Yvette Clarke

New York City women who support Barack Obama held a rally at City Hall yesterday, ostensibly to counter the post-Palin storyline of female voters moving to John McCain.

At the end of the rally, I asked some attendees if thought Palin was being treated fairly during the campaign, or if, as Hillary Clinton asserted during her campaign, sexism is still an issue on the campaign trail.

“I can’t speak for Ms. Palin,” said City Councilwoman Letitia James.

“Nor do I think that we need to waste much time on it!” shouted actress Kathleen Turner.

The crowd roared. Afterwards, Representatives Nydia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke took turns at answering the question.

Bill Clinton will speak at a fund-raiser tonight for Representative Ed Towns, whose challenger, Kevin Powell, is trying to frame Towns' support of Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary as a political liability.

The event is taking place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein, on East 64th Street. Clinton is expected to speak around 7:30 p.m. Others expected to attend include Representatives Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The invitation, which was forwarded to me by a reader, also lists notable figures like Governor David Paterson, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Representative Charlie Rangel, although it doesn't say whether they will attend.

Yesterday afternoon at City Hall, Congresswomen Yvette Clarke and Nydia Velazquez announced jointly that they are endorsing Bill de Blasio for Brooklyn borough president.

These early endorsements follow announcements of support for de Blasio from UNITE-HERE and The NY Hotel Trades Council. Combined with the campaign's announcement yesterday of having raised "nearly $1 million dollars" ("$177,454 this filing period and $621,891 this cycle"), de Blasio is looking a bit like a foregone thing. (It's unclear at this point exactly who else is running.

The endorsements were announced on the City Hall steps, with about 25 or so supporters standing behind the congresswomen and de Blasio, squinting into the sun and holding "For Brooklyn '09'" signs.  read more »

The Democratic club home to Representative Yvette Clarke and her mother, Una Clarke, a former City Council member, will hear presentations tonight from State Senator Kevin Parker and one of the Democrats trying to unseat him, City Councilman Kendall Stewart.

Una Clarke said the presentations will be made to the executive committee of the club and are not open to the press. She also said the third Democrat in the race, City Councilman Simcha Felder, has not asked to speak to the club. Felder announced his candidacy for the seat only a few weeks ago, and Clarke says, "There is still a lot of unknown about him in the community.”

When asked which candidate she was leaning towards, Clarke replied, “I am not leaning -- I am standing straight until I get a level playing field and figure out what exactly is happening.”

Clarke said she thinks this primary shares some similarities with the 2006 Democratic primary in Brooklyn's 11th Congressional district-- the contest won by her daughter -- when there was considerable speculation that the district’s African-American voters would be divided among the three black candidates, giving the only white candidate a victory. Clarke thinks Felder poses a threat if he “gets a solid vote in his community, and the other votes are split in many ways.”

   read more »

David Paterson spoke with Barack Obama around 2 p.m., he told reporters in Midtown during the New York State Democratic Party’s meeting.

“He asked me how the first two and a half months were going," Paterson said. "And I told him it might have even been more difficult than your campaign.”  read more »

Here's a brief moment of disunity at a unity rally in support of Barack Obama on the steps of City Hall this afternoon.

Representative Ed Towns was answering a question about the fact that Christine Quinn and other City Council members weren't there, and then, well, State Senator Bill Perkins and Representative Yvette Clarke kind of got in each other's way.

Representatives Greg Meeks, Yvette Clarke and Ed Towns put out a joint statement just now endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.

They are planning a 1 p.m. press conference at City Hall on Friday. There's another press conference happening in D.C. at 1 p.m. today.

All of them they previously endorsed home-state Senator Hillary Clinton, although Obama won their districts on the February 5 primary.

According to an aide for Meeks, Charlie Rangel, Bill Thompson, Helen Marshall, Malcolm Smith and Adolfo Carrion, Jr. will also be there.

Here’s the statement:  read more »

Unlike David Paterson, Representative Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn is staying on message for the Clinton campaign, and just told me she thinks it’s a little early to write off Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.  read more »

Citizens Against Government Waste published its annual list of congressional earmarks (they actually call it the Congressional Pig Book list).

Of course, what one person calls wasteful spending, another person calls bringing home the bacon, and now that Democrats are in the majority, New York was supposed to be getting more federal money.

