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By Upstate Blue, Section News
Jim Dean, the national chairman of Democracy for America, came to Saratoga Springs last Wednesday to help bolster the re-election bid of Mayor Valerie Keehn (D), who faces primary opposition this September.
The race for mayor this year in Saratoga Springs is expected to be very competitive and quite costly. As of July 17, 2007, incumbent Valerie Keehn had raised $9,703.81 with a closing balance of $4,967.03, while her Democratic primary opponent Gordon Boyd raised $25,637.43 with $8,658.15 still in the bank. $cott Johnson (R), a wealthy tort lawyer, is expected to self-finance his own campaign. The GOP continues to enjoy a modest 4 to 3 enrollment advantage in the Spa City (41% Republican to 30% Democratic), but many non-affiliated voters have come to favor the Democrats in recent election cycles; John Kerry took 57% in Saratoga Springs in the 2004 elections, while Kirsten Gillibrand took 60%, and Eliot Spitzer took 68% last year. Given the recent leftward drift in Saratoga Springs politics, if Keehn wins the upcoming Democratic primary, she'll stand a very good chance of receiving a second term as mayor this November.
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