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Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Booze, brawls and break-ups
Oasis are back. But what was it like in the band's self-aggrandising, boozy heyday? Thomas Beller revisits the '90s. In 1993, by an accident of fate, I received a promotional tape from a record company publicist, Jim Merlis, who worked with Nirvana. He had made friends with a mad Scotsman named Alan McGee and sent a cassette with a bunch of Creation acts, calling out one in particular: Cigarettes & Alcohol . "Everyone is going crazy about this band," he said. "What's the big deal?" I thought when I heard it. "T Rex with different lyrics." At that time, in the fall of 1993, I was a staff writer at the New Yorker . By the spring of 1994 I was a fired staff writer. Embarrassed at losing such a job, I fled to London. Oasis sounded different in England. I heard them on the radio, in record stores, everywhere. A lot of the excitement had to do with the singles. This aspect of Oasis feels lost now in the platform age; their early work has been repackaged on albums with titles like Stop the Clocks and Time Flies . In some ways it was the B-sides that made the biggest impact: Fade Away and Listen Up ; an early version of Columbia ; and, especially, Acquiesce . To encounter Acquiesce on a B-side added an aura of limitless possibilities to the band. And it was this limitless horizon that the songs kept emphasising. "You and I are gonna live forever" is the most obvious example, but those early lyrics are overflowing with exhortations to live, an aspiration repeated so often it almost seemed in defiance of someone having once told Oasis to drop dead. I saw Oasis live in London in 1994, and again, at Earl's Court, in 1995. I remember an acquaintance walking beside me amid the throng of fans as we entered the arena in 1994. A seemingly mild-mannered guy, he turned to me with wild eyes and said the word that encapsulated the mood: "Butterflies!". Twenty-two years later I would watch Supersonic , the documentary about their early ascent, in a half-empty theatre in New Orleans, and exit the theatre pondering where it had left us: arriving at Knebworth by helicopter. A massive crowd. A homecoming. The primal thump of the bass drum. And then ... Credits. The end. Or the end of the beginning. I met the band just on the other side of this divide between moving upwards towards the sun and the other option, falling to Earth. It was the summer of 1997. I was on assignment for the music magazine Spin . The interviews were done at the Sony sound stage on 10th Avenue, New York, a big anonymous box of a building in Hell's Kitchen. I was put in a big room and my subjects were brought to me in batches. First came Alan White, Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan (or "Guigs", as the band called him), and Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs. Then came Noel Gallagher. And finally his brother, Liam, who was accompanied by a bodyguard, named Danny, in a tracksuit. I assumed Danny was there to protect Liam. But then I misspoke and said, "I quite liked your record", and Liam was on his feet. "You liked it quite a bit? What do you mean you liked it quite a bit? See ya later, man." He marched over to the door before Danny could get off the couch. Then Liam turned back towards me, and Danny's other purpose was revealed: protecting people from Liam. "You've got big f****** hands, man," Liam said. "But I'll knee you in the balls, man! Whaddya mean you liked it quite a bit? It's tops, man. Tops!" In the end, we worked it out. By the end of our chat he invited me to join them that evening at a bar he called "the Irish pub". "There are a million bars in this city with the word Irish," I said. "I need a name." That night I arrived at the street corner with my girlfriend and was confronted with a large sign that read "The Irish Pub". It was my first clue that Liam is not as incoherent as he sometimes seems. What transpired at the bar that night still seems incredible to me. ("I can't tell you the way I feel / because the way I feel is, oh, so new to me," as the lyric to Columbia goes. The refrain is: "This is confusion, am I amusing you?".) The most basic fact of the night is now a banal commonplace regarding the early years: the epic amounts of alcohol consumed by everyone, most notably Liam. Then there was the band's choice of music on the jukebox. The band the members of Oasis, or really Liam, played over and over was called, "Oasis". Liam took great pleasure in singing along to the lyrics of his favourite band, sometimes slapping his open hand very hard into the chest of Danny in the tracksuit, while insisting he sing along. A good friend with an interest in rock music, the writer Robert Bingham, had been bothering me all that day to bring him along to this rendezvous. His choice of companion at The Irish Pub was the most conservative, Waspy person he knew, a lovely guy named Willie who sat with Rob and me at a small round table