Capitol Confidential is reporting that Paul Tonko’s website states that he has been endorsed by the Albany County Democratic Committee, when the committee actually endorsed Phil Steck. Of course, that information was supplied to Capitol Confidential by one of Tonko’s rivals a few minutes before it was posted on the blog, not that Capitol Confidential couldn’t have found the information out by themselves.
As we have argued before, Paul Tonko’s inability to use the web is not going to diminish his chances of winning very much. If Tonko wins, he will do it the old fashioned way, by getting out and meeting people. This is where Tonko shines.
What is more significant is that Tonko turned in petitions today with more than 7000 signatures. Tracey Brooks turned in petitions with more than 5000 signatures. Both candidates have four to five times more than they need to get on the ballot.
Most candidates strive for as many signatures as possible for two reasons. First, to survive petition challenges from other candidates. Secondly, a large number of signatures on election petitions can help boost a candidate’s morale and candidacy, and to some extent is an indicator of how well he or she will do in the primary.
Phil Steck and Darius Shahinfar are the only other Democratic candidates who have filed petitions at this point. It remains to be seen whether or not some of the other candidates will have enough signatures to get on the ballot. Art Welser has already said he probably won’t.
Look for a few more candidates to drop out soon.
On the Republican side–that’s right there are Republicans running in this race–both Steven Vasquez and Jim Buhrmaster have turned in petitions. For what it’s worth, Buhrmaster’s petition has 602 pages, while Vasquez’s has 233.
