State Sen. Bill Perkins
Campaigned for: Obama

“I started out very, very early with phone calling. We had opened up our operation on Malcolm X Blvd. and 130th Street, and we were flooded all day with volunteers from all over who very were excited and inspired. We sent them out to polling sites; we did phone calls; we did subways. We chanted, “Fire it up! Ready to go!” We recognized that the New York Giants and Barack were very much alike. As underdogs, we exceeded the expectations, and we’re hopeful that the Giants’ victory will be our victory as well.



Council Speaker Christine Quinn
Campaigned for: Clinton

“I called my partner’s father, Anthony Catullo, who lives in New Jersey. And I said, ‘You did good.’ And he said, ‘We did. We made sure our voices were heard.’ So I think it was the Catullos that brought New Jersey home."

At the party:

“So we’re in the holding room, and it’s me and Rob Reiner and Fran Drescher. I have a big laugh. Me, Rob Reiner and Fran Drescher all start laughing at the same time. It’s like the biggest burst of noise! Fran Drescher started rubbing Rob Reiner’s head for good luck.”





Council Member Helen Foster
Campaigned for: Obama

“In my stronghold precinct, I spent the day making sure we had information out. I actually spent the weekend stuffing mailboxes with all my volunteers. And then today, just making sure that literature got out and people were getting to polls. The important thing was we had people showing up because as you know it’s not a winner take all.
The memorable moment for me was, of course, since forever we vote as a family. And all of us going to vote and people saying, ‘Not only did we vote for Obama but we voted for your dad,’ who’s an Obama delegate. So it was really good.”










Rep. Anthony Weiner
Campaigned for: Clinton

“I was at a couple of polling places. It’s funny. A lot of people were talking about Obama, but in my neck of the woods, a lot of people weren’t voting for him. … It’s not a difficult sell in a New York audience. I campaigned in Iowa, New Hampshire, and I was in South Carolina and Nevada. A lot of this country has a very two-dimensional caricature of Hillary Clinton. And it takes some work to fill that caricature in. … You start out sentences in New York with ‘You know…,’ and you start sentences in Nevada with ‘You might be interested to know….’”





Lt. Gov. David Paterson
Campaigned for: Clinton

“Very inspired Hillary supporters. Probably more inspired Obama supporters. I tried to tell them all that she’s meant for New York State, but in a situation like this, where I had a pretty good idea that she would win the state and win most of the delegates, what I was trying to make sure is that a lot of enthusiastic people, a lot of people who’ve never voted before, don’t go away in November. … I noticed that half the people called me senator and half the people called me lieutenant governor. So I finally told the other half, ‘It’s okay. This way I can double dip.’”

“At one polling place in Harlem, a bunch of people, as they were going out, they said, ‘It’s our time.’ Since they were leaving and not coming in, I said, ‘Yeah, it’s our time.’ And I’ll be back in a couple of months to tell them, ‘It’s our time to vote for President Clinton.’”


Rep. Jerrold Nadler
Campaigned for: Clinton

“By the time people are walking in to vote, very few are convince-able. But a few, a few. One guy says to me, ‘I’m leaning to Obama, but I’m convince-able.’ So I spent 10 minutes talking to him. I said, ‘Did I convince you?’ He says, ‘Yeah, but I voted a couple of hours ago.’ I wanted to kill him.”

“I was at a school. All these little kids were in the yard. I’m right on the other side of the fence. They’re like eight-, nine-years-old, and I hear them talking about the primary. And one says, ‘I’m for Obama, because we need real change.’ And the other kid looks at him, says, ‘Yeah, but Hillary’s better on health care. She’s got more experience.’”