while me and my girlfriend Jennifer chatted with McGuigan over pints of beer. McGuigan was a source of curiosity for me because of the way that both Noel and Liam, independent of one another, had mentioned Guigs as having had "a crispy". I had never got a clear answer on the meaning of "a crispy". As far as I could tell it meant some sort of Gallagher-/tour-induced nervous breakdown. Guigs was already exploring other interests and, along with Bonehead, would soon bow out of the band. He seemed to be the most calm and non-violent of the group, even more than Alan the drummer, who was brought in late and seemed to want to make zero waves. And yet when Willie answered Guigs' innocent question, "What do you do?" with the reply, "I'm a lawyer", the glass of beer came down on to the table at the same time that Guigs got to his feet. An electric current shot through the room. Guigs had sent up a flare. By that point in the night, Guigs had told me, in a calm, slightly solemn way, about various brawls the band had been in, including a situation in Tokyo where they scrapped with American Navy ensigns. "There were about 35 of us," Guigs explained. "We were in a bar. One of them f***** with one us, but they didn't know how many we were. And then we all stood up at once." And what happened? "We kicked the shit out of 'em," he said. Once again, there was a "we all stood up at once" energy in the room. Somehow, Willie murmured a sufficiently placating response. Everyone sat back down. Willie, in his pinstripe suit and impeccably knotted tie, remained, to his credit, unmoved by the whole thing. Meanwhile, I could see Liam chatting up Jennifer. She was very pretty, with a soft voice, round face and expensive hair. I went over. Liam turned to me with the poker face for which he is famous. At Earl's Court, he had done nothing more than hold this blank expression for 60 seconds as the giant monitor above the stage slowly zoomed in on him, his pretty blankness reverberating to the increasing roar in the arena, the facial expression equivalent of a guitar held near an amplifier and generating louder and louder feedback. Now he gazed at me with that same impassive expression. "Marry her," he said. "Before someone else does." Jennifer was as psyched to be hanging out with Oasis as anyone else would be, and Liam liked her. Let it be said! That such an agent of chaos should also have such a conservative streak — "marry her!" — is one of the paradoxes that fuels the story of Oasis, which is also a story of two talents that hover in the tension of killing one another and complementing one another. Cain and Abel never had a band, after all, and never had to do press. After the New York interviews, I followed them out to California that summer of 1997, where they set up shop in a stadium in Oakland opening for U2. Be Here Now was chugging its way to record stores across the land. This was the moment in the cartoons when someone runs off a cliff and for a while they are suspended in the air, legs churning, but not dropping, yet. After their set, there was a memorable scene with Noel in a sky box — literally a glass box way up in the sky. We had a nice chat fuelled by my offer of a powder. (I am still annoyed that Spin magazine did not reimburse me for this, as I had quite reasonably listed it among my expenses alongside meals and transportation, which, come to think of it, are both words one could use to describe the substance.) "Don't mind if I do," Noel said, and when he lowered his head to imbibe I saw, in the next glass box over, Liam Gallagher himself, both arms thrown out around the empty seats on either side of him, one leg crossed on the other knee, sitting resplendent in kingly solitude in dark shades, watching the "fookin egg" which was U2's stage set on that tour. It was like a movie, or an allegory: Noel's face fills the screen, then, when he moves out of the frame, Liam. It was a perfect moment of regeneration. One brother morphing into the other, different but the same. Later that night I trailed Liam into a backstage party where I was not meant to be, and from which I was ejected by an angry San Francisco security guard. But not before I absorbed the sight of Liam singing his own songs into Bono's face. Singing at the top of his lungs while slapping the U2 singer's chest with his open hand and insisting he sing along. Bono was recently quoted, in advance of this summer's Oasis shows, as saying: "I love them; I just love them. And what I really love is, the preciousness that had got [into] indie music, they just blew it out. There was just the swagger, and the sound of getting out of the ghetto, not glamorising it ... they were rawer than anybody." My encounter with the band was about a year after Knebworth, prior to the release of Be Here Now . It was the beginning of the long second act. And then the break-up years involving the brothers hiding in plain sight. It's not like they stopped making records and touring. If there is a chart for the most mentions in the NME over the past 30 years, Oasis and the Gallagher brothers combined must surely be at number one. But the sense during this period was never of finality, but rather of dormancy. A volcano, not a death. And now these two wizened faces peering out at us from a poster, skirting perilously close to Spinal Tap territory and yet not, because the excitement is real. Once again: "Butterflies". — The Observer
