By Nathan Duke, Ivan Pereira and Jeremy Walsh
Clinton recently announced a host of supporters who would serve as a “Rapid Responder” team during the primary, refuting negative statements about her and her husband. Among the elected officials covering the state of New York was U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), the leader of the Queens Democratic Party, which has officially endorsed Clinton.”When it comes to the primary, Queens is Clinton country,” said Evan Stavisky of the Parkside Group consultants in Manhattan. “The relationship between the Clinton family and Queens Democrats goes back to 1991, when then-governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton took the subway out to Forest Hills to meet the district leaders of Queens.”A Jan. 20 Zogby International poll of New York state voters showed 47 percent said they would vote for Clinton, compared to Obama's 26 percent and 9 percent for John Edwards. Other polls show Clinton with as much as 56 percent of the vote, but none were taken after Obama's sweeping victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday.Queens, with its sizeable black population, could be a key voting bloc in the primary contest, and Obama opened a campaign office in southern Queens last weekend.”Being a person closer to grassroots, I'm hearing a lot of support over my district” for Obama, said City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton). “I'm hearing precious little support for Sen. Clinton.”Sanders said Obama is the only candidate to talk about urban renewal. In addition, he said, many people are repulsed by recent comments by former President Bill Clinton about Obama.”This cheap political theater of winning at any price isn't going to go over well,” he said. “That campaign has much to answer for and you're going to see that reflected in this vote.”It remains to be seen how Obama's grassroots support will hold up against Clinton's borough supporters. State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) lives in southern Queens and is a strong Clinton backer.”I'm a Hillary supporter for historical experience and involvement with her in terms of what she has done as a U.S. senator in our state,” he said in an interview at the TimesLedger offices earlier this month. “I've worked with her and I have confidence that she can do this job.”Queens officials in other areas were also pulling for Clinton. On Monday, City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) and Assemblywoman Ellen Young (D-Flushing) held a get-out-the-vote rally for Clinton at the Flushing Library, and Stavisky said her slate of delegates is a long list of influential elected officials in Queens. He refuted the claim that Clinton's popularity in the borough is waning.”If anything, she's probably more popular in Queens than she is in other parts of the state,” he said.Prior to the Florida primary, the borough's Republican leaders said they were united behind Rudolph Giuliani as their candidate for Super Tuesday.But U.S. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) ended up winning Florida and news reports indicated that the former New York mayor would likely drop out of the race and endorse McCain. Phil Ragusa, chairman of the Queens County Republican Party, said the borough GOP's headquarters placed calls to Florida prior to that state's primary election Tuesday.”We're working hard to get the vote out,” he said. “In the end, we're going to support a Republican for president, but our focus is on Rudy. We hope he's the nominee.”He said the borough party had been taking state polls with a grain of salt.”It's like the stock market,” he said. “The climate changes so fast, you wouldn't believe it.”Ragusa said Queens Republicans had previously traveled to New Hampshire and Iowa to stump for Giuliani.Prior to Tuesday's Florida vote, state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale) said he thought Giuliani should possibly have taken a different approach in his campaign, but that he believed the former mayor had an advantage with the borough's diverse population.”I don't fully agree with his strategy of bypassing New Hampshire and Iowa, but I also don't believe the polls right now,” he said. “I believe Rudy will get a significant amount of Italian-American voters. New York is primarily ethnic voters and there are many recent immigrants, many of whom feel they owe something to their ethnic group.”Maltese said many Queens Republicans respect McCain and would potentially support his candidacy if Giuliani steps out of the race.