The state made out with a good portion, particularly in the Catskills, where Maurice Hinchey brought in $43.7 million.

Here is a list of what some members from New York, and a few from elsewhere, brought their districts, according to the list. (It's in numbers of millions):  read more »

David Paterson was just sworn in as governor here in the Assembly chambers on the third floor of the Capitol building in Albany, to cheers of "David! David!"

Paterson acknowledged distinguished guests, including his "good friend" Joe Bruno.

Charlie Rangel, a major supporter of Hillary Clinton, is joining Chuck Schumer and a growing number of superdelegates who think the Democratic nominee should reflect the popular vote, not the will of the superdelegates.

From Newsday:  read more »

A reader sent along this invitation to a fund-raising event for freshman Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, taking place later this month.

As far as I know, no one has publicly said they will run against her. Has anyone has any rumor of a challenge?

Barack Obama has relatively strong support from local elected officials in and around the 11th congressional district in Brooklyn, the heart of his support in New York City.

But the district's newly-elected Congresswoman Yvette Clarke supports Hillary Clinton,  read more »

Rebecca Sinderbrand sends in this dispatch from Washington:

Hillary Clinton received a polite reception at the Congressional Black Caucus's Annual Legislative Conference – with most members in attendance applauding and joining in the obligatory standing ovation – but she didn't quite capture the crowd; a few grim-faced members of the audience pointedly refused to rise or cheer.

The senator has been a regular attendee at the conference for years, but her appearance at today's forum – the only stand-alone invite offered to any of the 2008 candidates – has been a source of controversy among many of the politicians and activists who've gathered here in Washington. That's because the CBC's own regulations technically limit participation in these kinds of policy discussions to the 43 current members of the caucus.

The Clinton invite broke with that practice, and critics have taken aim at what they view as the politicization of the caucus, which has traditionally taken a nonpartisan approach during the campaign season. (Clinton actually has a slight edge over Barack Obama in support from current CBC members, although the overwhelming majority are officially undecided.)

More after the jump.  read more »

Yvette Clarke is about to endorse Hillary Clinton for president today, according to a campaign aide, signaling that the last New York Democratic congress member has put aside what she admitted was a grudge against a Clinton adviser.

Howard Wolfson, a close aide to Hillary Clinton, served as an adviser to one of the candidates Clarke faced in a contentious congressional primary last year. After winning, Clarke balked at endorsing Clinton for president.

In a television interview, Clarke told NBC that, “I think that that needs to be addressed in order for the community to feel like that something like that would not occur again.”

In January, New York sent four freshmen to congress. So far, they have authored a total of 23 bills.

Nine came from Michael Arcuri upstate. Another nine came from John Hall in the Hudson Valley. And the last five came from Kirsten Gillibrand from Glens Falls.

Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, so far, has not authored any. (After a reader pointed this out to me, I checked it on Library of Congress web site.) I emailed Clarke's office to ask if that was accurate. A spokesperson from Clarke's office, Vanessa Milara, emailed to say, “Yes that site is accurate. She has not introduced legislation, however she has co-sponsored a variety of legislation."

I missed this at first, but shortly after the culmination of Mathieu Eugene's tortuous ascent to the City Council, he went up with a web site to promote a re-election campaign that will represent his third run for the same office in the space of a year.

The picture here of Eugene with Rep. Yvette Clarke and her mother, Una, is from Eugene2007.com, which was created on May 3rd. That's just a few days after, as his biography puts it, he "made history when he won two special elections to become the first Haitian-born elected official in the state of New York."  read more »

A knowledgeable source tells me Hillary Clinton met yesterday with the only Democratic Congress member from New York who hasn’t endorsed her yet: Yvette Clarke.

The two had a “heart to heart,” according to my source. The meeting comes shortly after Clinton’s closet Democratic challenger, Barack Obama, picked up the endorsement of state Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, and as other local elected officials are thinking of endorsing him also.

Clarke’s reason for holding out on Clinton, as far as anyone knows, are more parochial than ideological. In an interview a few weeks ago with NBC, Clarke confirmed that part of the reason she didn’t want to endorse Clinton was because Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson worked against Clarke in her four-way Democratic primary for Congress.

I'm waiting for calls back from the offices of Clarke and Clinton.

Freshman Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, the only Democratic member of the New York delegation yet to endorse Hillary Clinton for President, just confirmed a report on the reason she's holding out.

