GOP Activists in New York Fretting State May Be Getting Short Shrift

With polls showing President Bush within striking distance of Senator Kerry in New York, some Republicans are fretting that the state GOP may be focusing too much of its resources on better-known swing states while giving New York short shrift.College Republicans and others who have signed up for GOP e-mail lists report being inundated with messages urging them to pack their bags for Florida, Ohio, or other states considered to be toss-ups between Mr. Bush and his Democratic challenger.“I know they’re reaching out to a lot of Young Republican clubs,” said a 27-year-old Manhattan woman who runs a pro-Bush blog, Karol Sheinin. “They pay for your expenses to get there and they house you. They usually give you some money for food.”In addition, mid-ranking officials in state government are being urged to take vacation and set up shop full-time in a swing state until November, according to a veteran adviser to New York GOP candidates.“They’re going to people in the administration and asking them to take a leave,” said the political operative, who asked not to be named. “They’re looking at sending people to Pennsylvania. They just sent three people to Nevada…. They’re definitely recruiting people to go to battleground states.”The Republican adviser said the long-distance effort could hurt the GOP in Albany, since all the state legislative seats are on the November ballot.“The fact that they’re not putting resources locally will have a direct negative impact on what’s happening in New York State,” the operative said.“There’s a lot of grumbling,” he said, adding that the party could lose as many as four Assembly seats this year, as well one seat in the state Senate.A spokeswoman for the Republican State Committee, Karin Kennett, said the state party is taking a neutral stance in its assignment of campaign workers.“We’re really leaving it up to the volunteers,” she said. “If they want to go to a swing state, we’ll help them do that. If they want to stay here and work, we’ll help them do that.”Asked whether there is a concerted effort by the New York party to send GOP activists out of state, Ms. Kennett said, “It’s not something we’re really aware of happening.”Nevertheless, the chairman of the Kings County Republican Party said yesterday that state and national party leaders are neglecting efforts to turn out votes for Mr. Bush in New York City.“We can do exceptionally well, but we need help,” said Herman Singer of Brooklyn. “So far the national and the state hasn’t given me a poster, a palm card, a bumper sticker, and I don’t understand why.”“I wish they would make a great attempt to win New York,” Mr. Singer said. “I think New York can be in play, particularly among the Jewish people. Most of them can be convinced to turn around and vote Republican.”The chairman of the New York College Republicans, Daniel Centinello, said his group has received a number of requests to field volunteers in other states.“We’re sending people out to Pennsylvania and Ohio to do some literature drops and do some voter registration drives,” he said.Recent polls suggest Mr. Bush has surged in New York. One survey released on Tuesday showed Mr. Kerry with 49% support and Mr. Bush with 44% in the state.That poll and others have prompted Mr. Centinello’s group to change its plans for the weekend before Election Day, he said.“We’d been asked to come down to Pennsylvania that weekend,” Mr. Centinello said. Now the group plans to head down a week earlier, before returning to New York for the final days of the contest.“That way our local candidates will still have us to be at the polls,” he said.New Yorkers who visit the Bush-Cheney Web site are greeted with the following message: “Turn Out Voters in a Swing State, Travel to a swing state & help on Election Day.” Those who click on the link are sent to a signup form that lists 18 states where a volunteer might work, including Arizona, Florida, Ohio and West Virginia. New York is not among them.A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, Kevin Madden, said more than 33,000 New York residents have signed up to volunteer for the campaign in some capacity. He said the campaign’s base is large enough that organizers can draw personnel from New York without endangering local voter turnout efforts.“We’ve been tremendously successful in building a grassroots organization that allows us to be everywhere at once, effectively,” Mr. Madden said. “This is such a team effort and it’s such a well-managed effort and it’s such a large effort that we’re going to able to effectively deploy our grass roots.”One GOP strategist, Daniel Allen of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, confirmed that veteran GOP campaign managers in New York are being urged to head out of state. He portrayed the requests as a tribute to the skills of New York’s GOP activists.“Operatives involved in New York on the Republican side are in high demand,” Mr. Allen said. “It’s a testament to how well the New York party is able to put together their ballot-security and get-out-the-vote efforts.”Mr. Allen said state and local party organizations would get by even without some of their most seasoned help. “They have the necessary resources to do what they need to do,” he said.Political insiders watching the exodus say the out-of-state experience often helps the careers of those who make the trip, as well as their patrons back home. The observers said they have seen no sign, so far, that the Bush-Cheney campaign is moving significant resources into New York State.One county GOP chairman claims to have detected a slight change in the campaign’s attitude toward New York. John Glenzer of Chautauqua said that until recently the campaign was making him pay for Bush-Cheney posters and signs.” Up until the last week or so, we had to buy the stuff if we wanted it,” Mr. Glenzer said. He said he recently got word that he’ll be getting several hundred yard signs for free.“Now that it has gotten closer in the state of New York,” Mr. Glenzer said, “evidently the Bush people are going to send some materials up.”

GOP Activists in New York Fretting State May Be Getting Short Shrift

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