Vintage Blakeman – your man in NYC
Bruce Blakeman back in 2010. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
Tonight Bruce A. Blakeman expects to celebrate his reelection as county executive. But 16 years ago, he was broadcasting an electoral pitch for himself that contrasts sharply with the profile of his current campaign: Mr. Suburbia.
In 2009 Blakeman, a perennial candidate, sought the Republican nomination for New York City mayor. He ran an ad that hinted "I’m one of you" to residents of the five boroughs. "Bruce Blakeman is running for mayor! Bruce Blakeman grew up on the border of Queens and lives in Manhattan!” Watch it here.
Fact Check: Located in one of the most western parts of Nassau County, Valley Stream is on the border of New York City.
"Bruce Blakeman's qualifications and experience are as follows: he was a busboy, dishwasher, bartender, garbageman, janitor, bouncer, teacher, lawyer, councilman, legislator, commissioner and businessman." Those qualifications were piled up on the screen as visuals in the low budget production.
Maybe the "Manhattan" and "border of Queens” patter could be useful next year if he runs for governor and seeks to get the 30% or so he would need to cut into New York City’s overwhelmingly Democratic vote. But this year in the suburbs, his GOP scenario was pure MAGA.
Nobody knows how Blakeman might have done in 2009 had he stayed the course. But incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg that year ended up delaying his succession by getting a law passed that suspended the city’s two term limit so he could seek a third. Blakeman dropped out once it was clear that Bloomberg, who won in November, was in the mix.
Bloomberg would later become one of Donald Trump's sharpest critics while Blakeman became known as Long Island’s top Trump cheerleader, demonizing all Democrats local, state and national.
Tunes do change from one campaign to the next. At 70, Blakeman's ambitions remain high, even after electoral losses in previous decades. A win tonight could be the entryway to the county executive setting his sights as high as they have ever been.
"He's run for every job except dogcatcher," said a longtime Hempstead Republican. Could that be the true significance of the dog in this old ad?
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
