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IN New York City, New Democrats aren’t Bill Clinton or Dick Morris. They are Democrats who support Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani for reelection. One reason is opportunism. Their party’s candidate is not going anywhere: Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger won a humiliatingly narrow victory in a Democratic primary that had the lowest turnout in years. The last time New York re-elected a Republican mayor was 1941, but the next time will be next month. The day after the primary, Mayor Giuliani received the submission of fifty Democrats who recognized this reality at a press conference in City Hall Park.

The party bolters spoke in generalities appropriate to the awkwardness of their situation. A city councilwoman from East New York said she believed that “bringing the city back to where it should be does not have one iota of race or party, but the man who can do the job.” A state assemblyman from Bensonhurst said Giuliani came to his district four years ago “and listened very hardly.” A labor leader recalled the words of a hymn: “”Let the work that I have done speak for me.’ Let the work that he’s done speak for him.”

About the Author

Richard Brookhiser

Historian Richard Brookhiser is a senior editor of National Review and a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

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IN New York City, New Democrats aren’t Bill Clinton or Dick Morris. They are Democrats who support Republican mayor Rudy Giuliani for reelection. One reason is opportunism. Their party’s candidate is not going anywhere: Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger won a humiliatingly narrow victory in a Democratic primary that had the lowest turnout in years. The last time New York re-elected a Republican mayor was 1941, but the next time will be next month. The day after the primary, Mayor Giuliani received the submission of fifty Democrats who recognized this reality at a press conference in City Hall Park.

The party bolters spoke in generalities appropriate to the awkwardness of their situation. A city councilwoman from East New York said she believed that “bringing the city back to where it should be does not have one iota of race or party, but the man who can do the job.” A state assemblyman from Bensonhurst said Giuliani came to his district four years ago “and listened very hardly.” A labor leader recalled the words of a hymn: “”Let the work that I have done speak for me.’ Let the work that he’s done speak for him.”