President Bella Abzug?

[Progressive]

NEW YORK TIMES PRIMARY ELECTION UPDATE
September 17, 1976

Abzug Edges Out Mr. Moynihan; Buckley Also Victor in Primary; Badillo, Mrs. Chisholm Winners
By FRANK LYNN

Representative Bella S. Abzug narrowly edged out Daniel Patrick Moynihan for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate yesterday in one of the closest statewide primaries in recent years.

Mrs. Abzug ran slightly ahead of Mr. Moynihan in New York City, its suburbs and upstate. But Mrs. Abzug won the race with an unexpectedly strong run upstate, including Erie County where the Democratic chairman, Joseph F. Crangle, was the chief statewide Moynihan strategist. Abzug's margin of victory likely came from Jewish enclaves inside New York City and Nassau and Westchester counties, where Moynihan failed to capture a significant amount of the vote.

With 13,805 districts of 13,805 reporting, the Democratic vote was:

Mrs. Abzug: 334,222
Moynihan:  330,098
Clark:   90,528
O'Dwyer   77,752
Hirschfeld   74,848

With 13,805 districts of 13,805 reporting in the Republican primary, the vote was:

Buckley:   223,228
Peyser:   93,761

*Some of this post was borrowed from a NYT article.*

[Fuzzy Bear]

I met Bella Abzug in person at a 1976 House party during her Senate campaign.  Although she was as extreme a liberal as it got, she was far more personable and likeable in small crowds than in the media, where she came across as brassy and crass.  She would probably have beaten Jim Buckley if she had been nominated, but it's not impossible.  She had the enmity of a number of large unions that were critical to Democratic victory in NY State, most notably the PBA and Firefighters unions.  (Michael Maye, President of the Firefighters union was asked if he would support Bella Abzug if she supported public employees' right to strike.  Maye responded:  "We wouldn't back Bella Abzug if she promised us $20,000 a year raises!)

Even if elected, Abzug could never have been elected President; she'd have lost a general election by a McGovernesque landslide.  The best she MIGHT have done was win the Dukakis states minus WV.  That's it.

[badgate]

Hilarious; continue.

[Progressive]

THE NEW YORK TIMES GENERAL ELECTION UPDATE
November 3, 1976

Calling rival Buckley a 'jackass,' Abzug declares victory in Senate race
By FRANK LYNN

Representative Bella Abzug won election to the United States Senate yesterday and shouted jubilantly at a crowded campaign office in Lower Manhattan. "It's time we took back our Senate, and tell the American people that New Yorkers want powerful women in office, not conservative jackasses."

Mrs. Abzug later struck a more sober tone, reminding her supporters that the work in the Senate would be very challenging and that she would have to confront a number of difficult and divisive issues, such as recovery from the Vietnam War and an economy in crisis.

With 13,884 of 13,884 districts reporting, the vote for Senator was:

Abzug: 3,297,000
Buckley: 2,995,292

*All other 1976 Election Results are the same as in real life*

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

That awful hat....

WHAT WHAT WHAT!

Bella Abzug's hats were the only good thing about her .

[Flake]

I don't think she'd ever be President, but its nice to see her represent New York in this scenario.

[SingingAnalyst]

Getting back to the Senate primary election, I understand this was one of the few times Ayn Rand supported a Democrat (Moynihan), so intense was her dislike of Abzug. She also voted Moynihan in the general, so intense was her dislike of Buckley.

Abzug, who died in 1997, had about as much chance to be elected President as Walter Mondale or Henry Wallace.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Getting back to the Senate primary election, I understand this was one of the few times Ayn Rand supported a Democrat (Moynihan), so intense was her dislike of Abzug. She also voted Moynihan in the general, so intense was her dislike of Buckley.

Abzug, who died in 1997, had about as much chance to be elected President as Walter Mondale or Henry Wallace.

New York politics has always been somewhat non-ideological, with a focus on interest groups and voting blocs to win over and satisfy.  Labor unions are still big in NY State, and they were even bigger in 1976.  I know it's hard for a lot of younger posters here to wrap their minds around, but REPUBLICAN pols in NY sought labor endorsement and labor votes.  And they often got them.  Al Shanker was a political liberal Democrat, but his union of teachers (UFT) often endorsed Republicans.  Indeed, Shanker's UFT support of key Republican Senators was a reason the NY State Senate remained Republican after the Assembly went Democratic in 1974.  Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits, Louis Lefkowitz, Rudy Giuliani, and even Al D'Amato are Republicans who have received important union support in their races.

Abzug was, in the mind of many union members, anti-union.  Shanker spread the word that she crossed a picket line and taught during a teacher's strike and she was labeled a scab during her 1976 campaign, and her solid AFL-CIO voting record in Congress was obscured.  The construction trade unions hated her peacenik stance, and some of those unions benefitted from war production during Vietnam, of which Abzug was an ultra-dove.  The police and fire unions despised her liberalism and her anti-cop/anti-firefighter image and posturing, and she was viewed as opposed to certain initiatives that benefitted those who opposed police and firefighters and benefitted those who would be lawless.  Had Abzug been the nominee for Senate in 1976, it is entirely possible that key NY unions would have declined to endorse Abzug and worked behind the scenes to ensure Buckley's re-election, while setting their sights on 1982.  Abzug was viewed as a person who was all for wealthy feminists and minorities, but contemptuous of working folks, viewing them as semi-Neanderthals; a Limousine Liberal out of touch with the needs of folks liberalism was supposed to advance.

Oddly enough, Abzug wouldn't be that controversial today.  Unions are less important, and the whole of the populace, especially in NY State, is much more culturally liberal.  1976 was far different, and I was there in NY.  Abzug's legacy is the amount of fame and influence she derived despite serving a mere six (6) years in the House.   

[Progressive]

Is this worth continuing?

[Figueira]

I don't know anything about Abzug but she must be a massive FF if Atlas Republicans and Ayn Rand hate her so much. And the union stuff sounds mostly like OK reasons to have disputes with unions. Please continue.