Michael Benjamin

Almost all New York elected officials were lining up behind Hillary Clinton when Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx announced he would support Barack Obama in the summer of 2007.

Now, he'd like to be recognized for that.  read more »

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, an early Obama supporter from the Bronx, thinks the media is perpetuating a storyline about conflict between the Obama camp and the Clintons. It doesn't really exist, he told me earlier today in the Pepsi Center.

Later, I got an email from Benjamin about Hillary Clinton's speech, which he thinks should put to rest any question about a divided party.

Sen. Clinton delivered a knockout blow to those sought to foment dissension and disunity. She outdid Sen. Kennedy and she showed greater statesmanship and party loyalty than he did in 1980. Her speech will go down as the greatest seconding speech in American political history. Hillary, you go girl!

Michael Bloomberg welcomed Hillary Clinton back into New York’s political scene with a party at Gracie Mansion last night, closing the two-hour party with a live chorus singing “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”

Among the guests were Governor David Paterson, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Charlie Rangel, Barbara Walters, Chevy Chase and Tina Brown. Inside Edition sent a crew.

After trading jokes about presidential ambitions with the mayor, Clinton told the crowd of political leaders, business tycoons and reporters that she’s happily back at her job as New York’s junior senator.

Standing at a podium beneath a white tent in the mansion’s back yard, Clinton told the crowd she’s glad to see “so many of my friends, catching up with all of you, knowing that many of you put your ideas and your requests on hold, and now, the hold is off.  read more »

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx, a Democrat who has criticized Spitzer on occasions, emails:

"I'm dazed by today's news regarding Gov Spitzer's involvement with a prostitution ring. My wife, Kennedy, and I offer our prayers for Silda Wall Spitzer and her two daughters. We pray that Gov Spitzer makes the right decision for his family and the people of New York. Concerns about his character are for another day."

A sports-minded reader predicts a rebuttal to the Michael Benjamins and Paul Newells of the world, who are already writing Hillary Clinton's political obiturary.  read more »

Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Barack Obama supporter, thinks it’s over for Hillary Clinton.

In an e-mail he sent at 1:32 a.m. headlined “STICK A FORK IN HRC,” Benjamin wrote:

..She's done.

Sen Obama is 10-and-0 (11-0, if you count Washington state). The race issue can now be put to rest. America knows that he is a candidate who happens to be of African American heritage. Obama has won among men and women, across the age and class barriers.  read more »

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Here's the late-night spin Assemblyman and Obama supporter Michael Benjamin of the Bronx emailed to reporters:

This is incredible. 3AM and counting. HRC failed to deliver the knockout blow. Sen Obama won 13 states, mostly "flyover" states. California and NY are out-of-touch with the middle American concerns and values that Barack speaks to, which typifies HRC.

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin is in South Carolina this weekend, campaigning for Barack Obama.

At 12:29 a.m. this morning, he emailed a dispatch from there to reporters, which explains, “Negative campaigning hurt more than the Clinton campaign's race-baiting,” and “HRC has not proved that she can attract more than 40% of the vote. I believe that NY Hispanics will turn to Obama in recognition of his steadfast support for immigration reform w/o demonizing immigrants and his plans for economic expansion.”

The full dispatch is after the jump.  read more »

Here’s Obama supporter Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx noting that a “95-percent-white state went with Barack Obama and they didn’t lie to a pollster. They weren’t trying to be politically correct.”

While many New York elected officials are going to Iowa or New Hampshire for Hillary Clinton, Assemblyman Michael Benjamin and his wife are planning a trip to South Carolina next month to campaign for Barack Obama.

Benjamin told me he’ll try speaking with undecided voters, “particularly African Americans who are still on the fence as to who they will support. They play a major role in the primary. And if they go for him, it’ll be an overwhelming victory.”

More after the jump.  read more »

So, what does Eliot Spitzer have to do to make the upcoming legislative year better than his first one?

Democratic Assemblyman Michael Benjamin of the Bronx, who has criticized Spitzer before, told me in an email that Spitzer has to listen to some of the more seasoned politicians in Albany.

“If he took more of Shelly's advice he'd be better off," Benjamin said. "None of us want an unsuccessful Democratic governor. Spitzer needs to take counsel from the old pros. Reformers need to accept that there's no harm in listening to people like Shelly.”

Which would be quite a departure from how he approached the last legislative session.  read more »

Assemblyman and Obama supporter Michael Benjamin, who criticized Hillary Clinton after last week's debate for her much-derided answer on Eliot Spitzer's immigrant-driver's license plan, thinks Spitzer deserves even more of the blame.

Benjamin:
That question came up and all the Democrats had to answer it. And unfortunately for Mrs. Clinton she wound up giving two answers, or a non-answer, and she was pressed to give a non-answer. And the case was evident when she had to give a new release the following day to clarify her misclarification.

Me:
Whose fault was it that she was in that situation?

Benjamin:
If you want to espouse fault it would then be the governor for putting out this policy that many of us in the Democratic Party disagree with.

The governor's people, meanwhile, are still trying to sell the plan. This morning, aides to Spitzer held an informational meeting in Brooklyn Borough Hall to discuss it.

Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, a Democrat from the Bronx, says that Eliot Spitzer has done some major damage to the Democrats' chances of taking over the state Senate.

"I know it’s probably going to be problematic next year, when it comes to making the effort to finally take over the state Senate," he told me. "I think probably over the last, probably, ten months, he’s given the Senate Republicans new life. I mean, they can now argue to their constituencies in upstate New York that you need to have Republican state Senators to maintain some level of balance and oversight so you don’t have Democrats running amok all across the state when you have a Democratic Assembly, a Democratic state Senate and a Democratic governor."

Michael Benjamin, a Democratic Assemblyman who has broken with the New York party establishment to support Barack Obama, emailed his thoughts to a few reporters on last night’s debate.

“Obama came out with the right stuff tonight. He confronted Clinton on her record and scored points with each Clinton glare.

While I disagree with Obama re drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, at least, he answered forthrigthly, unlike Hillary.

Re UFOs -- their occupants are really illegal aliens. And I wouldn't issue them drivers licenses, either.”

To the short list of New York Democratic officials not supporting Hillary Clinton for president, add Bronx Assemblyman Michael Benjamin, who just endorsed Barack Obama for president.

"It was a family decision to support the candidate that will best serve the interests of America’s families," Benjamin said in a public statement just now.

No, this probably isn't the seismic development that will Hillary's home state in play for Obama. But it will get some attention, as Helen Foster and Bill Perkins can attest.

On the evening of Jan.  read more »