The Merry World of Local Democrats

When I was a freshman, working on the campaign of Mark Green, a Democrat who ran against Michael Bloomberg for New York City mayor in 2001, felt like the right thing to do. So I signed up with a friend and handed out campaign literature on 103rd Street the day before the election. My friend knew nothing about Mark Green; upon trying to give a crash course, I realized I didn’t know much, either. She was female, though, which attracts more conversation than anything one can learn from The New York Times’ metro section. Most people ignored me.

Some played along and took the brochure. A couple gave me encouraging words. My female friend was slightly more effective, though the people she talked to did not strike me as likely voters. I only remember one interaction from that day. As I handed out a brochure and said, for the thousandth time, “Please consider voting for Mark Green on election day,” a 20-something-year-old woman stopped and looked at me.

“Did you see that ad he ran against Ferrer?” she demanded, referring to a negative ad Green had run against Fernando Ferrer, an opponent in the Democratic primary. “It was disgusting. Disgusting.”

She walked down the subway steps, shaking her head. I stammered something that she couldn’t hear. I had no answer, because she was right: the ad, which implied that Ferrer did not understand the meaning of September 11, was disgusting. Emasculated, I returned to Columbia shortly afterwards and went the next day to Green’s “victory party.” Of course, Green, who sucked as a candidate, lost. It seemed a fitting conclusion to the charade.

As a freshman, I, like most others, came to Columbia a reflexive Democrat. I am still a Democrat most of the time, but sometimes, I’m not.

This year, each of the Democrats running for mayor seems sillier than the next. There is Anthony Weiner, a Congressman who, in the course of attending to federal business, decided that the scholarship of Columbia’s MEALAC department was not up to snuff and called for the firing of Joseph Massad. There is Ferrer (again), the Bronx borough president who until recently was the comfortable frontrunner. Then, he said that the killing of Amadou Diallo was not a crime, even though he was arrested for protesting it at the time. The litany of pandering continues all the way down.

Michael Bloomberg can be defeated. About three times as many New Yorkers voted for John Kerry as voted for George Bush. He has based his candidacy on an ill-conceived plan for a West Side Stadium. Politically—and, for that matter, economically—it’s not smart. It’s not popular, either. But Bloomberg does not care. Criticisms have only made him fight harder. Would a single Democrat in this race stick to principles like that? I doubt it.

Even though Columbia’s campus is notoriously political, students do not care about city politics. Virtually nobody can name our city councilman, and few, I’m guessing, could name two Democrats running for mayor. Of course, most of us are not from the city. Local politics seem disconnected from our lives, and a recent New York Times story about ridiculous bills proposed in the City Council drove this point home: among the gems is a bill banning the sale of used underwear in the city and another demanding that animals be humanely treated at that staple of New York life, the rodeo.

Only occasionally do city issues affect college students. Mayor Bloomberg’s law banning smoking in restaurants is the most prominent. The same Times article that ridiculed some Council bills mentioned another that could help us: a proposal that would require movie theatres to list the time films start, instead of the time previews start. But these are exceptions to the rule, especially for the many students who plan on leaving New York after their undergraduate years.

George Bush’s victory last year likely pushed more people into the camp of automatic Democrat. It probably did not convince many people of the importance of city politics. It will be fascinating to see how mobilized Democrats are for the candidate who ultimately wins. It seems as if the race is shaping up like the 2000 campaign, with a number of Democrats, none especially strong, weakening each other (and themselves) until the primary. After that, the winner will face a Republican candidate coronated months earlier who has an unlimited amount of money to spend. Even with the overwhelming Democrat advantage in voter registration, whichever Democrat wins seems to be in trouble.

I won’t be in New York this year for the mayoral election, and Mark Green won’t be running. But I’m sure there will be people in the same position I was four years ago—instinctively working for some Democrat, without really knowing what that means. This year, like four years ago, it doesn’t mean much.