New York
Related: About this forumCharlie Rangel Really Might Lose This Time
Josh Robin
When he's in charge, Charlie Rangel charms. The Harlem Democrat, longtime dean of New York City's congressional delegation, calls order at large meetings with piercing whistles, fingers in his mouth gym teacher style. "Hey gang!" Rangel, 84, pipes in an old-time uptown accent part Barry White, part Groucho Marx ("certain" is pronounced "SOI-tan" . His pompadour glistens.
But when Rangel is threatened, out comes his scowls and these days you can often see those thick eyebrows narrowing. He could lose the seat he's held since John Lennon and Yoko Ono played the Apollo Theater. And it may hinge on Rangel's own derisive remarks about an opponent's ethnicity.
"Just what the heck has he done besides saying he's a Dominican?" the 22-term congressman asked at the first televised debate June 6. He was referring to his main competitor, Adriano Espaillat, a state senator from the Washington Heights section of Manhattan who would be the first from the Caribbean island in Congress if he wins the four-person race (there's no Republican running).
Referring to what he claimed was Espaillat's fixation on his own heritage, Rangel told reporters after: "It's difficult to talk about ... I mention it because because it may be true."
http://www.buzzfeed.com/joshrobin/charlie-rangel-really-might-lose-this-time?s=mobile
MADem
(135,425 posts)I wished he'd just gone gently last time around, and then gone on to do other things.
It's not good to fight down to the wire. His district has changed. He doesn't have as many deep roots as he once did.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Might take weeks to count the absentee ballots.
MADem
(135,425 posts)It's not like that district is going to go red, after all--and he's got a few years left in him to do something philanthropic and legacy-building.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)He stayed two terms too long.