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Democratic state Sen. Eric Schneiderman last night beat back attacks tarring him as a symbol of Albany corruption to handily defeat Republican Dan Donovan for state attorney general.
Schneiderman garnered 55 percent of the vote to Donovan’s 44, with 97 percent of the precincts reporting.
“This was a campaign of activism, and boy, did we show what activists can do!” Schneiderman told cheering supporters at the Sheraton New York in Midtown.
Donovan, Staten Island’s DA, sought to paint Schneiderman as a soft-on-crime liberal who was in cahoots with the corrupt Senate Democratic leadership.
He argued that it would be impossible for Schneiderman to probe corruption in the state Legislature given his ties to Albany pols — citing the Aqueduct casino bid-rigging scandal.
Schneiderman has said he had nothing to do with that project.
Donovan also cited Schneiderman’s votes against anti-terror bills, and slammed Schneiderman for saying he would create a “special annex” for Al Sharpton’s House of Justice. Schneiderman said he meant that he would address civil-rights issues.
For his part, Schneiderman tried to paint Donovan as too far to the right, noting the Republican’s opposition to abortion rights. He also charged that Donovan would go easy on the financial industry, pointing to the candidate’s comments that he wouldn’t be the “sheriff of Wall Street.”
He added that Donovan did not tackle government corruption as Staten Island’s DA.
Politically, Schneiderman caught a break during the campaign.
Because Donovan was investigating the leader of the Independence Party, he steered clear of seeking the party’s endorsement. The Independence Party then turned around and endorsed Schneiderman.
That nod gave Schneiderman three lines: Democratic, Working Families and Independence. Donovan ran on two ballot lines: Republican and Conservative.
Schneiderman also benefited from running with gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo at the top of the ticket. He campaigned alongside Cuomo — who won his own race by a landslide — during the campaign’s final days.
By comparison, Donovan distanced himself from GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and never endorsed him. He even criticized some of Paladino’s offensive comments about minorities and gays.
Schneiderman also raised more campaign funds than Donovan, and had the backing of potent labor unions.
Asked what made the difference in the race, a Donovan strategist said, “Partly Indy line, partly Paladino, partly labor’s field operations for Schneiderman.”
Still, Donovan had some powerful backers, including Mayor Bloomberg, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani.