Dan's Papers - October 31, 2008

Years ago, then Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas "Tip" O'Neill said, "All politics is local." This year's election in the First Congressional District in New York is all but local. That is because incumbent Democratic Congressman Tim Bishop, who boasts that his family has been around Southampton for over 400 years, is running against young 29-year-old Republican challenger Lee Zeldin of Shirley, New York. Zeldin's family, with Eastern European roots, has been around Long Island for one generation. Zeldin fought in Iraq with the United States Army Reserves, where he held the rank of Captain.

What we have in this election is the national debate concerning the United States' commitment to the war in Iraq and our future fighting in all wars. In a fundraiser event this summer in Sag Harbor, Bishop stated his opposition to the continuing efforts of the Bush Administration with its foreign policy centering on Iraq. He accused the President of impeachable offenses, citing many of what he considered disgraces of Bush's domestic and foreign policy decisions as being "un-American."

Zeldin, on the other hand, has wrapped himself in the American flag, believing very much in the mission in Iraq and looking at the situation as someone who served there. He supports the mission, while Bishop considers it almost criminal. Although Bishop has the cloak of incumbency around him, he may be running a little scared because Republicans out-register Democrats in the First Congressional District by double digits. Bishop usually handles this reality by running superb campaigns against usually disorganized Republican opponents. However, that is not true this time, as the grassroots campaign of Lee Zeldin has hit a certain chord on his side of the Shinnecock Canal. In fact, with the expected heavy turnout to vote against Barack Obama in Republican areas, Zeldin may in fact get a voter turnout more favorable to him. An expert of the district, a Bishop supporter, said, "A large turnout does not favor Bishop, due to large numbers of registered Republicans."

The contrast between the young, forward-looking immigrant family Republican versus the Liberal Democrat who has a pedigree as long as anyone could on the East End, is quite a contrast, since Republicans typically have the pedigree and Democrats are the immigrants. But the much younger Zeldin seems to be taking this campaign very seriously and actually plans on winning. Bishop, never one not to take every election seriously, has been making many more appearances on the western side of his Congressional District. It is not clear why he feels the heat this year when the whole country seems poised to keep the Democratic Congress in Washington.

When I heard Bishop speak, he was less than totally confident, which shocked me. When I met his challenger, I began to understand the concern. Zeldin seems to be a tireless campaigner who is connecting with his Republican base on the grass roots level. The fact that he served as an officer in military intelligence seems to give him an edge in planning a war-like strategy for this election. Visiting with him while he was taping a TV show, I saw something special, as I did in Bishop: a charismatic energy, a winner's head. They both have it - which makes for a good election. With his law degree, military service abroad and work in Washington, D.C., Zeldin (who is married with young twin daughters) appears to be hungrier than Bishop. He also has the ethnic angles working.

However, Bishop has been a good steward of the district and has been on the right side (according to public opinion) of many issues.He voted for the Wall Street bailout. With history and a proven record behind Bishop, logic would tell you there is no way he could lose. Bishop told his gathering that this time he truly needs their votes and a large Democratic turnout. Zeldin is seemingly focused on the future and thus not held back by the unpopular President Bush. Bishop seems focused on the failed record of this President. In the end it is the odd juxtaposition of the more mature Tim Bishop being the liberal, and the young immigrant son, Lee Zeldin, being the conservative.

During the debate at the Montauk firehouse on Oct. 20, the two men faced off yet again. And once again it was experience versus, perhaps, the future. Bishop explained why he voted for the bailout, to help Main Street, and Zeldin said he would have voted against the bill in order to punish those who put us in this position. They agreed they were in favor of nuclear - but not on Long Island. They were cordial toward each other. It was what democracy is about: two local men talking a wide range of issues in front of a local crowd at a firehouse in small town America.