November 4, 2008
Posted: 11:24 PM ET

From

NEW YORK (CNN) — The New York House seat in District 13 was the last Republican seat in New York City. It will switch into the Democratic column.

Democrat Mike McMahon, a lawyer and City Council member for the past eight years, has defeated Republican Robert Straniere.

The race is to replace Republican Congressman Vito Fossella. In May, he was pulled over in Alexandria, Virginia, and accused of drunken driving. Fossella later admitted having an affair and fathering a child out of wedlock.

Amid the scandal, Fossella decided against seeking re-election.

McMahon had been endorsed by Republican-turned-independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Filed under: 2008 Election • New York


Posted: 09:12 PM ET

From
Obama headquarters in Harlem today.
Obama headquarters in Harlem today.

(CNN) — In the heart of Harlem — A 50-foot Jumbotron has been set up outside the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building. It's the first time something like this has been done here. Every time numbers come in favoring Obama, a cheer goes up from the crowd, "O-BAH-MA."

I sat in Maya Angelou's living room in a restored brownstone several blocks away earlier. She said she felt an eagerness in Harlem she hadn't felt since the 1960s. She said in recent months, you "couldn't walk the streets without people stopping you and saying isn't it exciting. Spanish people stop other people who don't speak Spanish and say isn't it a good time. Of course it's contagious. If you don't have it, you'll get it."

Longtime civil rights activist Hazel Dukes was working at a poll site earlier in the day. She said seniors in wheelchairs and walkers stood in line with first-time voters. She said 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds spoke of how proud they were that their moms were voting for Obama. Dukes, who knew Medgar Evers before he was slain while registering voters in Mississippi, said this election culminates what she and others have been working toward as civil rights leaders for the last 30 years.

Filed under: Barack Obama • New York


Posted: 05:50 PM ET

From
Robbins' name was missing from rolls.
Robbins' name was missing from rolls.

NEW YORK (CNN) — When Academy Award-winning actor Tim Robbins showed up at his West 14th Street YMCA polling center in Manhattan to vote Tuesday morning, election officials told him that his name was missing from the register.

"I went to vote where I normally vote and I was not listed. I asked for an explanation; they had none," Robbins told CNN.

He said he has been voting in the same district since 1992. He has not missed one election, and has not changed addresses or political affiliations.

"The poll worker said my name was in the book for the primary two months ago, but missing for the general election," he told CNN.

Although Robbins was offered the opportunity to fill out a provisional ballot, he was set on using the voting machine instead.

"Refuse provisional ballots — they're throwing those out, they can throw those out," he told viewers of "Real Time With Bill Maher" last month.

"If that's your last resort, take it, but fight for your right to vote," he said. "It's your right as an American."

It took Robbins a total of five hours — and a judge's order — to do so today.

"I'm just waiting for an explanation. I want a real explanation, and I want that explanation for the hundreds and thousands of people in my district and throughout the city who are experiencing the same thing today," Robbins told CNN.

A New York City Board of Elections representative did not return CNN's calls.

Polling places nationwide have seen heavy turnout — and accompanying delays and glitches — for the presidential race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

Filed under: New York • Voter Problems


October 28, 2008
Posted: 10:05 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNN) — The voter registration campaign Rock the Vote said Tuesday that more than 2,000 people it helped register to vote in New York have yet to appear on state voter rolls, a situation it blamed on a backlog at registration offices.

Rock the Vote spokeswoman Chrissy Faessen said state election officials lack the necessary resources to process tens of thousands of last-minute registration forms the youth-oriented group filed, raising questions about whether those people would be able to cast ballots on November 4.

"There's a huge capacity backlog," she said. "We don't have any indication that those will get on the rolls before Election Day."

Faessen told CNN that about 2,200 people have e-mailed Rock the Vote to report their names missing from registration rolls. More than 2.5 million people downloaded registration forms from the group's Web site, she said.

But election officials said they are capable of processing the record number of new registrations filed this year, and no backlog exists.

"They are going to have to give us names because at this point, it's a lot of rhetoric," said Valerie Vasquez Rivera, a spokeswoman of the New York city Board of Elections. "Having the resources to process the record volume of forms is not a concern of ours."

Rivera said the agency's staff is working 12-hour shifts to make sure every valid registration is handled and the election "goes off without a hitch."

"Anyone whose voter registration form was postmarked by October 10th and was received by October 15th at either the state Board office or a local Board office is eligible to vote in the November 4, 2008, general election and will be in the books," she said.

