I feel this morning the same way I felt last night and the same way I felt on the first day we launched the campaign ten months ago: inspired by the activism, excitement and commitment of so many people across our state who chose to stand up in opposition to an immoral war and for a better New York.
Last night, we had a wonderful celebration in a bar in midtown New York. And there’s a lot to celebrate: almost 118,000 New York voters cast a vote for peace and for a progressive future for New York. Hundreds of people made phone calls, held events, distributed flyers, put up lawn signs and wrote letters to the editor. People who worked on our campaign did so not because they wanted to be close to power or a celebrity but because they believed—in a better, peaceful, more just world. Give yourselves a pat on the back.
We are not going away. I’ve already had discussions with people about how we convert the energy of this campaign into something long-lasting. In the coming days and weeks, I’ll be in touch with you as we convert this campaign and this site into a place for New Yorkers to organize and mobilize for a progressive agenda. Feel free to email me your ideas.
Here are some quick thoughts (and I’m going to expand on them in the future, perhaps in a book):
Our vision for the state and the country is the future—and can appeal to a majority of the people. The majority of the people believe that the occupation of Iraq must end immediately. The majority of the people will support a real health care plan (“Medicare For Allâ€) and are willing to support leaders who will take on—not be bankrolled—by the drug companies and health insurance industry. The majority of the people—battered by record personal debt, stagnant wages, disappearing pensions and health care—think corporations have too much power. We need to take our country back from the abusive powers that are waging class warfare on workers in every community.
This race underscored the deep pervasive corrupting role money plays in politics. We received one out of every six votes cast in the state. We raised $1.80 for every vote cast in our favor, while the incumbent raised $80 for every vote she received. We spent $1.50 for every vote we received, while the incumbent spent $42 for every vote she received. Per hundred dollars spent, we received 67 votes while the incumbent received 2 votes. I always believed in public financing of campaigns—now I’m a real convert. We will never have authentic, honest elected leaders until we cleanse the system of money.
I continue to hear from people who are outraged by the dismal performance of the media. With a few exceptions, the media, trapped in its coverage of the horse race and inability to think below the surface, rarely was able to discuss the issues in this race. Moreover, it actually encouraged the censorship of ideas and the further weakening of democracy: NY1’s decision to require that a candidate had to have raised or spent $500,000 to be included in the station’s debate was a new low in media censorship.
One thing I will be publicly calling for is at least one debate in the general election which would include all candidates who have qualified for the ballot. Democracy requires that incumbents and challengers be given the chance and the responsibility to explain their votes and records and talk about what they would do as our U.S. senator in the next six years. The media should not allow the incumbent to continue to dodge public discussion of her record and show great disrespect for the voters and great disrespect for democracy by hiding behind her political handlers.
I ended my remarks last night with thoughts from two of my political heroes. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight and then you win.†We are in stage three now and we will get to stage four.
And, finally, our inspiration for this campaign was the late Paul Wellstone. He urged people to “Vote For What You Believe In.†He also said, “The future will not belong to those who sit on the sidelines. The future will not belong to the cynics. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.â€
What about Jonathan running on a 3rd party line for Senate?
It could be called the Peace Party!