I could be wrong but I think that Obama will win SD-15 with approximately 60% of the vote...If I'm right, this is another example of Serf being out-of-touch with the district...
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It is one of the most hotly contested races on the ballot for the general election. Nonetheless, State Senator Serphin R. Maltese says that he is encouraged about his re-election prospects on Nov. 4, because he expects to benefit from the presence of John McCain at the top of the Republican ticket.
Mr. Maltese, a Republican who represents a moderate- to conservative-leaning district in Queens, said that his party’s presidential candidate is popular enough in the 15th State Senate District to provide coattails for candidates, like him, who are farther down on the ballot.
“I think that John McCain will run a very competitive race in my district,” Mr. Maltese said in an interview on Tuesday. “I expect he will get perhaps 50 percent of the vote in my district. That means I have more of a shot of getting not just the Republican votes, but the votes of other independent voters in my district.”
Two years ago, Mr. Maltese, who was first elected to the Senate in 1988, was challenged by Albert J. Baldeo, a lawyer who was not particularly well known in the district and who was not backed by the Democratic Party organization in Queens. That year, Mr. Baldeo came within 2 percentage points, about 900 votes, from defeating the longtime senator.
In this year’s race, Mr. Maltese’s Democratic challenger is City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. Mr. Addabbo has the enthusiastic support of the Democratic organization in Queens and has a well known family name (his late father was a congressman from the borough). And the party — in Queens and in the state — has made Mr. Addabbo’s campaign a priority.
The district, where registered Democratic voters outpace Republicans, stretches from Howard Beach through Middle Village to Maspeth.
Apart from the help he expects to get from Senator McCain’s presence on the ballot. Mr. Maltese also points to his support from unions this year, saying that they will provide him with needed campaign volunteers. Just last week, he was endorsed by 1199 S.E.I.U., the large healthcare workers union.
“I’m especially pleased with that endorsement because they put their men and women where their mouth is,” Mr. Maltese said. “They have assets and men and women who are willing to come out and campaign door to door.”
But Mr. Addabbo said that he has his own list of unions supporting him and that the Democratic ticket will also draw many voters to his side of the ballot.
“We have a list of unions supporting my campaign, too,” Mr. Addabbo said. “And we’re proud to have so many labor unions with us. But in the end, it’s not who endorses you that counts as much as what the voters themselves do. And we’re out there talking to voters and I think they’ll do the right thing.”
