Liam leaps out from the pack --- and --- the response is “More of the Same” from the usual suspects

Maybe, Liam McCabe is nothing like Keyser Soze;  then again, remember what you have to be aware of when it comes to analyzing any events arguably attributable to KS.....

Liam has had a pretty good week or two;  and his main competitors Bobby “C” and Johnny “Q,” have had to react, quickly……   perhaps more quickly than they would have liked, if they had been left to their own devices and timetables

Suddenly, after last weekend, Johnny Q’s posters and signs are popping up like mushrooms in out-of-the-way places all over Bay Ridge  ---  I haven’t really been around the rest of the district,  so I can’t comment about those locations [but, surely, some of you can]  ---  almost with equal intensity, Bob Capano has gone on one of his patented press release blitzes…..

What Bobby “C” and Johnny “Q” have in common is they are relying on tried and true techniques and tactics,  which they and their advisers  and/or consultants think had worked in the past and might work again at least one more time

Make no mistake, all three of these Republican campaigns for City Council are facing stiff headwinds in their petitioning efforts.

ELECTION LAW PETITION CHALLENGES ARE NOT OUT OF THE MIX

Those headwinds against all GOP petitioners are so significant, that I know of at least one GOP insider, who has counselled his/her favorite in the race to look very closely at his opponents’ petitions once they are filed.  Then have his candidate's folks do a real risk-reward analysis of knocking one or both of his opponents off the ballot with properly crafted general objections, well-founded and detailed specifications and all by a really capable election law advocate in the various proceedings against one or both Republican opponents. 

Thus, the possibility of one or more candidates acing their serve at “The Board” and/or “In Court,” apparently has focused the minds of all of the candidates and their campaigns on tightly-run, close to the vest petitioning efforts.  Whether it's stiff headwinds or terrain that is all-uphill-all-of-the-time,  these campaigns are apparently soldiering on to get enough "legit" signatures to withstand any and all possible challenges.  Remember, the local Federal Court pretty nearly has a substantial compliance or "close enough" standard for NYS Election Law ballot access cases.

THE PETITIONING DRAIN DOESN'T LEAVE A LOT OF ENERGY AND RESOURCES FOR NORMAL GENERAL CAMPAIGNING 

With the energy and resource drains all three candidates are suffering as a result of their very difficult petitioning efforts and their need to be prepared to defend their petitions throughout the challenges process;  it is almost a wonder that these three chuckle heads have anything left in their tanks to run an early-to-mid-summer campaign of any sort.

So far  at least,  Liam McCabe seems to have gotten the biggest bang for his buck with his well-orchestrated-and-reported antics concerning reduced garbage collection, and the wanton destruction of neighborhood trees by contractors working for rogue housing re-developers interested in creating more multiple-dwelling sights in our residential communities.

Johnny Q’s and Bobby C’s  attempted push-backs are remarkable because they happened at all.  However,  they are completely unremarkable in what they are actually doing  in the face of Liam’s  repeated leaps forward in the early- and mid-campaign phases.  "More of the same"-type  general campaigning is not a real solution to what Liam has been doing, and  is doing right now.

Unfortunately for "C" and "Q"  ---  the title above says it all,  "...  'More of the Same'  from the usual suspects..."