Yesterday, Jonathan spoke to the Democratic leaders of 41 upstate counties at a meeting of the Democratic Rural Conference in Ithaca. He was a virtual unknown to the group and his name did not even appear on the written straw ballot. To be able to address the conference, he needed to be nominated by a delegate, and receive a second from a different delegate. He was able to do so.

According to the conference organizers themselves, his five-minute speech (the maximum allowed for candidates) probably got the most reaction from the 150 people in the auditorium. It focused entirely on the Iraq war. And he got more votes than Tom Suozzi, the Nassau County Executive who is running for governor against Eliot Spitzer and has far more name recognition.

Our point this morning is what we have always believed: if the message is heard, if the campaign becomes about issues, people will respond.
Here’s a snippet from the fair coverage from the Albany Times Union (the rest of the article dealt with other races).

Suozzi draws the short straw
Spitzer easily wins Democratic Rural Conference poll, 148-7

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau

ITHACA -- Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi made the case for his gubernatorial nomination to Democratic leaders from 41 upstate counties Saturday, but it didn't do him much good.

As expected, and even predicted by Suozzi himself, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer handily won the Democratic Rural Conference straw poll, trouncing his opponent 148-7. By comparison, Jonathan Tasini, a long-shot candidate against U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., received nine votes and his name wasn't even printed on the ballot."

AND...

"Clinton defeated Tasini, a New York City labor activist who gave a rousing speech against the Iraq war that was well-received by the crowd."