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In the Race to Succeed Weiner, a Surprising Anger at Obama
But it was there that Dale Weiss, a 64-year-old Democrat, approached the Republican running for Congress in a special election and, without provocation, blasted the president for failing to tame runaway federal spending. “We need to cut Medicaid,” she declared, “but he won’t do that.” She shook her head in disgust. “He is a moron.” After nodding approvingly for a time, the Republican candidate, Bob Turner, signaled for an assistant to cut off Ms. Weiss. Frustration with Mr. Obama is so widespread, he explained later, that he tries to limit <a href="http://www.womenstruereligionjeans.com/womens-julie-sunset-pass-p-168.html"><strong>Womens Julie - Sunset Pass</strong></a> such rants to about 30 seconds, or else they will consume most of his day. “It’s endemic in the district,” Mr. Turner said. “You can’t stop them once they get started.” The Sept. 13 election for the Ninth Congressional District seat became vacant this summer when Mr. Weiner quit over an online ###### scandal. The race was widely viewed as a sleepy sideshow — a mere formality that would put David I. Weprin, a Democratic state assemblyman and heir to a Queens political dynasty, into a seat known for its deep blue hue. Instead, the race has become something far more unsettling to Democrats: a referendum on the president and his party that is highlighting the surprisingly raw emotions of the electorate. National Democrats, alarmed by a poll that showed the contest far closer than anticipated, are privately fretting that even a close outcome in a working-class swath of Brooklyn and Queens may foreshadow broader troubles for the party in 2012. The Siena College poll, conducted early this month, showed Mr. Weprin with an advantage of 6 percentage points, within the margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 points. Suddenly Mr. Weprin’s aides have ramped up fund-raising, enlisting big-name figures like Senator Joseph I. Lieberman to headline events. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has dispatched operatives to advise the candidate. And the campaign, aided by big city unions, is drawing up an extensive field operation to turn out the vote. Few predict a Republican upset: registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by three to one in the district. But it is not uniformly liberal — many Orthodox Jews live there, for example — and even those closest to Mr. Weprin grudgingly describe the contest as uncomfortably competitive. On paper, Mr. Weprin seems like a sturdy candidate; he is the former chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee and the son of an Assembly speaker. His message seems tailor-made for the district: he promises to protect Medicare and raise taxes only on the super-rich. But the election, waged with little news media attention, offers scant time to remind voters of his biography. And after a long summer of stock market gyrations and battles over the federal debt, voters seem determined to register their frustrations with Washington. “The issue defining this race,” said Robert Zimmerman, a member of the Democratic National Committee from New York, “is the confidence that the electorate has in this district about the national Democratic agenda.” Mr. Turner, a retired cable television executive running as a business-minded opponent of deficit spending, acknowledges that uneasiness over Mr. Obama could prove decisive. Asked about his strength in the poll, he smiled mischievously. “Suddenly,” Mr. Turner said of voters, “they are faced with the most brilliant, dynamic, charismatic, Scott Brownesque candidate,” referring to the Massachusetts senator. Or, he added, people are so angry with the president “that they can put up some tired old guy with no political experience and he could actually win.” “You can pick your poison,” he said. “I suspect that behind it is a great deal of discontent in the district.” That suspicion was confirmed by interviews with voters like Theodore Feimer, 66, a retired teacher who lives in the Breezy Point section of Queens. He said he was upset with the president and Democrats over the rising national debt. “I have never spent <a href="http://www.cheaphervelegerdresssale.com/black-ribbons-bcbgmaxazria-scoop-neckline-dress-p-14.html"><strong>Black Ribbons BCBGMaxAzria Scoop Neckline Dress</strong></a> more money than I made,” he said. “The president is way off base in his spending.” Mr. Feimer, an independent, views Mr. Weprin as an extension of Mr. Obama, and wants to restore balance to Congress. “We live in a tremendously blue city in a blue state,” he said. “Weprin to me is part of the party regime.” Mr. Weprin, 55, said the unhappiness was understandable. “People are frustrated, they are worried,” he said. “The top guy is the easy guy to take it out on.” But he said voters were just as likely to be irritated with Washington Republicans for their brinkmanship over the debt ceiling and threats of tipping the country into default. In much the way that Mr. Turner tries to link Mr. Weprin with the White House, Mr. Weprin seems determined to identify Mr. Turner with the Tea Party. He refers to Mr. Turner, 70, as “my Republican, Tea Party conservative opponent,” even though Mr. Turner avoids the Tea Party label. The race has already produced flashes of elbows-out campaign tactics. Mr. Turner has produced a television commercial skewering Mr. Weprin for supporting the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near ground zero. Assemblyman Michael G. <a href="http://www.thomassabocheap.com/thomas-sabo-crystal-beads-necklace-tsnl043-p-59.html"><strong>Thomas Sabo Crystal beads necklace TSNL043</strong></a> DenDekker, a Weprin ally, called the advertisement “emotional manipulation that just isn’t appropriate.” And Mr. Turner blames Mr. Weprin for automated telephone calls to voters claiming the Republican would gut Medicare and Social Security. “It’s a deplorable political ploy,” Mr. Turner said. In an unusual tactic, Mr. Turner, a Roman Catholic, is directly appealing to Jewish voters by criticizing Mr. Obama’s policies on Israel, despite the fact that Mr. Weprin is an Orthodox Jew. But in the end, the race is likely to turn on the district’s die-hard Democrats. Special elections generally draw little attention or enthusiasm: advisers to both candidates predict that in a district with more than 300,000 registered voters, as few as 50,000 will vote. On Friday morning, Mr. Weprin worked a small crowd inside a senior center in the Howard Beach section of Queens, arriving just as aerobics class was coming to an end. Some voters assured him that, as the Democrat, Mr. Weprin had their vote. Others seemed skeptical. “I’m not sure,” said Angelo D’Agostino, a retired firefighter, who steered the conversation to Mr. Obama. “He’s mishandling everything.” Mr. Weprin urged the crowd to vote, his tone at times pleading. “Do you know about the election?” he asked a woman sitting in a row of folding chairs. Leaning in, he cracked a nervous joke. “Your vote,” he told her, “is going to count twice.”
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