Battling Bella by Leandra Ruth Zarnow

Author:Leandra Ruth Zarnow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvard University Press

A Race to Be Watched

Abzug threw her hat into the ring for a shot at challenging the Conservative-Republican senator James L. Buckley shortly after the Ninety-Fourth Congress commenced. On February 5, 1975, she announced she was exploring running for the Senate. “I’m a full-blooded politician,” she told the New York Times. “I’m in it to stay.”10 By November, she was one of a crowded field of eleven potential candidates.11 By the time of her formal announcement in May 1976, her competition had narrowed to Ramsey Clark, Andrew J. Stein, Abraham Hirschfeld, and Paul O’Dwyer. One month later, on June 10, Daniel Patrick Moynihan entered the race.

Abzug feared Moynihan’s challenge most. She did not expect Hirschfeld, a parking garage developer who urged, “Let a businessman put New York back in business,” would be a strong contender.12 Nor was she particularly worried about New York State assemblyman Stein, who lacked name recognition. Abzug had greater difficulty differentiating her politics from Clark and O’Dwyer. A lawyer from Texas, Clark rose quickly in the Department of Justice under President John F. Kennedy, served as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s attorney general, and became a vocal critic of the Vietnam War. While simpatico with Clark, Abzug believed she could outmatch him on the issues, could argue he was untested in elected office, and could point to his recent defeat two years prior when running against Republican senator Jacob Javits. New York City Council president Paul O’Dwyer was an old associate in the National Lawyers Guild virtually in step with Abzug politically, but more willing to cultivate establishment party support. An Irish immigrant, he had worked at the docks and in the garment industry before becoming a lawyer who represented underdogs—striking laborers, civil rights workers, and antiwar activists. Yet, because O’Dwyer had run for the House of Representatives, for mayor, and for the Senate, losing two of these races to Javits, Abzug again thought she had a fighting chance.13 She was more concerned about Moynihan, since her campaign solicited polling data that suggested he would be a formidable opponent. With Clark and O’Dwyer in the race, her edge narrowed and Moynihan trailed closely behind according to the polling findings. Undecided voters could swing his way, whereas she faced a handicap since a sizable number of respondents had rejected her vehemently.14 The results presaged difficulties ahead.

For the next two months, Abzug and her aides actively lobbied to keep Moynihan out of the race. Representative Charles Rangel, acting as a proxy for Abzug, characterized Moynihan as a divisive figure in a letter he circulated to legislators in April. Abzug secured endorsements early from Lieutenant Governor Mary Ann Krupsack and from Pamela Harriman, wife of Moynihan’s old boss Governor Averell Harriman. Abzug tried to elicit support from Governor Hugh Carey, who steered clear of endorsements even though he was “all for DPM.”15 Abzug’s staff worked quickly to reach out to local leaders upstate, hoping to get to them before Erie County Democratic chair Joe Crangle, a central architect of Moynihan’s bid.

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