About 235,000 voter registration forms were received by the Board of Elections in all of 2007, according to a Board of Elections statement. In contrast, board offices received a record 204,000 in just the two weeks leading up to the October 15 deadline.

Filed under: New York • Voter Problems


March 12, 2008
Posted: 11:46 AM ET
Spitzer’s resignation takes effect Monday.
Spitzer’s resignation takes effect Monday.

NEW YORK (CNN) — Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday that he will step down from the state's top office, saying he cannot allow his "private failings to disrupt the public's work."

Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologizes Wednesday because he "did not live up to what was expected."

"I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me," he said in a brief news conference announcing his intention to resign, effective Monday. "I will try once again outside of politics to serve the common good."

He added, "Our greatest glory consists not in never falling but in rising every time we fall."

The announcement came as the New York governor faces allegations — but no charges — that he is tied to an international prostitution ring ensnared in a federal probe.

Spitzer's lawyers were in discussions Wednesday with the U.S. attorney's office in New York, trying to negotiate a plea deal to avoid prosecution, a source with knowledge of the discussions said.

Full story

Filed under: AP • New York


February 5, 2008
Posted: 09:44 PM ET
More than 50 percent of New York Republicans said Giuliani's endorsement of McCain was important.

More than 50 percent of New York Republicans said Giuliani's endorsement of McCain was important.

(CNN) — John McCain appears to owe Rudy Giuliani a big thank you.

Our exit polls show the former New York City mayor's endorsement of McCain played a key factor in his win there. Over half of New York Republicans said Giuliani's endorsement was important, and those voters went to McCain over Romney 63 percent to 22 percent. (Romney beat McCain by 47 percent to 29 percent among those voters who said Giuliani's endorsement was not important.)

The exit polls also indicate McCain inherited Giuliani's key voting bloc — those who are chiefly concerned with terrorism. Roughly half those voters went to McCain while only a third went to Romney.

And there's another interesting finding out of New York: McCain beat Romney among conservatives there — bucking the trend seen nationally and in other states. Forty-six percent of conservatives chose McCain while 37 percent went for Romney.

–CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider

Filed under: Bill Schneider • John McCain • New York • Rudy Giuliani


Posted: 09:21 PM ET

To track the New York primary results county-by-county, click here: New York

Filed under: McCain • New York


Posted: 09:00 PM ET

To track the New York primary results county-by-county, click here: New York

Filed under: New York


January 21, 2008
Posted: 01:00 PM ET
 Giuliani is focusing on Florida's Febuary 5 vote.
Giuliani is focusing on Florida's Febuary 5 vote.

(CNN) — Republican Rudy Giuliani has long banked on support from his delegate-rich home state, but two new polls out Monday suggests the former New York City mayor may have a difficult time there.

A new WNBC/Marist poll shows John McCain on top in the state, drawing 33 percent support from Republicans likely to vote in New York's February 5 primary. Mitt Romney is back at 19 percent, Giuliani stands at 18 percent and Mike Huckabee draws 15 percent.

Extended to all New York Republican's, McCain stays at 34 percent, while Giuliani increases to 23 percent, Romney falls to 14 percent and Mike Huckabee decreases to 11 percent.

A new poll out by Siena College meanwhile shows McCain ahead of Giuliani by 12 points, 34 percent to 22 percent. Mitt Romney is at 10 percent in that poll.

New York is one of the most valuable prizes on February 5 — the day when more than two dozen states hold their nominating contests. On the Republican side, the winner stands to gain all 87 of New York's delegates at stake. (New York Republicans send an additional 14 unpledged delegates to the convention who are later selected by party leaders.)

Giuliani had long held a lead in the state, but the New York Republican's strategy of waiting to seriously compete in a state primary until Florida's January 29 vote may have caused his poll numbers to sag back at home.

The sample size of likely Republican voters in the Marist poll was 175, and it carries a margin of error of plus or minus 7.5 percentage points. The sample size for all New York Republicans was 401, and it carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The Siena poll's margin of error was plus or minus 5 points.

Reacting to the poll, Giuliani supporter Pete King, a congressman from New York, expressed confidence the former mayor would win the state.

"The people of New York know better than anyone that Rudy is the bold and gutsy leader our country needs right now to tackle the tough challenges," he said in a statement provided by the Giuliani campaign. "Mayor Giuliani will win New York because voters around the country want a President who has been tested in crisis, is a proven tax cutter and will get results because he's gotten them before."

– CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Filed under: New York • Rudy Giuliani



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