She hasn't endorsed yet, in part, because Hillary spokesman and advisor Howard Wolfson worked on the Congressional campaign of David Yassky, who was one of Clarke's opponents in last year's four-way primary.

Here is NBC's transcript of Clarke's interview this morning with John Noel:

JOHN NOEL: The fact that her political consultant worked for your opponent in the congressional race, does that play into this at all? YVETTE CLARKE: Of course that raises a big flag, you know, puts up an antenna because again that was an issue that the community was very ill at ease with. And we've had some conversations about it to be quite honest with you. And I think that that needs to be addressed in order for the community to feel like that something like that would not occur again.

UPDATE: Wolfson responds:

"My work for David Yassky was based on a decade of friendship with him. I have enormous respect for Congresswoman Clarke and look forward to supporting her re-election."

-- Azi Paybarah

A source at CBS said they'll have an interview later this morning with freshman Rep. Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn.

In case you somehow forgot, she who won a brutal four-way Democratic primary last year, and who more recently made headlines as the only New York Democratic congress member to not endorse Hillary Clinton.

The interview will be streamed live around 10:30 a.m. over here.

-- Azi Paybarah

Mathieu Eugene isn't the only candidate from the first special election in Brooklyn's 40th Council District to enter the second special election in that district. Wellington Sharpe, who had a modest results earlier, confirmed he's running again. And this time, he said he'll have the support of one-time Yvette Clarke staffer Nancy Ramos, who'll be in some kind of managerial position.

The second-place finisher, Jennifer James, is expected to make a statement about the race later today.

There are grumblings that other candidates from that first race may jump into this special, special election.

Candidates have until March 21 to file petitions in order to appear on the ballot.

-- Azi Paybarah

Representative Anthony Weiner has lots to do in the House of Representatives.    read more »

Certainly, there's been a lot of talk since last year's midterm elections about loosening the ties between lobbyists and members of Congress. But what happens when the lobbyist and elected official in question happen to be mother and daughter?

Here's an email from former Council member Una Clarke, now a registered lobbyist, about an April 1st event to raise money for a bipartisan non-profit group that supports women in government.

Women Celebrating Women with Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke Sunday, April 1st, 2007 Greetings My Dear Friend and Supporter!

We have been extremely busy of late, and have come to a concensus to postpone this great annual celebration to April 1, when we will have a great Brunch/Dinner at the usual venue - The Ramada Plaza at JFK Airport.

Reserve your tickets and your journal advertisements We have this year an extraordinary line-up of honorees, as we continue the tradition of honoring those women who have been drivers in the community. Time is still of the essence, and you need to reserve as soon as possible for your tables, as well as your journal ads. Please send an email to kittyclarke with "WCW RSVP" or "journal ad" in the subjecty line.

Reminder of the guest costs  read more »

* General Admission is $100. * Gold Contributor: $150 * Diamond Supporter: $250

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Here's a view of the City Council, where Speaker Christine Quinn is discussing a package of legislation aimed at improving safety at night clubs.

Note the empty desk behind her. That's where Yvette Clarke used to sit and, presumably, where Mathieu Eugene would have been sitting if he had been sworn in. He and Vinny Ignizio, who also won a Council Seat during the February 20 special election, have yet to take the oath of office.

For whatever reason, the results of their elections still haven't been certified by the city's Board of Elections.

-- Azi Paybarah

Errol Louis has more on the residency problems facing newly elected City Councilman Mathieu Eugene, whose swearing-in ceremony was just postponed. because he lives outside the district.

[UPDATE: Eugene's campaign manager called to say that neither newly elected Council member was sworn in today because the outcomes were not certified by the city's Board of Elections.]

A reader reminds of a certain irony in the fact that Eugene's strongest supporter in this race, former Council member and current Representative Yvette Clarke, lambasted her opponent last year for moving three blocks into the district a year before the race started.

Eugene's campaign manager, Joe Placide, told me yesterday that his candidate is still looking signed a lease February 1 for an apartment.

-- Azi Paybarah

The much sought-after Daily News endorsement in the City Council in Brooklyn went to Yvette Clarke's former fund-raiser Jennifer James.

Here's what the News said:

"A local political activist, lifelong Flatbush resident and daughter of Caribbean immigrants, she has broad support in a diverse district. Also welcome is a promise to donate any "lulu" pay beyond her salary to charity."

