NY-20: Poll: Gillibrand Up Three On Reeling Sweeney
Reeling from charges of domestic violence, GOP Rep. John Sweeney has now fallen three points behind surging Dem challenger Kirsten Gillibrand, a Siena Polling Institute survey released today shows. The poll finds Gillibrand up 46%-43%, an astonishing turnaround from the last Siena poll on Oct. 19, which had Sweeney up 53%-39%. Sweeney's favorability rating has plunged 14 points, from 49% to 35%. All in all, a very good day for Gillibrand: As noted below, she also picked up a key endorsement today from the Albany Times-Union, an influential upstate paper.
Advertisement
Astonishing! Sweeney was considered a shoo-in just a few weeks ago. It's still a statistical dead heat but this is a traditionally dependable Republican district that was jerrymandered to keep it that way. While the district has been changed many times since then, it includes FDR's home town of Hyde Park and he never carried it. Gillibrand's campaign was a real long shot from the get go and few, including the very liberal local political and public radio guru Alan Chartock, took her seriously. Even today's New York Times lists the 20th as "leaning Republican".
November 5, 2006 9:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sweeney faced violence charge in '98 election
From the New York Daily News(http://www.nydailynews.com/11-04-2006/news/story/468125p-393953c.html)
This isn't the first time Rep. John Sweeney has faced domestic violence allegations - and not the first time he's responded by going on the attack.
In late October 1998, just days before Sweeney would be elected to Congress for the first time, he held a press conference with his estranged then-wife Betty to deny an allegation - in a letter from a local Democrat - that she had taken out an order of protection against him.
"John and I are very good friends, despite what our marital status might be," Betty Sweeney said at the time, reading from a prepared statement, as Sweeney's now-wife Gayle did Thursday.
Press reports from the time don't indicate whether police were asked to confirm or deny the charge.
But John Sweeney then went on the attack, as he did this week in response to a document showing that his wife had called 911 because he was "knocking [her] around the house."
"My opponent has fostered this atmosphere," he said. "She has been nothing but negative."
Video of Betty Sweeney's press conference can be seen on www.thedailypolitics.com, the Daily News' Daily Politics blog.
Ben Smith
Originally published on November 4, 2006
Think about it...it matters.
November 5, 2006 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink