Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has proven to be quite a formidable force in the 2010 race to keep her New York Senate seat, chasing off potential Democratic and Republican opponents before they even enter the race.
But at their convention this week, the New York GOP had to pick someone to face Gillibrand in November, and ended up with two potential candidates who the Democrat is demolishing in the polls.
So who could be the GOP’s Daniel to the Democrats’ lion?
After two rounds of balloting, former member of the Nassau County Legislature Bruce Blakeman won the official party designation, with David Malpass, former chief economist for Bear Stearns, scraping together enough votes to force a primary on September 14.
Former Rep. Joe DioGuardi, who was endorsed by the New York Conservative Party, was also on the ballot. And though he didn’t get enough votes to get into the primary, he says he will petition his way onto the ballot.
Evan McMorris-Santoro wrote back in March that Gillibrand has proven so formidable because she “has made it tough for any Republican to get any leverage — she’s too much of a centrist to get challenged by someone like a Mort Zuckerman on the Republican side and she’s too willing to talk with her state’s sizable progressive community to get attacked from the left.”
And though the names of several prominent New York Republicans have been floated as potential Gillibrand challengers, none have jumped into the race. Among them: Newspaper and real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman, former Bush Administration Iraq spokesman Dan Senor, Rep. Peter King, former Gov. George Pataki, and of course, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Which is why the already-fractured Republican Party was left with several relative unknowns who are being crushed by Gillibrand in potential matchups. According to the TPM Poll Average, she leads Blakeman 50.6%-27.7%, Malpass by 50.2%-25.2%, and DioGuardi by 50.4%-27.4%.
