Source: Newsday
Publication Date: October 29, 2007
Race tightens as Election Day looms
DAN JANISON

One year ago, Democratic Legis. David Mejias (D-North Massapequa) was playing offense, striving to unseat veteran Rep. Peter King. In a race that drew attention well beyond the 3rd Congressional District, in an election season that turned the House Democratic, Mejias sought to saddle Republican King with the most controversial policies of President George W. Bush.

King won.

This year finds Mejias playing defense against a serious challenge from Joseph Belesi for his 14th  Legislative District seat, which he has held since 2004 when he became the first Latino elected in  Nassau government.  Republican Belesi has prodded Mejias on the controversy of the moment:   Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer's move to let illegal immigrants apply for drivers' licenses - a state, not county, action that Mejias said he opposes.

Internal polls suggest the race is tightening and that get-out-the-vote efforts will prove critical, insiders say. District enrollment is roughly 3-2 Republican. With no countywide, statewide or federal races to buoy turnout this year - but a 10-9 Democratic majority on the line - the suspense centers on who will make it to the polls.

What share of available GOP troops will be deployed in the 14th L.D.? How many will be working  instead in the 3rd L.D. - where veteran Republican Legis. John Ciotti faces Democrat Ali Mirza? What about "pull" efforts in the 18th L.D. contest between Democratic Legis. Diane Yatauro and Republican Elizabeth Faughnan? These are the key tactical questions.

Belesi accuses Mejias of sidestepping the license uproar for three weeks. "We need leadership, and I'm about leadership," Belesi said Friday. Mejias has slammed as false several of the Belesi camp's claims, including a mail piece on taxes portraying Nassau Democrats as masked robbers. "I'm not just responding to attacks," Mejias says. "I'm running on my record."

RUDY ROLLS UP: Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will be the featured attraction tonight at an election-eve rally in Patchogue for Suffolk Republicans, an appearance he's been promising county GOP Chairman Harry Withers. In Nassau, Giuliani endorsed a former legislative aide in his mayoral administration, Republican Chris Browne, who seeks to unseat four-term Legis. Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) in the 5th L.D.

FOLEY-AGE FANS: The New York League of Conservation Voters is promoting Democratic Brookhaven Supervisor Brian Foley against Republican challenger Robert DiCarlo with an expensive blitz of polling, direct mail, Web ads and phone calls. Slick color mailings went out last weekend and the calls were under way late last week, said Dan Hendrick, LCV spokesman.

TAKING A TOLL: Lawyer Arthur J. Kremer, representing charter bus companies, argued before the state's "congestion pricing" panel in Hempstead Wednesday that his clients, providing mass transit, should be exempted from the motorist fee proposed for Manhattan.