Israel calls GOP upset win a 'bad inning'

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Steve Israel last week compared the Republican upset in New York's special congressional election Tuesday to a bad inning in a New York Mets baseball game.

"I'm a Mets fan. An error and a bunch of unearned runs doesn't mean you've lost the game," he said in an interview Thursday.

Israel (D-Dix Hills) has honed the outlook since becoming chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last December, moving into the party leadership after representing his Suffolk County district since 2000.

"You can't allow one special election in one specific district with one unique set of circumstances [to] change a long-term strategy," he said.

Still, Tuesday was a tough day, he said, as he saw losses in special elections in New York and Nevada set back his drive to win back the House for Democrats in the 2012 election.

Israel conceded he was hit hardest by Republican Bob Turner's defeat of Democrat David Weprin in his own backyard, a Queens district with a 3-1 Democratic registration and more than eight decades of Democratic representation. "I hated losing," Israel said.

Democrats lost that 9th District after a sexting scandal led Rep. Anthony Weiner to quit, and a Weprin campaign with more misses than hits, Israel said.

"Even he, with his smarts, couldn't see this coming," New York political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said of Israel.

Israel said he and his campaign committee tried to do everything possible to salvage a win. "We had over a thousand bodies on the ground. We spent $800,000," he said.

He personally poured in $7,000 through his leadership PAC and his congressional campaign fund, records show.

Yet even the $500,000 the DCCC spent on a TV ad did more harm than good, some political analysts said.

Aired days before 9/11, the ad initially depicted an airplane flying over the New York skyline -- sparking criticism. The campaign committee quickly removed the skyline from the ad. "The ad backfired," said David Birdsell of Baruch College's School of Public Affairs.

A DCCC aide said Israel had not reviewed or approved the ad, which was an "independent expenditure" unconnected to Weprin's campaign. That meant that by law, Israel and others working with Weprin couldn't be involved in the ad, the aide said.

Despite a 2-to-1 advantage in funds and 6-to-1 advantage in outside ads, Weprin lost. Turner said, "It was strongly the economy, jobs, the looming deficit. I think the people were ready for a different message."

Tory Mazzola, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman, said the DCCC's "last-ditch effort" failed because the election was "a referendum on Barack Obama and his policies."

Israel did not totally disagree with that assessment.

Democrats also blame the district's conservative bent, former Mayor Ed Koch for making the race about U.S.-Israel policy, and a strong GOP candidate.

Israel said things would be different in the next special election on Jan. 31 for the seat vacated by Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.), who also quit in a sex scandal. And he rejected the idea that Tuesday's losses would influence or predict the 2012 general elections.

In keeping with his baseball metaphor, Israel said, in effect, wait until next year.

"You've got to keep your eye on the ball," he said on a day the Mets lost their fourth straight game last week. "These are battles in a long war."