Dr. Finger and Other GOP Underdogs Fight To Take Office

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Dr. Steven Finger is running for Congress in Brooklyn, but he doesn’t want his patients to think he’s abandoning them.

“I’m not closing the office, so I don’t want people to think I’m a lame-duck doctor,” he says.

Most political analysts would say his patients needn’t worry — Dr. Finger isn’t likely going to Washington anytime soon.

The ear, nose, and throat specialist is up against a Democratic City Council member, Yvette Clarke, in Brooklyn’s 11th district, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than a 10 to one margin. He is one of the many Republicans running shoestring campaigns for Congress and the state Legislature across a city that is home to just less than 550,000 registered Republicans and nearly 3 million Democrats.

“I’m not deluding myself that I have a great chance to win here,” a candidate for Assembly in Brooklyn’s 44th district, Yvette Velazquez Bennett, said.

A former information systems engineer for Met Life and a self-described “home-schooling mom,” Mrs. Bennett teaches a curriculum that includes creationism and pro-life philosophies to her two teenage daughters.

Mrs. Bennett is running on the Republican and Conservative lines against James Brennan, a Democrat who was first elected in 1984 to represent a district that includes ultra-liberal Park Slope. Democrats have a five-to-one advantage overall in the district.

Focusing on social issues, tax cuts, and advocating “school choice,” Mrs. Bennett said she hoped to “revitalize the Republican base that has been sleeping in this district.”

Mrs. Bennett ran for the City Council against Bill de Blasio and took 17% of the vote, which was considerably more than Republicans had previously attained in the district. “I’d like to pull off another surprise,” Mrs. Bennett said, although she declined to give a specific percentage as a goal.

Despite her miniscule chances of winning, Mrs. Bennett has drawn praise for her effort and energy in waging the campaign. A Brooklyn political consultant, Jerry O’Brien, called her a “bright newcomer.”

While a good showing is probably the best Mrs. Bennett can shoot for in her race, other Republican candidates in the city have higher hopes.

On Manhattan’s East Side, where the gap between Democrats and Republicans is closer, GOP hopefuls for state Senate and the Assembly are targeting voters who supported moderates such as mayors Bloomberg and Giuliani.

A former prosecutor with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Robert Heim, is running on the Republican, Independence, and Liberal party lines against Assemblyman Jonathan Bing in the 73rd district. He runs a private law practice and is an occasional legal commentator on cable news programs.

Calling himself a “Bloomberg Republican,” Mr. Heim said he considered the district “open-minded and willing to vote Republican given the candidate.”

The mayor lives in the district, although he has not endorsed Mr. Heim.

On the East Side, an investment analyst, Philip “Flip” Pidot, has taken leave from his firm to wage a campaign against Senator Liz Krueger, a Democrat first elected to the 26th district seat in 2002. In addition to the GOP line, Mr. Pidot is running on his own “Growth” party label and is targeting what he calls the “hostile, punitive tax system” that is forcing businesses out of New York.

The state Legislature is known for favoring incumbents — so much so that an election is often likened to a lifetime appointment. But Ms. Krueger and Mr. Bing have each served just two terms, and both replaced Republicans who had served for more than a decade.

While Mr. Bing won re-election in 2004 with 72% of the vote and is expected to win handily again, he says he is taking nothing for granted. “I take every race seriously, regardless of the fact that Mr. Heim appears to be underfinanced and has little support in the community,” he said. Mr. Bing has spent more than $70,000 on the race and said he is out greeting voters virtually every morning.

For the Republican and Conservative parties, simply finding candidates willing to go on the ballot is sometimes the biggest challenge in the city’s many districts that are overwhelmingly Democratic.

“You don’t get a torrent of people looking to run, but we’re very pleased with the quality of the candidates that have come forward,” the executive director of the New York County Republican Committee, Marcus Cederqvist, said. He added: “Some candidates run because on an idealistic level, they believe voters should have a choice.”

Republicans have the added challenge this year of going up against a strong statewide Democratic ticket featuring Senator Clinton and Eliot Spitzer, who are expected to win by large margins.

Dr. Finger, for one, isn’t giving up hope. He is spending less than $5,000 in his race against Ms. Clarke for Congress, and he is campaigning mostly at night and on the weekends when he isn’t treating patients. He insists he’s in it to win. “I’m not doing this as a lark,” he said. “If I get the usual 10% Republican vote, it’s not going to make me feel very good.”


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