Albany Times Union

Iraq war views fuel Senate races
Jonathan Tasini, who is challenging Clinton in Democratic primary, looks to Connecticut battle

By ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Capitol bureau

First published: Sunday, August 6, 2006

NEW YORK -- In the musty basement of a Greenwich Village brownstone is the heart of a campaign that aims to do the seemingly impossible: Convince to vote their marquee candidate, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, out of office.
The two-room headquarters of Clinton's primary opponent, Jonathan Tasini, barely accommodates him, his three paid staffers, a visitor and a teenage intern. His campaign is paying a minimal fee for the tiny space to the Village Independent Democrats, a liberal political club and one of his few party backers.

New York Times

Clinton Dodges Political Peril for War Vote
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT

There was a time when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s position on the Iraq war seemed to place her in the same political peril afflicting Senator Joseph I. Lieberman.

The senators, both Democrats, voted to authorize the military invasion and both refused to apologize for their votes as the occupation began to falter and opposition to the war swelled. Both were labeled as hawks within Democratic ranks.

Village Voice

Clinton Foe Claims Media Lockout
By Jarrett Murphy | August 02, 2006

Senate challenger Jonathan Tasini is complaining that NY1 has set too high an ante to get into a game with Hillary Clinton by requiring that candidates not only poll at greater than 5 percent, but also raise and spend $500,000 in order to participate in televised debates. While Tasini gets 13 percent in the latest Marist Poll, he's only raised about $130,000 in his quest to unseat his pro-war rival.
"NY1 is effectively acting as a censor," Tasini told a press conference Wednesday, mercifully moved from the steps of City Hall to a deliciously cool nearby bar. "NY1's position is that the people should not hear me."

The Empire State Blog

The Travails of the Hillary Slayer

Jonathan Tasini with the anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan in June. (Angel Franco/The New York Times)
Jonathan Tasini wants to do to Hillary Clinton what Ned Lamont is doing to Joseph Lieberman: dethrone a giant by focusing on Iraq. To that end, he drew reporters to an air-conditioned Lower Manhattan pub to denounce New York 1 News for denying him the chance to debate Clinton, just as Lamont debated Lieberman.

Mr. Tasini, flanked on either side by representatives of eight city independent Democratic clubs and the author Barbara Ehrenreich, chastised the station for its newly adopted requirement that all political candidates poll at least 5 percent and raise or spend at least $500,000 on their campaigns in order to participate in the station’s debate series. The policy prevents Mr. Tasini from getting the debate with Senator Clinton that he desperately wants, despite having garnered 40,000 petition signatures to assure him a spot on the September primary ballot.

Click here to listen to Jonathan Tasini on the Mike Mally show - August 1, 2006.