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Downtown congressional primary

By The Brooklyn Paper staff
The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Ben Muessig
Kevin Powell lost.
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The Brooklyn Paper / Ben Muessig
Rep. Ed Towns won again.

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Ed Towns, 22,586 (67.2%)
Kevin Powell, 11,046 (32.8%)

10th Congressional District, DUMBO, Downtown, Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and East New York

Voters chose real world experience over “Real World” experience.

All Car Rent-A-Car

Towns, a 13-term incumbent, ran away with the race, in which he faced a challenger whose under-funded campaign was dominated with rookie mistakes.

Congressional hopeful and former MTV “Real World” star Kevin Powell had trouble raising money, didn’t file campaign paperwork on time, called attention to his prior history of violence, was difficult for reporters to get a hold of, scheduled campaign events featuring big-name celebrities who failed to show up, and then issued a 58-page “vision plan” for the district just five days before the primary (even though he’d promised it to reporters months earlier).

Not that Towns brought up any of that at his victory party at Eden Palace, a catering hall in Clinton Hill.

“I’m delighted [by the results] and, in fact, I’m anxious and eager to get started again,” he told The Brooklyn Paper.

Towns, who’s rarely faced challengers, said he did not take Powell lightly.

“I actually focused on the campaign this time,” he said. “The last time I just focused on my legislative work.”

For his part, Powell vowed to take on Towns again in 2010.

“Honestly, we need to raise more money next time, that’s the bottom line,” he told supporters at the Five Spot Restaurant in Fort Greene.

“For now, I’ll go back to being a community organizer [but] I am determined to focus on parts of the district I wasn’t able to cover well this time, like Williamsburg and East New York. This time, we were really just trying to get the name and message out there. In 2010, we will win it.”

The hip hop campaign came to a hip hop conclusion — immediately after Powell thanked staffers and volunteers the DJ played Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”

But later, the DJ changed the record and old school rapper Kurtis Blow crooned: “These are the breaks.”

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

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