Vox
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Vox
What the '12-day war' teaches us about Trump's foreign policy
is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He's worked at Vox since the site's launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker's Washington, DC, bureau. When President Donald Trump announced late Saturday that he ordered the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, critics on both the left and the right feared a spiral into a wider war. Yet just two days later, Trump announced a ceasefire deal between Israel and Iran that he claimed would end what he called 'the 12-day war' entirely. And though this ceasefire looked quite fragile at first, three days later, it's still holding. There's much we still don't know about whether Trump's strikes were successful in their short-term objective of disabling Iran's nuclear program. And of course, the long-term consequences of the war for Iran and the region are very far from clear. The past week's events did, however, clarify some things about Trump and his approach to foreign policy in his second term. Specifically, though Trump attacked Iran's nuclear program, he quickly pivoted to a ceasefire, suggesting that he's still wary of the hawks' transformational 'regime change' ambitions. He instead prefers to deal with countries' existing leaders at the negotiating table — and views military force as a tool to get himself a better deal. At first, it seemed that Trump had handed hawks on the right a decisive victory. Sweeping aside the concerns of the 'America First' faction that urged restraint and feared entanglement in a new 'forever war,' Trump supported Israel's attack on Iran and then sent US bombers in as well. But what Trump did next is just as revealing. Though the Iranian government was badly weakened, and some hawks were hoping it could be toppled, Trump demurred, dismissing Iran's retaliation against the US Monday as inconsequential and working to put together a ceasefire. That is, he had an opportunity to push onward for regime change in Tehran but turned it down. Then, when it looked like the new ceasefire might not hold, Trump profanely berated both Iran and Israel and particularly urged Israel to scale back a retaliatory mission that was in progress. After Israel complied, Trump did a solid for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Truth Social post urging Israeli authorities to cancel Netanyahu's corruption trial. Finally, Trump also declared the US strikes a complete success, insisting that Iran's nuclear program has been wiped out and disputing leaked intelligence estimates that say otherwise. He seems uninterested in hawkish arguments that he hasn't finished the job. This week, administration officials have even tried to restart nuclear talks with Iran, unlikely as that may seem. All this suggests that, despite bombing the nuclear sites, Trump has not embraced open-ended war as US foreign policy just yet. He rolled the dice on a risky military operation — but remained intent on avoiding a wider war. He supported Israel — but then, when he wanted the war to stop, called the Israelis out. It also suggests that Trump, unlike the GOP's more hawkish faction, is uninterested in seeking transformational regime change in Iran. Despite a Truth Social post on Sunday (after the strikes and before the ceasefire) in which Trump suggested 'Regime change' might be a possibility, he didn't go through with it. During his first presidential run, Trump trashed George W. Bush's Iraq War as a debacle, and the collapse of Iran's government would likely bring similar turmoil. Rather, Trump would prefer to settle things at the negotiating table, and he continues to view military action like his strikes on Iran as another way to enhance his leverage there. If negotiations aren't going the way he likes, however, dropping bombs is still a card he could play — or at least, that's what he wants his negotiating partner to fear. As I wrote before the US struck Iran, Trump has some wariness toward the hawks, but he's not a dove or a peacenik: If he's persuaded a military action will go well and make him look strong and successful, he's happy to endorse it. It is clear, though, that he continues to be wary of more prolonged wars that could go poorly. So for now at least, Trump appears to lack the appetite for a prolonged, costly, and painful war. He approved the Iran strikes because he thought Iran had been so weakened that he could get away with them, with limited consequences to Americans. But just as soon as he approved them, he hastened to wrap up the conflict.
Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Zohran Mamdani Ends Triumphant Week With New Endorsements
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Democratic socialist and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani clinched two key union endorsements on Friday, rounding out an already successful week on the heels of Tuesday night's primary election win. Newsweek previously reached out to Mamdani's campaign via email Friday for comment. Why It Matters Mamdani's victory in the primary against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party, sparking debate about its direction and the influence of progressive platforms. Mamdani's triumph, built on promises like free city bus rides, free child care, and city-owned grocery stores, has magnified internal rifts within the Democratic Party following the 2024 presidential election loss. The New York assemblyman ultimately landed the backing of key lawmakers like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, but was largely unknown to New Yorkers when he announced his intent to run, per the Associated Press (AP). Mamdani's win could underscore potential shifts in national and local Democratic politics, with trends pointing toward embracing candidates aligned more with progressive agendas. What To Know On Friday, Mamdani landed the backing of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council along with the 32BJ SEIU. Both unions, influential in city and state politics, previously backed Cuomo in his race for mayor. Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU, told Spectrum News NY1 via phone on Friday that, "We met with Zohran today. He came and spoke to our executive board and the board voted to endorse him." Continuing, Pastreich said that Mamdani's "combination of a vision that put working people of New York front and center, raising wages and how to bring down prices of the most expensive things" helped secure the endorsement from 32BJ SEIU. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the union said in part, "We look forward to putting boots on the ground and joining the @ZohranKMamdani coalition working to build a truly affordable city! 1/" Hotel and Gaming Trades Council also posted to X on Friday announcing the endorsement, saying, "Less than 48 hours after the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, presumptive winner @ZohranKMamdani visited our union's headquarters to meet with HTC President Rich Maroko and a crowd of HTC members about his campaign for Mayor." "'It would be an honor to have the support of the hardworking men and women of this union. It would be an honor even more than that to have your partnership to make this the greatest City in the world so that every single New Yorker who builds it can afford to stay in it,' Zohran Mamdani told the crowd. Today, our union proudly announced our endorsement." Mamdani's ability to attract endorsements from unions that had previously backed establishment figures demonstrates sustained momentum and highlights fault lines in the party. Following Mamdani's primary victory, Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee publicly called for Mamdani's deportation. In response, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York condemned those remarks as "disgusting" in a news conference on Friday. The public defense from Schumer is notable following Mamdani's win as it could possibly trigger panic buttons for him and other Democratic establishment leaders alike, as some pollsters argue that Ocasio-Cortez could potentially challenge Schumer's Senate seat. Mamdani also posted endorsements from the New York State Nurses Association and state senator and Candidate for Manhattan borough president Brad Hoylman-Sigal on social media Friday. New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) can be seen speaking to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of... New York mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) can be seen speaking to supporters during an election night gathering at The Greats of Craft LIC on June 24, 2025, in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) More What People Are Saying Senator Sanders on X on Friday: "Mamdani won. The establishment is in panic. Billionaires are raising money against him; Trump is ranting; Islamophobes are on the loose. They know what we know: Candidates who stand boldly with the working class can win not only in NYC, but anywhere. Let's stand with Zohran." Mamdani on X on Thursday: "On Tuesday, New Yorkers delivered a mandate for a Mayor who puts working people first and makes this city affordable for all." What Happens Next? Mamdani is now expected to ramp up general election campaigning, widening his coalition and consolidating support from key Democratic constituencies. With national attention focused on New York, endorsements and opposition will likely intensify ahead of the mayoral general election in November.