Last year, the News endorsed Yvette Clarke for Congress, while the New York Times backed David Yassky.

In the Council race this year, the Times is backing Jesse Hamilton, an attorney and Democratic district leader. Clarke is backing another candidate, Mathieu Eugene.

-- Azi Paybarah

Journalists Sam Tait, Tony Best and I are going to moderate a televised forum for candidates in the special election to fill the City Council seat in Brooklyn that was recently vacated by Representative Yvette Clarke.

It'll air tonight between 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Time Warner channel 56, and on CableVision channel 69 in Brooklyn.

The candidates in the race are Mathieu Eugene, Jesse Hamilton, Wellington Sharpe, Jennifer James, Moe Razvi, Harry Schiffman, Zenobia McNally, Joel Toney, Karlene Gordon, and Leithland Tulloch.

What should we ask them?

-- Azi Paybarah

While some Representatives from New York try figuring out their position on the Iraq War resolution, expect to hear newly elected Congresswoman Yvette Clarke's position on the war around 10 a.m. on C-SPAN.

On the campaign trail, Clarke's message about the war was this:

"Imagine a Congress that was half female, allowing our children to be sent to war, in harm's way without an extremely good reason."

-- Azi Paybarah

The New York Times endorsed Jesse Hamilton in the special election for Yvette Clarke's old City Council seat in Brooklyn.

The Times was careful to explain that ethnic politics had nothing to do with their decision, writing:

"While we like anything that might help increase voter participation -- ethnic and cultural pride included -- there are more important considerations here than the origins of the candidates."

It seemed more than a little reminiscent of the careful explanation of their endorsement of David Yassky in the race-influenced Congressional primary won by Clarke last year. ("There are many, many intelligent, hard-working and high-achieving young African-Americans in central Brooklyn who once considered careers in politics and then moved on when the party machine proved unenthusiastic or downright antagonistic. That failure of leadership is reflected in the current race. The residents of the 11th District deserve the best representation possible.")

Of course, it was the Daily News -- a highly influential paper in this part of Brooklyn -- which, coincidentally or not, endorsed the eventual winner in that Congressional race. So it will be interesting to see if they come up with something here that will trump Hamilton's Times coup.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a mailer for Jennifer James, one of the candidates running in the upcoming special election for Yvette Clarke's council seat in Brooklyn.

James, who used to serve as Clarke's finance director, makes prominent mention of her former boss's name, though without implying any endorsement. (Both Yvette and her mother -- former Council member Una Clarke -- are supporting another candidate in the race.)

-- Azi Paybarah

Here are a couple of visible reminders (from this morning) of the upcoming special election for the Yvette Clarke council seat.

While this race has gotten relatively little attention -- compared with, say, the $5 million special Senate election in Nassau this week -- it has, at least, prompted a number of influential figures within the party to take a rooting interest.

Clarke, who gave up the seat when she was elected to congress, is backing Dr. Mathieu Eugene; Councilman Lew Fidler, Rock Hackshaw and other notable Brooklyn operatives are backing Wellington Sharpe; the formidable Kevin Wardally, of Bill Lynch Associates, has contributed money to Jennifer James.

Eleven more days.

-- Azi Paybarah

Lambda Independent Democrats last night endorsed Zenobia McNally for the Brooklyn City Council seat vacated by Yvette Clarke, according to a source in the club.

To qualify for the club's endorsement, candidates were asked to fill out a questionnaire explaining their stances on LGBT issues and attend last night's meeting in Brooklyn. The fact that not all of them did was a factor in their final decision, the source said.

-- Azi Paybarah

Yvette Clarke may have played up the female angle in last year's congressional election, but that was nothing compared to this.

From a piece on Clarke in The Hill:

Clarke isn't your typical half-lost, conservatively dressed freshman. More runway than House floor, upon arriving at lunch she unwraps a thick, multicolored scarf and removes a long, pretty beige overcoat to reveal an animal-print Gianni Versace suit -- a mid-thigh-length skirt accompanied by a short blazer. A beige fur cap covers a sleek new hairdo. "Now that my hair's so short I can feel the breeze," she says, explaining that she recently removed her hair weave. She says people in Congress have been doing double-takes at her fur cap. She doesn't care. She stands tall in black wedged heels.

