One general rule of thumb in politics is voters don’t really pay attention to a race until September and Labor Day.
Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, is probably hoping that’s the case after it has been revealed she did not cast her first ballot in an election until 2002, nearly two decades after she first registered to vote.
Normally these types of stories are much ado about nothing, but this falls right into the line of attack from her fellow Democrats: that she is a political opportunist with no real attachment to Democrats.
Rice registered as a Republican in 1984 before becoming a Democrat in 2005 to run for district attorney.
Normally when one of the candidates in a race is a minority or a woman, the others have to walk a fine line on criticism, and the possibility it could have a boomerang effect. Rice who appeared to be cruising to victory has given them an issue on a silver platter.
This is the last thing Rice needs, because it’s the type of story “that can have legs,” one that can beat like a drum all the way to the primary of whether she is an opportunist, whether she is genuine to the Democratic Party.
Newsday did the story Saturday which also examined the records of other candidates in the race, and Ms. Rice’s four Democratic opponents appear to have voted more reliably, though their records are mixed.
This Race for State Attorney General is the contest to watch.
Standing on the sidelines waiting for the winner of the primary is Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan. Donovan is a rising star in the Republican Party, someone not to taken for granted. And when you consider it appears Democrats may have two of the three jobs, (Governor and Comptroller) voters may feel comfortable with the job of AG belonging to a republican. Remember “Ned" Regan was able to hang around as a Republican Comptroller for years, while Democrats had the Governor’s Mansion, and the job of Attorney General.