senators that sent Obama a letter urging reconciliation including the Public Option. She is for a single payer/medicare-for-all type health insurance, but understands that is not possible right now. She is for a strong public option.

Gillibrand is smart, works very hard, has a very good understanding on a broad array of issues, and is a great campaigner. Why look for someone else?

[Manhattanite]

05:23 AM on 03/05/2010

Stick to being the mayor of NYC, Mike. For a third term that you rammed down NYers' throat and for which you had to spend millions of $ of your personal fortune to win with a razor - thin margin...

[Citizen54]

12:20 AM on 03/05/2010

Hey, Prince Mayor Bloomberg: How about getting down to fixing the city's budget problems instead of prognosticating Senatorial elections?

Or just move to your palace in the Bahamas and leave us alone.

[xargaw]

11:55 PM on 03/04/2010

I don't know about Mort Zuckerman. He surely could have financed his own campaign, but Harold Ford is another matter. He comes off as an opportunist that would say anything to anyone if he thought there was something in it for him.

[Marion Stein]

11:04 PM on 03/04/2010

He clearly believes that billionaires and their friends know best.

[dct1999]

09:37 PM on 03/04/2010

Bloomberg almost lost to Bill Thompson. He doesn't know what the eff he's talking about.

I'm pleased with Gillibrand's performance so far, but I'm still not sure who I'll vote for in the primary.

[wonketteRAWKS]

09:44 PM on 03/04/2010

I agree. So far.

[buckbuck11]

07:31 PM on 03/04/2010

So now Bloomberg thinks he's Nostradamus? Ford was getting absolutely no traction in this state from anybody who was paying attention at this early stage of the game...the ones who contribute and work for campaigns. What totally amazes me is that New Yorkers keep voting in this dictatorial plutocrat. He rules by decree and gets away with it...I just don't get it.

[dutch163]

06:48 PM on 03/04/2010

i am increasingly impressed with Gillibrand
I keep myself educated on the issues and my representatives
I have kept up with her stands on vital issues
and I like what she says and does

I think he underestimates her..OR..he WANTS to have her underestimated!

Keep up the good work, Kirsten

[Knarf]

04:55 PM on 03/04/2010

Senator Gillibrand keep the good. Bloomie, put a stock in it!

[kynycmbp]

04:43 PM on 03/04/2010

Why is an someone who is a registered "independent" meddling is the Democratic primary?

[lmgws]

03:26 PM on 03/04/2010

Power seems to have gone to Mike Bloomberg's head - He wants to pull all the strings. His disrespect of the hardworking Senator Gillibrand will hurt His Honor all across the state.

[glorialovelace]

04:03 PM on 03/04/2010

I agree. I know I resent the attitude that Bloomberg and Zuckerman have that they can just flick Gillibrand aside as if she were a total nonentity, simply because she has something they happen to want for themselves, and she's not a rich socialite with a famous name like The World's Biggest Orphan.

[Peter Noble 2]

05:08 PM on 03/04/2010

No .. but she's just a fake Democrat with Obama and Chuck and the whole DNC behind her, formerly boasting of being the most conservative Blue Dog in the house and with a 100% NRA rating. NOW she is a Liberal!

Democrats are not allowed to have a primary..

[Peter Noble 2]

10:55 AM on 03/05/2010

Clearly some bug in the HP code, can't reply to you, directly.

Regarding change of hearts of critics of Gilllibrand, it seems to be mainly in response to another real Blue Dog.. Ford.. and her complete change of stance.. except for abortion rights.

I was not born here. In Britain it would be hard, not impossible but very difficult to be so flexible. The press for one are not so accommodating. Local party members most certainly are not accepting of such major reversals in policy.

And in truth I'm not a Democrat but a Socialist and should vote accordingly where possible. The Democrat party is more like the Tory party. I should never have thought otherwise.

.

[ptrgamb]

02:36 PM on 03/04/2010

I live in NYC and have felt for a long time that the rest of the state outside the city deserved to have a senator. Gillibrand is fine with me. She's certainly superior to Ford or Zuckerman.
I was a Bloomberg voter who's long ago grown tired of him. He's got a real tin ear now. I'm not sure how much he even understands his own city outside of the folks he chums around with.

[middleoftheroad]

04:56 PM on 03/04/2010

lol...without googling, just to yourself, ask yourself what she has done? Do you know? Most New Yorkers don't even know what she sounds like.

[glorialovelace]

05:22 PM on 03/04/2010

If you don't know what she sound like, it's your own fault. Among the things she has done in the past few weeks alone: she was one of the four originators of the letter to Obama asking that the public option be restored via reconciliation. She was instrumental in getting hearings scheduled for the abolition of DADT.

For more, go to her website www.kirstengillibrand.com. There are plenty of videos there, so you will know what she sounds like, on the offchance you're actually curious.

[ManuOB1]

01:51 PM on 03/04/2010

Gillibrand won election in a Republican district. She can hold her own against GOP pygmies.

[fya]

02:23 PM on 03/04/2010

HA

[CoolBlue71]

01:33 PM on 03/04/2010

Does Bloomberg think Gillibrand isn't as much a corporatist as the others? (I'm not a New York resident.) It is laughable, considering how Bloomberg himself was barely re-elected the last go-round.