Is Teddy Roosevelt on your debate night bingo card?

Daily Point

Arena debate

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a radio interview that, almost every morning, he reads a speech by Theodore Roosevelt, commonly referred to as “The Man in the Arena.”

The 1910 speech decries chirping critics, claiming that the “credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.”

Adams identified. “I’m in the arena,” he told lawyer and host Arthur Aidala.

The quote is a favorite of politicians in general and New York ones in particular. Bruce Blakeman, now the Nassau County executive, has used it, as has Staten Island Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who admired Roosevelt and once had a CNN show called “In the Arena.”

The phrase is also a favorite of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who called the man in the arena sentiment “one of my favorite inspirations” in a formal address to New Yorkers last August as she took over from Andrew M. Cuomo.

One wonders whether the phrase will make an appearance Tuesday evening during the first and apparently only televised debate between Hochul and her Republican challenger, Rep. Lee Zeldin.

Both candidates squabbled over how or whether they might step into that particular arena, with Zeldin calling for multiple debates, Hochul agreeing to just the one, and Zeldin ultimately signing on this month.

For all the bold speechifying about getting bloodied and marred in that proverbial dusty arena of action, plenty of New York politicians over time have skipped out on zones of confrontation, be they free-flow news conferences or ample debates.

That includes the 2006 gubernatorial primary, when Spitzer faced Roosevelt-related criticism from rival Tom Suozzi, then the Nassau County executive. Suozzi went to the Buffalo site where Teddy took the oath of office upon the death of President William McKinley, urging then-Attorney General Spitzer to get in the arena for more debating. In customary New York fashion, the two politicians argued about how many debates were enough and what counts as a debate anyway.

And, there was the same suggestion of a Rose Garden-style strategy — where an official uses the power of incumbency and official events — that Hochul has deployed in large part for much of this cycle.

"Teddy Roosevelt didn't rely on just subpoenas and lawsuits," said Suozzi of Spitzer.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

The mandatory preelection anti-vax event

What is old is new again — at least when it comes to the controversy over vaccines.

Just a few weeks before Election Day, local candidates have returned to the issue of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

And it will be the centerpiece of a news conference scheduled for Wednesday outside the Dennison Building in Hauppauge.

“It’s A Parent’s Right To Choose,” says a poster that’s been shared on social media. “Will Gov. Hochul mandate the Covid19 vax for K-12 school, if elected? We the People deserve an answer!”

Of course, it’s not that simple. Even if Gov. Kathy Hochul wanted to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of those required to attend school, such a change would need approval from the State Legislature first.

But Assembly members Jodi Giglio, Doug Smith and Jarett Gandolfo, along with State Sen. Alexis Weik and CD1 candidate Nick LaLota are putting the issue at Hochul’s feet. The candidates are joining with an advocacy group called Moms for Liberty to “demand Gov. Hochul’s stance” at the Wednesday news conference, the flyer said.

The renewed focus on the issue came after last week's vote by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory group to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the recommended immunization schedule for children and adults. While the CDC’s decision says nothing about mandating the vaccine for anyone anywhere, it does allow states and localities to make the decision. And that has turned the issue into a political rallying cry — again.

Hochul’s opponent, Rep. Lee Zeldin, has promised to oppose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren.

But politicians and advocates aren’t the only ones pushing the message. This time, it seems, they’re hoping students will play a role, too.

“Keep your children home from school and bring them!” says the online poster advertising the Wednesday event.

In other words, students should miss school to protest the possibility that they wouldn’t be able to attend school due to a vaccine mandate.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Pencil Point

Blowing in the wind

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Final Point

Endorsed … or not

A recent mailer from Assembly candidate Brian Curran promises that the Republican will “keep criminals behind bars” and highlights that Curran had been “endorsed by law enforcement.”

That doesn’t seem very newsy in an election season full of such mailers. But this time, there was a problem.

Two of the three groups specifically cited on the flyer as having endorsed him actually endorsed his opponent — Assemb. Judy Griffin, a Democrat.

Griffin told The Point she has received 13 endorsements from law enforcement organizations — including the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association and the Nassau County Detectives’ Association, each of which were highlighted on Curran’s mailer, which went to about 25,000 households.

“They know in me they have someone who not only supports them and stands up for them, but that I’m really on it,” Griffin told The Point. “They know they can count on me.”

When asked, Curran said he wasn’t aware of any mailer with incorrect endorsement claims and would look into it. When The Point asked Curran for further comment, Mike Deery, a spokesman for the Nassau County Republican Committee, responded, calling it “an error.”

“Inadvertently, the shields that appeared on one mailer were erroneous,” Deery said. “The campaign apologizes for that … It has not been replicated on any other mailers and it won’t be.”

Deery told The Point that Curran had seen the mailer before it went out but did not notice the shields.

Curran’s incorrect mailer comes on the heels of an email from Republican State Senate candidate Jack Martins to supporters that incorrectly claimed he had the New York City PBA’s endorsement. Martins also said it was an “error” — when the endorsements came out, the nod went to State Sen. Anna Kaplan.

Griffin, meanwhile, noted that she received the same endorsements in 2020, leaving no reason for Curran to assume he would’ve gotten them. Griffin added that her support of bail reform hadn’t hurt her relationship with law enforcement groups, adding that she advocated for changes they wanted.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall