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Zuckerman Binds Self

Mort won’t run

by
Marc Tracy
March 03, 2010
Zuckerman last year.(Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Zuckerman last year.(Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Oh no! We were once promised the possibility of a Jewish governor and a new Jewish senator of America’s most Jewish state, but now, at least one of those possibilities seems significantly less likely. Mort Zuckerman, the Manhattan real estate and publishing magnate—and a major figure in the world of Jewish-American philanthropy and activism—has elected not to run for the U.S. Senate seat from New York currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand. (He followed Harold Ford, Jr.’s parallel ‘I’m not running’ announcement by a day.)

Zuckerman’s decision should go a long way toward securing Gillibrand’s election, this time to a full six-year term (she was appointed last year to replace Hillary Clinton). Which means New York will have to make do with a paltry one Jewish senator out of two.

On the other hand, even as Gov. David Paterson said he won’t resign (while Democrats say he should), a state worker is now telling authorities that Paterson asked her to silence a woman who was accusing Paterson’s longtime aide of domestic assault. Richard Ravitch, a nation—a state, anyway—turns its lonely eyes to you.

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.