Tuesday was a tough day for two Democrats who graduated from Hanover High School about a decade apart.
In New York’s Hudson River Valley, Fordham Law School Professor Zephyr Teachout fell short in her bid for an open congressional seat south of Albany, losing to Republican John Faso 52 percent to 43 percent.
Teachout, a track standout and 1989 Hanover High grad, rose to national prominence during former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign as his director of Internet outreach. She ran in the 2014 Democratic primary in New York against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and is the author of the 2014 book Corruption in America, an indictment of the influence of money in politics, especially in the wake of the Citizens United decision.
Both Faso and Teachout had spent about $2.4 million as of mid-October, but, as it turned out, it was big money targeting Teachout that may have made the difference in the race.
Faso is a former New York state legislator and lobbyist, and The New Yorker said four super PACs spent $6.7 million to defeat Teachout, with a chunk of the money coming from a Wall Street investor and a hedge fund titan.
Teachout pledged she will remain politically active, saying in a concession statement on Tuesday: “And if there’s one thing I learned on the campaign trail, it is that we are more than brave enough and more than smart enough to take our democracy back. This is our moment. We may have lost this race, but we’re not going away.”
And, at Hillary Clinton headquarters in Brooklyn, Tuesday obviously was a tough day for 1998 Hanover High graduate Robby Mook, who was Clinton’s campaign manager.
On his Twitter feed late Tuesday afternoon, Mook wrote about strong Democratic turnout in two key Florida counties, saying, “Amazing work, @HillaryforFL volunteers!”
As of Friday afternoon, he had said little publicly since the election results came in.
Look for possible Twin State infighting ahead as Democrats debate who should next lead the Democratic National Committee in light of their Election Day debacle.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, again an independent, but the leading light among progressive Democrats, said this week that he thinks U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Muslim-American congressman from Minnesota, should lead the DNC.
But former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also said he wants to return as DNC chairman, a post he held from 2005 to 2009.
“The Dems need organization and focus on the young. Need a 50-state strategy and tech rehab. I am in for chairman again,” Dean, who turns 68 next week, said via Twitter Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said on Friday that he has gotten “calls and emails from many members of the DNC,” along with other Democratic activists, encouraging him to run for chairman.
“My commitment is to the grassroots of the party. That is where I have spent my life. I will soon decide which role within the party I feel best allows me to empower our state parties, local activists and the great diversity of the party,” Buckley said in a statement.
Vermont Democrats didn’t cover themselves in glory this past summer when they bounced both Montpelier Democrat Ken Dean, an experienced strategist, and state Sen. Tim Ashe, P/D-Chittenden, from the Democratic National Convention delegation, on the specious grounds that the 26-member delegation should have been split equally between men and women.
What they should have done is listen to Dean, who is close to both Jerry Brown and Gary Hart and was a Sanders supporter, and has long been saying Trump would likely defeat Hillary Clinton in the general election.
In fact, Dean in a May 11 interview on Onion River Community Access television, noted that Sanders was polling much better than Clinton in the very Rust Belt states that Trump took from Democrats, and proved decisive, on Tuesday.
“There are a number of scenarios how Trump can win the election, which is scary,” Dean said in the interview six months ago. “But if he carries the Mitt Romney states of the last election of 2012, and if Trump goes up to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, the Rust Belt, which has been devastated by NAFTA, and just carries those, plus the Romney states, he can win.”
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John Gregg can be reached at jgregg@vnews.com.