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Posts: 4632
Oct 21 05 4:55 AM
Quote:For New York Democrats seeking to take back City Hall, it was supposed to be a picture-perfect moment: Bill Clinton in the Bronx yesterday to rally voters behind Fernando Ferrer, the party's beleaguered candidate against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.But a run-of-the-mill campaign stop turned into a bizarre frenzy after the Clinton team removed the entire sound system during a dispute with low-level Ferrer supporters, who were trying to make the event more dramatic. As a result, a crowd of 1,000 people could barely hear Mr. Clinton praise "this good man."The moment was a telling example of the odd intersection between the former president and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who are the unofficial royal couple of New York Democrats, and the party's mayoral nominee. Their star power has overshadowed him at times, and their smoothness has left him looking like a B-list candidate after mishaps like yesterday's, some New York Democrats say. The Clintons like Mr. Ferrer personally and are disappointed that he is struggling, but they also do not want to become entangled in his problems, according to political associates and people who have spoken to them about the mayoral race. The Clintons are trying to avoid being embarrassed by a lopsided Democratic defeat on their home turf on Nov. 8, these associates say. In a series of delicate calculations, the couple are doing everything the Ferrer campaign has asked of them, but little more than that. Tonight, Mrs. Clinton is to hold what will probably be the single biggest fund-raiser of Mr. Ferrer's campaign, which could bring in as much as $100,000. Yet some prominent Democratic donors say the Clintons have not sent the usual winks and nods signaling that they view Mr. Ferrer as a winner whom contributors should shower with money.
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