New York Post
12 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Mamdani's maddening win: Letters to the Editor — June 28, 2025
The Issue: Zohran Mamdani winning New York City's Democratic mayoral primary. Congratulations, Democrats: You gave your nomination for mayor to a hateful, authoritarian, antisemitic candidate ('Mam'a Mia, NYC!' June 25). You're willing to ruin the city's economy and make the streets, schools, subways and buses unsafe because of your contempt for people who are not like you. And then you'll all go running to Florida and other free states, leaving those who stay to suffer the consequences of Zohran Mamdani. Advertisement As a native New Yorker who still loves the city, I am deeply worried about its future. Tim Phares Laurel, Md. Advertisement An openly antisemitic extremist is the Democratic candidate for mayor. This is happening in the same city hosting a 'Summer of Reflection' honoring Anne Frank. The irony is sickening. Since Oct. 7, when Hamas slaughtered over 1,000 Jews, antisemitism hasn't just returned — it's been mainstreamed. Jews have been firebombed, gunned down, harassed and now this. We hold up Anne Frank's diary in one hand while voting for the hate that tried to silence her. Wake up, New York. Samuel Franco Advertisement Manhattan There is no question that Mamdani's victory will split the Democratic Party. He is so far left, there is no way that middle-of-the-road Dems can vote for this man or his policies. This might just help the Republicans if they play it right. New York, and for that matter the nation, are in serious disarray. How can anyone vote for this radical? Bob Robustelli Advertisement Stamford, Conn. You New Yorkers outdid yourselves this time. You can't wait to get this moron, who promised you free everything, into office. Where do you think he's going to get the money? By taxing the rich? They're already overtaxed — they will just move, and take their taxes with them, then you astute New Yorkers will see your taxes go way up and wonder what happened. Good luck finding a place to live when landlords kick you out because they can't afford tenants to pay zilch in rent, or aren't able to raise rent to cover their taxes and other services they supply. This will be fun to watch. Peter Sulzicki Stratford, Conn. With the rise of a socialist mayoral candidate who has a good shot at winning the election, it would be nice to see the other candidates put the city first, rather than themselves. It would be great if they could put aside their differences, put the people first and back out of running to support the candidate who has the best chance of beating Zohran. Advertisement This has become so much bigger than just an election; it is truly an opportunity to work collaboratively to defeat someone who has the ability to destroy our city. Give Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa jobs in Mayor Eric Adams' team. Some differing options within the team would be healthy. Show that bipartisanship can work. Paul Facella Long Beach, Calif. Advertisement What is all the hoopla about the antisemitic socialist winning the Democratic primary? I believe the people didn't want a disgraced governor winning, so they voted against him. The true colors of New York City will come out when the election is held in November. If they vote for the socialists, you can kiss the city goodbye. Ted Pilchik Advertisement Lake Worth, Fla. Believe it or not, I still have faith in the people of New York City. Come the general election, they will not elect someone who will defund the police and bankrupt the city. Mamdani could have tried to do the things he's promising to do while in the Assembly. Some words of wisdom from the late Margaret Thatcher: 'The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.' Advertisement Stephen Colasacco The Bronx Congratulations on your likely new mayor: An antisemitic socialist who became American only seven years ago. I suggest a countrywide fundraiser to pay for a 100-foot-high electric fence that surrounds the five boroughs. Let New Yorkers live with their elected scum with no escape. Laura Wesselmann Carlsbad, Calif. Want to weigh in on today's stories? Send your thoughts (along with your full name and city of residence) to letters@ Letters are subject to editing for clarity, length, accuracy, and style.
Boston Globe
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Cuomo doesn't blame himself for losing NYC mayoral primary. Others do.
