Edward Koch (Getty)
Will an endorsement a day make a primary challenge go away? That's certainly what New York Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand is hoping with the daily drip-drip-drip of 2010 endorsements her campaign has announced.
Wednesday the endorser was former New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1978-89), a popular figure downstate. Koch, like Gillibrand, built a record as a centrist Democrat, even going so far as to endorse several Republican statewide candidates, as well as Republican President George W. Bush in 2004. Koch endorsed Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and then Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.
Of Gillibrand, Koch said in a statement that he was impressed with her "ability to understand the concerns of all New York families and to form a legislative agenda to address those concerns."
Added Koch, "We need leaders who can create a partnership of upstate and downstate," a reference to Gillibrand's roots upstate and as a House member from the suburban and rural 20th District, as well as her efforts to expand her ties to the New York City metropolitan area since her appointment to the Senate in January.
Koch's endorsements follows endorsements by New York City-based Reps. Edolphus Towns of and Nydia M. Velazquez on Monday and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of Queens on June 5.
Gillibrand has been hustling to shore up support from New York's Democratic establishment virtually since her appointment to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was named secretary of State. A crowd of Democrats were initially poised to challenge her, but that has dwindled to one prospective primary opponent -- Manhattan Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, who has told colleagues she intends to run. The longer Maloney waits, however, the fewer allies she may have, as more and more get pulled into the Gillibrand camp.
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