So I believe the mixture of his philanthropic giving and his personal political campaign spending implies that he has spent cash like nobody in history has ever spent for political office. UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Whether or not you possibly can say that that’s a defeat for Obama himself, I don’t know. JUAN GONZALEZ: Well, Adele, a lot of the protection final night time on tv and within the press at this time, within the mainstream press at present, tried to suggest that this was definitely a defeat for President Obama, who campaigned heavily for each of those candidates. I mean, you realize, it is a man who named, you understand, a television station, a radio station. And, you recognize, the recession was very ahead-leaning in New Jersey, and there’s practically ten p.c unemployment there, issues that the governor has very little control over. So, whenever you look at that 5 percent margin, given the fact that your complete political establishment of new York, virtually all the newspapers, dailies and weeklies, with the exception of the black-owned Amsterdam News and the Spanish-language El Diario, supported Bloomberg and that the major unions and the nationwide Democratic Party principally turned its again on the race, it’s astonishing that it was so shut.
The British royal family has seen its fair share of scandal, and Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew’s ex-spouse, is no exception. AMY GOODMAN: And, after all, William Thompson would have been the second African American mayor of latest York. The airwaves blanketed with ads for Bloomberg, or, I should say, in opposition to William Thompson. That’s shocking, contemplating the, you might almost just say, stunningly close race. JUAN GONZALEZ: I’d prefer to ask Adele Stan also about another race in New York, in upstate New York, the place Bill Owens – Bill Owens ended up successful the – the Democrat ended up profitable a congressional race in the northern a part of the state. And the mayor’s race in Houston, Texas is headed to a runoff subsequent month after no candidate received more than 50 % of the vote. Which means 25 percent of the electorate turned out in this vote.
AMY GOODMAN: And the unions’ closeness to Obama and not popping out for William Thompson, Juan? He did not marketing campaign for William Thompson in any respect. Tom Robbins, talk about what happened in New York, Bloomberg versus Thompson. So that you had a scenario the place these personal donations that the Mayor has been giving to nearly – you name the nonprofit in New York, and they all have an nameless donation that they all know was from Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg has used his cash to be in a position to succeed in people who he knew – like Canada, like Calvin Butts, people who he knew have been influential and that he may principally – I don’t know if they buy their assist, however he might use it – as Calvin Butts said to a Bloomberg biographer earlier this 12 months, it positive doesn’t damage to be able to get that money. I don’t like being people making an attempt to manipulate me.
People don’t like playing with newbies, nonetheless so I never get to play. I imply, his potential to be in a position to make use of his cash, certainly in efficient ways – I imply, the truth that he was in a position to – I mean, some people – Corzine, who’s additionally a incredibly wealthy particular person, was not in a position to get there. TOM ROBBINS: Well, you understand, it’s illustrative of the identical incontrovertible fact that the Mayor couldn’t turn out votes for himself, he couldn’t end up folks to the polls at all. And yet they didn’t come to the polls. I mean, to go to Juan’s level, they didn’t even prove, which exhibits that — I mean, two issues. I can’t think about how terrible the dad and mom must feel about having raised two youngsters who’d do this. He had gotten town council, despite two referendums setting time period limits, to overturn the bounds final 12 months in order that he might run for a 3rd term. JUAN GONZALEZ: And, of course, the issue, the massive challenge, for a lot of voters was that he had overturned – Bloomberg had overturned time period limits.