Now I ask you, if the election had turned out differently, would anyone be writing this way about Chris Owens or David Yassky?

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a list of people who filed petitions with the city's Board of Elections to run for City Council, courtesy of the encyclopedic Jerry Skurnik.

For the record, there appear to be 13 names down to run for the Yvette Clarke seat.

The filing deadline was yesterday.

-- Azi Paybarah

The field of perspective replacements for Yvette Clarke on the City Council is continuing to thin itself out.

A reader forwards this email from Geoffrey Davis, the brother of slain Councilman James Davis:

Greetings Friend,

After exploring the idea of running for City Council's 2007 special election. We (The James E. Davis political Club) decided not to run, but continue to build better community relationships while providing Educational, Cultural, Political and Social programs. The James E. Davis Political club will interview candidates and make a collective decision on who we will endorse. Thank you dearly for your prayers, support and words of wisdom. your friend in the struggle,

Geoffrey A. Davis, MS

-- Azi Paybarah

It looks like the Haitian-American Council Steering Committee has found their candidate for the special election for the City Council seat Yvette Clarke vacated with her election to congress.

Ferdinand (Freddy) Zizi was endorsed by Haitian-American leaders, according to a press release sent to me around 4 a.m. the other day.

"Freddy Zizi was selected among six talented, highly educated and qualified candidates that included: Georges Boursiquot, Mathieu Eugene, Rita Joseph, Yves Rene, Emmanuel Roy, and our choice for this race, Ferdinand "Freddy" Zizi. The vote to select Freddy Zizi was carried in a most democratic and fair process. The Haitian-American Council Steering Committee is confident that Mr. Ferdinand (Freddy) Zizi has all the qualities and necessary skills to effectively represent the interests of the 40th Council District community at the New York City Council, and to continue building on the legacies of the Clarkes."

The formal announcement is expected in Brooklyn tomorrow around 4 p.m.

-- Azi Paybarah

While the race to fill Yvette Clarke's seat in the City Council is heating up, the move to find someone else to chair the City Council's Contract Committee is also underway.

One Council staffer sent word that calls were being made in Brooklyn asking members there who would like that chairmanship, which is to say it's not kind of wide-open selection process that we're seeing elsewhere.

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader with his eye on the calendar sends word that while most people were listening to Eliot Spitzer's first major policy speech to lawmakers, there is some good old fashioned political work to get done elsewhere.

Today is the first day of petitioning for candidates looking to run for the City Council seats vacated by Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, who is now in congress, and Andrew Lanza, who won a seat in the state Senate.

Because these are special elections, there are no primaries and candidates must run on party lines they create.

Hopefully, it will become clear pretty quickly how many of the army of candidates who are supposedly running for these seats are actually serious.

-- Azi Paybarah

It’s hard to say much about newly elected Congresswoman Yvette Clarke without first talking about  read more »

One informed reader informs me that the field of competitors to fill the City Council seat being vacated by Yvette Clarke include may actually be shrinking.

Candidates still actively jockeying for position, according to the reader, include:

Jesse Hamilton, whose poster you can see here;

Ferdinand Zizi, who won support from the Haitian American Steering Committee, and is registering his political committee now;

Zenobia McNally, who ran against Yvette in 2005, but is the only person in the race who ran district-wide so far;

Dr. Mathieu Eugene, who heads a sports non-profit in the district for a number of years and has wide name recognition in the Haitian community.

But the reader says that four other candidates who were until recently planning on making a run have since dropped out because they didn't get the support of the Haitian American Steering Committee.

Anything we're missing?

-- Azi Paybarah

The city's newest congresswoman, Yvette Clarke, will get sworn into office next year, but the jockeying for her city council seat is well underway.

According to the encyclopedic Jerry Skurnik and a City Council source, the Mayor will call the special election within 3 days of the vacancy occurring (January 1). Then, the election is held within 30 or 60 days.

There are no run-offs, and it's a non-partisan race. Candidates have 10 days to petition and they follow rules as if they are creating your own party.

The race could have as many as six or seven candidates, some of whom I mentioned here.

Yesterday, two more candidates emerged. Jesse Hamilton and Zenobia McNally spoke to the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats club where one attendee asked them about the Atlantic Yards [corrected].

