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A five-way race for a rare open congressional seat was just part of the fun in this wild year in politics:

January

Cufflinks for cuffs: Disgraced Brooklyn Democratic leader Clarence Norman was sentenced to 2–6 years in jail for campaign finance violations. He’ll get out just in time to be re-elected with 75 percent of the vote.

February

Un-impeach-able: Congressional candidate Chris Owens made headlines when he said he would demand President Bush’s impeachment — if he was elected, of course. Alas, Owens lost, ensuring that Bush will likely remain in office two more years.

A firm maybe: Assemblyman Nick Perry cemented his demise from the race to succeed Rep. Major Owens by wavering on gay marriage at a candidate forum at a gay and lesbian political club. Perry’s answer — that marriage is “between a man and a woman” — wasn’t the problem, but his claim that he would still fight for gay marriage if elected convinced no one.

March

Yassky’s all white: Bad news for City Councilman David Yassky’s bid for the 11th district seat came when a church in East New York barred him from a forum with the other candidates, all black. The worse news came a month later when Yassky was finally invited to address parishioners — and botched it.

June

The singing candidate: Owens made the first of several campaign appearances playing recorder and guitar at senior centers. It’s too bad he was running for Congress, not bar-mitzvah bandleader.

July

Slap me, Elmo: The Daily News reported that Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Bay Ridge) not only used his campaign funds to finance personal pleasure trips, but that he also sent out taxpayer-funded mailings featuring Sesame Street characters Rosita and Elmo. What’s next? Hiring Oscar the Grouch to do opposition research?

August

Undersize me: City Councilman David Yassky lost the endorsement of an important black supporter after failing to send a big-enough bus to transport the supporter’s allies to a memorial service.

What does Marty want?: Borough President Markowitz was forced to admit that he is considering running for mayor after The Brooklyn Papers discovers that he created a new campaign fund.

Flip … flop: Sen. Hillary Clinton derided the waterfront development commonly referred to as “Brooklyn Bridge Park” as “yet another luxury condo project,” but then did a 180 after some project-supporting pols “educated” her. Now she fully backs the development.

Red scare: Two former Soviets ran for a Dyker Heights Assembly seat — and the campaign was marked by bizarre countercharges worthy of a spy novel. In the end, the less-bizarre ex-Soviet, Alec Brook-Krasny, won.

September

Sorry state: Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn Heights) called for President Bush to apologize to the world for the War in Iraq. The president ignored Towns — which is pretty much the way most people treat Towns.

Lookout below: Someone hurled a donut at David Yassky during a campaign stop at a housing project, putting a fitting punctuation mark on his failed bid for a majority-black congressional seat. A week later, Yvette Clarke won.

October

Foley linked: Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Bay Ridge) gave $1,000 to charity after it was revealed that he had gotten that amount from intern-harassing Florida Rep. Mark Foley.

November

Vito vidi vici: Fossella cruises to re-election, beating Steve Harrison 56 percent to 43 percent. It was actually the best finish of the week for Harrison. Two days earlier, he was 26,498th in the New York City marathon.

©2006 Community Newspaper Group