Remember the good old days when the NRCC made Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm a member of their Young Guns program? Grimm managed to beat a Democratic incumbent, Blue Dog GOP-lite backbencher Michael McMahon 65,024 (49.5%) to 60,773 (46.2%). But Grimm is a big time career criminal and Congress didn't slow him down one bit and he eventually wound up in prison. So now he's a felon-- and a candidate for Congress again.
Two of the most outstanding campaign videos so far this cycle were the ones introducing Randy Bryce (WI) and Amy McGrath (KY). Bryce immediately proved himself an even better candidate than the one his video showed. He built a powerful populist brand that is going to bring him all the way to Congress and make history by taking down Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House and a darling of the Beltway media. McGrath, on the other hand, was anything but ready for prime time.
Even Mussolini rejected the Mafia... but Bannon & Trump have no problem with the MobBannon's anti-establishment rampage so far has been directed towards Republican Senate incumbents allied with Mitch McConnell. Except in one instance: Bannon has allied with the Mafia to try to get convicted felon Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm back into Congress over the political corpse of Ryan ally Dan Donovan.
Blame Trump?Mafia thug Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm was convicted on a plea-bargain and given a slap on the wrist sentence because he had so much dirt on so many FBI agents. Now he's out of prison and feels he is entitled to run for Congress again and pretend the only thing he ever did wrong was about paperwork.
Former Mafia thug Michael,"Mikey Suits" Grimm got off very easy. He was given a sweet plea deal in return for resigning from Congress and for agreeing to not embarrass anyone in the FBI. So now he's out of prison after less than a year and already attacking former Staten Island D.A.
New York's 11th congressional district includes all of Staten Island and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, and Gravesend. Staten Island residents make up between 70% and 75% of the district's voters. Aside from being New York City's whitest congressional district, it's also the most Italian congressional district in the country.
Every endorsement for Trump is a loss for Tailgunner Ted CruzThursday night we looked at how racist Republicans in Congress could help legitimize Trump by echoing his Know-Nothing immigration platform, generally ugly positions they have been espousing for years anyway.
The DCCC has one skill-- losing congressional racesLast February we explained that the "new" Luján-run DCCC threw in the towel on the Staten Island congressional race even faster than the DCCC usually gives up. NY-11 is Michael Grimm's old seat, which has a growing Democratic edge. In 2008 Obama lost to McCain, 51-48%, but four years later Obama beat Romney 52-47%, a pretty significant swing.
In 2012, when Michael Grimm was reelected to Congress by beating weak Democratic centrist Mark Murphy-- 94,102 (53%) to 82,401 (46%)-- most of the votes (for each candidate) came from Staten Island, not from the Brooklyn portions of the 11th CD. Of 176,503 total votes cast districtwide, 130,295 came from State Island. Only 46,208 Brooklynites voted, and even though Murphy won in Brooklyn (albeit barely) it was inconsequential.
It boggled my mind that the Beltway media adamantly refused to give Michael Grimm's criminal career any serious coverage for years, even while one of the most respected investigative journalists in the country, the NYTimes' William Rashbaum, was already blowing the whistle on him. It wasn't until he threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony that reporters started imagining Grimm might actually be a criminal type.