According to Daily Gotham, when Hamilton was "asked about Atlantic Yards he gave a somewhat vague answer," and "Zenobia did seem too wary of directly criticizing Ratner's plan." -- Azi Paybarah

Another clue about how big a role Anthony Weiner played in helping Yvette Clarke establish her Washington connections: this picture was taken a few days after the primary and is the only photo of the soon-to-be congresswoman with statewide stars Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer.

While Clarke is laying low for the moment, expect pictures like this to start popping when she gets around to campaigning for the general election against an actual Republican.

By the way, is that a cell phone Chuck is holding? The man never stops!  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

In this e-mail to supporters, unsuccessful congressional candidate Chris Owens offers this depressing update about his post-primary financial situation:

"We raised $380,000. But we now have some $30,000 in outstanding obligations. Having been "unemployed" for over a year while campaigning, I am not in a position to meet these obligations on my own and I am asking for your assistance one final time. Fundraising during a campaign is a humbling experience; doing so after the election is even more so."

He goes on to say:

We must remember that our increasing dependence upon money to activate the electorate is a most insidious disease. It leads sensible people to lose their sense when deciding who to support for public office. It leads good people -- individuals as well as well-meaning organizations -- to violate the law. If we do not pursue significant campaign finance reform from the top on down, then the alienation of our people from the political process will reach a point of no return.

Full text after the jump.  read more »

--Azi Paybarah

Before Yvette Clarke won the Democratic primary for that congressional race in Brooklyn, she had the City Council seat her mother Una once held.

Now that Yvette is bound for Washington, might Una run for her old seat?

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" emailed an aide close to Yvette.

-- Azi Paybarah

One of the deciding factors in the city's two closest congressional primaries on Tuesday, wich were in Brooklyn's 10th and 11th districts, wasn't race, or the throw-the-bums-out attitude, or even the war.

It was unions. 1199/SEIU, 32BJ, and UNITE Here, to name a few.

In the 11th, unions seem to have out-soldiered the anti-Antlantic Yards contingent -- at least judging by the final result -- by pulling enough voters out to send Yvette Clarke to Washington. Next door, the unions seemed to stay away from Rep. Ed Towns, who cast votes in favor of CAFTA (a union no-no), and with Republicans on a bankruptcy bill. Towns won, of course, but with less than half the vote.

It's worth keeping an eye out to see what role the unions play in the race to fill Clarke's City Council seat.

-- Azi Paybarah

One theme Yvette Clarke rode to victory on Tuesday was that she was the only woman in the four-way Democratic primary for Rep. Major Owens's seat in Brooklyn.

But in the race to fill her soon-to-be-vacated seat City Council seat, so far, women candidates are scarce.

One knowledgeable reader suggested the following as a list of possible contenders to take her place:

-- Wellington Sharpe, who has run for numerous offices and was kicked off the ballot in his race against Assemblyman Nick Perry

-- Moses "Musa" Moore, who just lost his re-election as District Leader and is a close ally of Clarence Norman and Carl Andrews

-- Dr. Mathieu Eugene, who heads an after-school program in the center of the district and is a member of Community Board 14 and is said to have support among the area's Haitian community

-- Samuel Nicolas, a lawyer and cousin of police brutality victim Abner Louima

Any others?

-- Azi Paybarah

Feeling pretty good this morning, if a little tired, are the folks at Knickerbocker SKD, who have two of yesterday's primary winners as their clients: Yvette Clarke in Broolyn's 11th congressional district, and Brian Kavanagh in Manhattan's 74th Assembly district.

In an attempt to revive the IMterview tradition, I reached out to one of the consultants there, Micah Lasher.

azipaybarah: how do you feel this morning?

micahlasher: Tired, satisfied, relieved.

azipaybarah: you guys helped kavanagh and yvette

azipaybarah: what's your secret?

micahlasher: secret is picking winners

azipaybarah: what's common among them?

micahlasher: kidding aside, i think when you work for folks who you want to win, first, that usually says something about their intrinsic qualities as a candidate -- which translates into votes, and second, when you really want them to win, really want it in your bones, it's a lot easier you really bust your ass and fight for it

micahlasher: and that's how we felt about both yvette and brian

micahlasher: i was putting up posters for brian kavanagh at 4:30am yesterday....that's a lot easier to do when it's something you really want to see happen

azipaybarah: do pros like you have to be true believers?

micahlasher: not always

micahlasher: but it helps  read more »

More IMterview after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah