Michael Benjamin had an interesting column in this (Friday) morning's New York Post about how Malcolm Smith would be the wrong candidate for the Republicans to put up for New York City mayor.
But, he concedes, "There’s an opening for a fusion candidate in the 2013 race. ...A candidate with clear minority appeal would be needed. Yet the formula for fusion success in 2013 wouldn’t be Mike Bloomberg’s or Rudy Giuliani’s. The obvious alliance would combine Republican voters, the Orthodox Jewish bloc, outer-borough “Koch Democrats” and minority voters. The Hasidic/Orthodox Jewish and the evangelical Christian communities are actively looking for a traditional-values standard-bearer. ...
"In the post-Bloomberg era, outer-borough voters are looking for a mayor who will focus on good fiscal stewardship, holding down crime and gun violence and fixing our public schools — not on imposing his brand of secularism, or on effete social-engineering schemes. Smith’s political baggage makes him the wrong messenger, but it’s not too late for a quality fusion candidate to enter the race."
The best candidate, it seems to me, is an African-American former Democratic assemblyman, pretty conservative on social issues, and an insightful political observer. His name is Michael Benjamin.
