A milestone, of sorts

My friend Peter alerted me to this. Tomorrow, voters in Manhattan will choose between incumbent District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, a staunch death penalty opponent, and Leslie Crocker Snyder, who favors the death penalty.

Politicians in the past have used their support for the death penalty as an issue -- lots. Take U.S. Senator Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat. He got elected governor of Florida complaining that the previous governor wasn't executing enough people. After he won election, the execution rate went way up (in fact, for a while Florida was executing more people than Texas.)

Or take Texas. Former Gov. George W. Bush, a Republican, and former Gov. Mark White, a Democrat, each campaigned on the need for more executions.

But now we have something different -- a milestone of sorts, a turning point, perhaps.

Morgenthau has mailed out a two-page direct mail piece criticizing Snyder for her support for the death penalty. The mailer is perfect and on message. (Click here to read it.)

Granted, Texas is not Manhattan. But there's a little bit of Manhattan in Austin and a little bit of Austin in Manhattan.