New York Daily News - Suozzis Relish Summer Stumping

New York Daily News - Suozzis Relish Summer Stumping

They are older than many in the crowd they're working one afternoon, pumping out flyers and shaking hands as quickly as time and age allow. Joseph Suozzi is about to turn 85. Marguerite, his wife of 53 years and a lady, does not reveal her age.

Yet here they are, the proud parents of Tom Suozzi, ready to do whatever it takes to help their son in his uphill battle to wrest the Democratic nomination for governor from front-runner Eliot Spitzer. And if it means jumping into an RV and roaming around the state to spread the Suozzi gospel, then so be it.

"If he gets on the ballot, I think he can do it. He's got the right message," says Marguerite Suozzi. "We hope to give them some kind of face for him." They will hit downstate senior centers and upstate fairs, leaving the big cities to their son. "He's lucky to have a close-knit family, and we're all trying in our own way," his mother says.

During a day of campaigning in Rockland County last week, Suozzi's mom modestly accepts many compliments on her son's looks. "It's the Irish and Italian. It makes a good combination," she confides.

Working a room at a New City senior home, Joseph Suozzi jovially chats up a woman and reveals his age. "God bless you! You look fabulous," she gushes. "Tell that to my wife," he cracks.

The sons of the Suozzis and the Spitzers have a few things in common. They're both born-and-bred New Yorkers with law degrees. Both are married with three kids. Spitzer lost his first bid for attorney general, Suozzi lost his first try for mayor of Glen Cove, L.I., and neither has lost an election since. The difference? Spitzer has led Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, by 60 points in the polls; is the state party's choice, and has consistently hammered Suozzi in fund-raising.

And Suozzi's parents know it.

"There's more to it than just money," Joseph Suozzi insists. "This is a campaign to show that it's not always money that counts." Joseph Suozzi, a former state Supreme Court and appellate judge, came to the U.S. from Italy as a child. He's a decorated Air Force veteran, and he knows politics: He was elected mayor of Glen Cove three times.

His wife grew up Marguerite Holmes in Queens. She worked as a nurse until she married, raised five children while taking care of both of her ailing parents and her husband's, and now volunteers in her community and church.

They say they didn't bother trying to talk their ambitious son, who says he'll bust Albany's gridlock, out of a run for the state Capitol.

"We knew it was going to be a difficult race, but the fact that he wanted to do it makes us extremely proud. We knew he was up for a fight," Joseph Suozzi says.

The Suozzis, ever undaunted, move on to a barbecue in Nanuet to shake some more hands and chat up their child. Before they leave New City, Marguerite Suozzi promises everyone she'll try to get her son to visit, too.

"If the people meet him," she says, "they're convinced."

http://tomsuozzi.com/news/dn_071106a/