So, it has come to this.
On the eve of the most watched congressional primary in the country, the candidates competing to represent upper Manhattan and part of The Bronx in Washington spent their last campaign day trading accusations that they hijacked each other’s press conferences.
The already ugly race hit bottom Monday afternoon when a car carrying the incumbent, Charles Rangel, pulled up beside a group of reporters waiting for his opponent in Washington Heights. The congressman got out and asked them to tag along to another press event.
Moments later, representatives from state Sen. Adriano Espaillat’s campaign showed up at the Rangel event, an endorsement from livery drivers, and got into a screaming match with Rangel’s supporters.
“After losing another endorsement today, the Espaillat campaign crashed a taxicab association endorsement for Rangel,” the Rangel campaign said in a statement.
Espaillat’s people complained that Rangel had whisked away the challenger’s press group like some political Pied Piper.
The bitter back-and-forth followed a day of already acerbic sniping over President Obama’s decision not to come to Rangel’s aid with an 11th-hour endorsement before Tuesday’s primary.
After a TV interview urging voters to help him “complete my term with this great president,” 84-year-old Rangel, shooting for a 23rd term in Congress, brushed off Obama’s non-endorsement.
“Believe me, I don’t go to sleep at night wondering what the president of the United States is going to do,” Rangel said at a campaign stop. “He has so much on his plate and I’m concentrating on what I’m doing, and I hope he’s doing the best job he can.”
Espaillat seized on Obama’s silence.
“This made-up story that he wants to go be the president’s best friend — it is what it is — a made- up story,” Espaillat, 59, told reporters. “I don’t know what he wants to go back [to Washington] for. Certainly, the president hasn’t said anything about it.”
Rangel, after luring the reporters away from Espaillat’s event, shot back.
“The only question we have is who is best to service this community in Washington,” Rangel countered. “I don’t even know if he knows where the president lives.”
Someone familiar with the address did come to Rangel’s defense. Former President Bill Clinton began making robo-calls on Rangel’s behalf to potential voters.
“As both a senior member of Congress and a civil-rights leader, Charlie Rangel continues to be one of our most effective advocates in Washington,” Clinton said in the recorded call.
Despite the heavyweight support and a poll last week that put him ahead by 13 points, Rangel said he was not overconfident.
“Oh, heck no,” Rangel said. “You know, the whole deal with the secret ballot is that you don’t have the slightest idea about what people are going to do. The pollsters say that most people will be voting for me. But they don’t know who’s going to come out and vote at all, so it would be impossible for me to be confident.”
Espaillat nearly drove Rangel out of office two years ago, losing by only 1,100 votes.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Hagen