Suozzi Names Rivera New Campaign Manager

Democratic gubenatorial candidate Tom Suozzi named Paul Rivera as campaign manager, one day after the departure of Kim Devlin.

Newsday reported yesterday that Devlin resigned at Suozzi's urging. Devlin announced Monday that she was stepping down for personal reasons.

Devlin managed Suozzi's two successful campaigns for county executive in Nassau County.

Rivera was a senior political advisor for the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign in 2004, after managing New York State for John Kerry in the Democratic primary.

He worked for Carl McCall's 2002 gubernatorial campaign in New York and previously as a White House advance person from 1994 through 2000.

Suozzi is running about 50 percentage points behind party-backed Democrat Eliot Spitzer, who also has a $16 campaign war chest.

"We have our work cut out for us, but if we run a campaign as good as our candidate, he will win," Rivera said.

Suozzi, by the way, will be holding a Town Hall meeting tomorrow night in Staten Island at the Hotel Staten Island and 7:30


KT IN ROCHESTER

Elsewhere on the docket tomorrow, Republican Senate candidate KT McFarland will address the New York State American Legion Convention in Rochester. Surprisingly, according to a press release from her office, McFarland will be discussing "veteran's issues." The former Reagan Defense Department official will also discuss "Israel's right to defend itself against attacks by Hezbollah and the importance of U.S. and U.N. involvement in the region."

CLINTON VOTES TO EXPAND STEM CELL FUNDING

Sen. Hillary Clinton was among the 63 Senators to vote today for an expansion of funding for stem cell research. As Liz Benjamin of Capitol Confidential cleverly points out, Clinton gave a 1,154 word speech on embryonic stem cell research without once mentioning the word embryo or fetus. Ever the politician.