He made no further public appearances that day last month, even with primary day weeks away. Cuomo, who dominated New York for a decade as governor, entered the crowded field of Democrats back in March with the force of a steamroller and a commanding lead in the polls. He wore down the Democratic establishment until it lined up behind him, strong-armed unions, and seeded a record-shattering super political action committee that would eventually spend $25 million. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But even some of his allies said that up close, the campaign sometimes looked more like a listing ship, steered by an aging candidate who never really seemed to want to be there and showed little interest in reacquainting himself with the city he hoped to lead. Advertisement New Yorkers took note. And on Tuesday, a campaign that Cuomo, 67, had hoped would deliver retribution four years after his humiliating resignation as governor ended in another thumping rebuke instead. Voters preferred Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker whom Cuomo dismissed as woefully unqualified, by a comfortable margin. Advertisement Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose relentless focus on affordability and infectious campaign presence electrified younger voters especially, certainly deserves a great deal of credit for his victory. But a dozen allies and even some of Cuomo's own campaign advisers agreed in interviews that if he was looking to assess blame for a loss that could end his political career, he needed to look at himself. 'It was a creaky 1970s political machine versus a generational talent,' said Howard Glaser, a former Cuomo lieutenant who has since fallen out with Cuomo. 'He just couldn't see it.' 'He tried to force redemption on an unreceptive public,' Glaser added. The assessment now hangs over Cuomo as he deliberates whether to renew his campaign in the fall against Mamdani on a third-party ballot line. Some wealthy New Yorker,s alarmed by Mamdani's left-wing views, are urging Cuomo to keep running. But many of his allies said there would be no real point in carrying on if Cuomo treated the general election like the primary. People who worked on his campaign, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retribution, used words like 'entitled,' 'arrogant,' and 'aloof' to describe the former governor's attitude. Another called the campaign 'astonishingly incompetent.' Cuomo and his spokesperson disputed that his campaign choices — good, bad, or otherwise — would have changed the outcome. Spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said that the campaign met its turnout goals in key districts and voting groups, particularly among Black and older voters who had a yearslong connection with the former governor. The problem, he said, was that Mamdani 'ran a campaign that managed to expand the electorate in such a way that no turnout model or poll was able to capture, while the rest of the field collapsed.' Advertisement In an interview, Cuomo dismissed the complaints of allies or advisers who said he should have shown up more around the city. 'None of these things explain the election outcome,' he said. 'They are either untrue or petty incidents that are of no consequence.' The contrast on the campaign trail between Cuomo and all the other candidates was stark. Under the rationale of protecting his polling lead, Cuomo skipped candidate forums and dodged the press as his rivals threw themselves into the city's maw with dizzying schedules. The former governor, who was born in Queens but lived most of his adult life in Albany and Westchester County, traveled in his Charger with an advance team putting out a buffer to prevent unwanted encounters with New Yorkers. Cuomo hired a platoon of consultants, but still leaned heavily on his longtime confidante, Melissa DeRosa, who had never run a city race. Mamdani built an enthusiastic volunteer army to spread his message; Cuomo largely outsourced his get-out-the-vote operation to labor unions and $25-an-hour canvassers. And in the end, Cuomo's message to an electorate hungry for change boiled down to: trust me, I've done this before. Some allies said it all contributed to an unhelpful image. 'All of us have a blind spot,' said former Governor David Paterson, who endorsed Cuomo. 'His blind spot is that he doesn't really connect particularly well with, just, people.' For a time, it seemed Cuomo's return to power was a certainty. He began plotting a path back almost as soon as he resigned in August 2021 after sexual harassment allegations. He spent tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds fighting to clear his name in court, as he hungrily waited for an opening for public office. Advertisement It arrived when Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal corruption charges and then persuaded the Trump administration to drop them. Cuomo, a master backroom dealmaker, exploited the opening deftly, nudging the mayor out of the primary while convincing business leaders, labor bosses, and other Democrats that they should back him — if not out of excitement than out of a sense of inevitability. 'I feel like people misunderstood my $250,000 for Cuomo for real enthusiasm,' said Mark Gorton, an investor who gave $250,000 to a pro-Cuomo super PAC. 'It was basically, 'Oh, looks like Cuomo is coming back. We don't want to be shut out. Let's try and get on his good side.'' At the time, polls showed Mamdani in second place, trailing by 20 points or more. Cuomo's allies openly pined for a two-man showdown. They figured Mamdani's socialist views and harsh criticism of Israel would act as a ceiling on his support. It turned out to be a fundamental miscalculation. In a race where a large majority of voters said the city was headed in the wrong direction and where many Democrats were looking for a change, Cuomo struggled.
