A records lesson for candidate de Blasio: Why John Lindsay’s presidential marketing campaign, like that of such a lot of different mayors, flamed out
Mayor de Blasio spent the weekend campaigning for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. With extra than 20 candidates, calling it a crowded discipline looks like an understatement. Few countrywide Democrats appear to have been impressed with the mayor’s statement, and 3-quarters of city residents assume the presidential run is a terrible concept. Term-limited and increasingly more unpopular in New York, de Blasio squaddies on.
Historically, being mayor of New York has essentially been a political useless-quit. No New York mayor because the 1870s has moved directly to higher office. Mike Bloomberg has toyed with jogging some instances, but to date has no longer devoted. Rudy Giuliani ran for the Republican nomination in 2008, but his marketing campaign never took off, and he dropped out early.
The maximum famous case of a New York mayor jogging for president, in reality, the only current issue of a mayor flying while he kept the City Hall activity, is John Lindsay in 1972 — and the consequences of that race do no longer bode nicely for de Blasio.
Unlike de Blasio, Lindsay had been thought to be a future presidential candidate for years. Tall, handsome, and charismatic, he started his career as a liberal Republican from the antique Silk Stocking district on the East Side of Manhattan. He became elected mayor in 1965 on a promise to reinvigorate town management, take at the so-referred to as “energy agents,” and halt the towns with the aid of then obtrusive decline. In the technology of suburbanization and white flight, Lindsay made city problems matter.
After a tumultuous and controversial first period, Lindsay misplaced the Republican mayoral number one in 1969 however squeaked out re-election via running as an unbiased. A 12 months later, knowing that his increasingly more liberal politics aligned extra closely with the Democratic Party of that generation, he switched events.
[More Opinion] High courtroom’s ballot bungle: New York’s leader choose moves to blow against transparency using retaining election pictures from public view.»Like de Blasio, Lindsay had reached his limits within the city by way of 1972. He almost definitely wouldn’t run for re-election in 1973. His 1965 campaign slogan became “He’s Fresh, and Everyone Else is Tired.” By 1972, John Lindsay turned tired, so he ran for president.
After a decent displaying within the Arizona primary, Lindsay headed to Florida, in which he in no way gained any traction and finished in fifth place.
Why did it cross so poorly? A mixture of political miscalculation and naivete. He desired to carry city problems to the countrywide stage, however even within the Democratic primary, those thoughts never received much interest in 1972.
[More Opinion] FRIDAY Readers hold forth on helicopters, Biden and Uber.»Meantime, residual anger against Lindsay from transplanted New Yorkers in Florida became symbolized by using the presence of an aircraft flying over the Miami beaches as Lindsay became campaigning beneath. The aircraft turned into hired by a former New Yorker, and the banner study: “Lindsay Spells Tsuris,” the Yiddish word for trouble.
After the defeat, Brooklyn Democratic boss Meade Esposito put the final nail in Lindsay’s marketing campaign by way of announcing: “Little Sheba better come home.” The humbled mayor did return domestic to complete out the the rest of his mayoralty, but his political profession changed into over.
