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Republican Senate Candidate John Spencer

NEW YORK, NY October 27, 2006 —This week, Hillary Clinton's Republican opponent for U.S. Senate got a little more name recognition. John Spencer faced Clinton at two debates. And, after a newspaper report, he also became known as the man who denies calling Clinton "ugly." WNYC's Beth Fertig caught up with Spencer on the campaign trail.

REPORTER: There was no entourage waiting when Republican Senate Candidate John Spencer arrived in Syracuse yesterday morning.Just a loyal driver outside the airport in a red Chevrolet Impala.

SPENCER: I never have an entourage, you know I'm not a celebrity. I'm seeking to be a public servant.

How was your trip down?

KELLY: Excellent.

REPORTER: The campaign trail is often a lonely road for Spencer. The 59 year old former mayor of Yonkers is a trim, gray haired man. On this blustery day he wears a pinstriped suit with no coat, and carries nothing but his blackberry. His public relations manager is downstate. And there are no volunteers with campaign signs and buttons typical of more competitive races. With just about half a million dollars in the bank at the end of September, Spencer and his skeleton staff have been working with what they've got. His driver is Jim Kelly, a former New York City police officer is an executive committee member of the state's Conservative party.

KELLY: This weekend alone we just mailed out 2000 more lawn signs around the state. Conservative party and Republican party chairs are very excited about John. Spencer: I do not have the money Hillary Clinton has. She has 15 million dollars.

REPORTER: While local republicans may support him, the national party has been absent, Spencer blames Clinton’s popularity and a drawn out primary. Without enough money for television ads, Spencer is holding press conferences to drum up attention. Today's first stop: the Carrier air conditioning plant in Syracuse, which has been exporting jobs out of state.

SPENCER: Pull in there and let's get down there.

REPORTER: The air conditioning company won't allow any campaigning on its property so Spencer holds his press conference across the road by an abandoned gas station covered with graffiti. Two television reporters and two newspaper writers have come to hear Spencer criticize Hillary Clinton for not cutting business taxes to help the state keep and create more jobs.

SPENCER: She promised 6 years ago and the people of NY trusted her, when she promised to create 200,000 jobs for the people of this area. And the fact is we lost 70,000 jobs. Her proposal in a debate against me on economic development was to tell businesses to go on Ebay. Well my ten year old son Patrick goes on Ebay and sells his baseball cards!

REPORTER: Spencer's next stop is an hour away at the Oneida county office of emergency preparedness. He's greeted by 2 reporters, a Republican county chairman, and a cold rain which briefly turns to snow.

SPENCER: How you doing? I like that coat I wish I was wearing it

REPORTER: Here he criticizes Clinton for opposing the Patriot Act.

SPENCER: The patriot act gave us the ability to do the NSA wiretapping of suspected Al Quaeda terrorists. It saved the Brooklyn Bridge. If Hillary Clinton had her way there would be no Brooklyn Bridge and thousands of lives lost, and we also caught terrorists in Lackawana.

REPORTER: Spencer has made national security a big theme of his campaign. The Vietnam Veteran says the September 11th attacks inspired him to run for Senate. And though he says he doesn't agree with everything the Bush administration has done in Iraq, he says the current political climate reminds him of returning from Vietnam 35 years ago to the war at home. Spencer says he's offended by some of the Democrats' rhetoric.

SPENCER: The vitriol level was outrageous. Calling the president a liar. I mean I think it's a sad display for US senators or congress people to be using that type of attacking language in a time of war to the commander in chief while still - and having voted for it.

REPORTER: do you think all the intelligence was correct? Spencer: Well evidently the intelligence wasn't correct! So what do you want to do, start crying about it and start blaming somebody? You know take your ball and go home and start crying? So the intelligence of Israel, Britain, the US, Germany, France, UN was all wrong. Ok so what do you want to do about it? Does it change anything? No.

PROTESTORS: 1-2-3-4 Hillary voted for the war, 5-6-7-8 this is not a real debate

But in a solid blue state like New York, most voters don't share Spencer's support of the President. Some on the left continue to dog Clinton as they did in the primary for her support of the war. These Green party members protested outside Sunday's Senate debate in Manhattan.

Clinton defended her vote for the war and her right as a Senator to criticize the President.

CLINTON: I'm not one who believes in do-overs in life. I made the best judgment that I could make at the time. I regret deeply the way the president and his advisors used the authority the congress gave him.

REPORTER: Clinton also used the debate to criticize Spencer's own record as mayor of Yonkers, saying he's not the tax cutter he claims to be.

CLINTON: Certainly in his mayoralty he did raise taxes about 16 times. He increased property taxes by more than 40 percent.

REPORTER: Spencer has been called the Rudy Giuliani of Yonkers. He was mayor for 8 years, and takes credit for revitalizing the dreary city along the Hudson River. Phil Reisman, a columnist for the Westchester Journal News, walks by new apartment buildings and restaurants along a waterfront that was abandoned for decades.

REISMAN: I can tell you it was pretty much a wide open windswept bathroom for pigeons before they did all this work here.

REPORTER: Reisman credits Spencer for promoting development, through his background in real estate. He also settled a longstanding school desegregation case and cut some local taxes. But he also got into hot water when he left his wife and married his chief of staff, who he then gave a raise. Reisman says Spencer had a brusque, take no prisoners approach which also earned him enemies... And a few choice quotes.

REISMAN: We sometimes laugh at the outrageous things he said. But he once referred to the state senator and his brother the assemblyman Nick and Mike spano as jumbo and dumbo. And he's used the phrase goombah. Things like that. And I think even though he sometimes seems to say things he regrets he enjoys the battle of having to answer it.

REPORTER: Spencer went into full battle mode this week when the Daily News quoted him making disparaging remarks about Hillary Clinton's appearance, including a suggestion that she had plastic surgery. Spencer gave wall to wall media appearances denying the quotes, saying they were fabricated. The paper stood by the report. But Spencer certainly got the kind of exposure he's been sorely lacking.

Somewhere around Albany, Spencer and his driver and campaign aide Jim Kelly who say they’ve logged over 35,000 miles together this past year put on a Billy Joel album. The song is "An Innocent Man."

Spencer admits he's disappointed he hasn't gotten more support from the Republican party. He's an orphan from Yonkers who forged his own way - on the battlefield and in politics. And he acknowledges he has a few rough edges.

SPENCER: I'm a combative personality. But I don't have a mean streak to hurt people and harm people. I don't do that. Yes it makes me angry when people divide this country... I'm angry, I'm passionate about that.

REPORTER: And that, says Spencer, is also what gives him the desire to finish this long shot race for the Senate. For WNYC I'm Beth Fertig.