Of course Marty Golden should run for - and be elected to - Congress.  He has ably served the people of the 22nd State Senate district.  He has impeccable Republican ideological credentials.  He has long served the people of New York, first as a police officer and then as an elected official. He was a small businessman and knows how the economy can affect the little guy.  He is a resident of Bay Ridge, all of which, along with most of his senatorial district are within the 13th Congressional district.

Besides, this is how it's supposed to work: Marty became a city councilman in 1998, taking over after liberal Sal Albanese departed to run for mayor.  He then beat incumbent State Senator Vinnie Gentile to win his current seat.  He's worked his way up the electoral ladder and his political career could be a great model for how Republicans can rebuild the party from the bottom up.  And how important it is to have a strong bench from which future party leaders can be culled.

That’s another reason why Eric Ulrich’s victory in Howard Beach is so exciting.  Anthony Weiner should be shaking in his boots right now.  At least he has his super models to comfort him.

And unless there's competition from his counterpart on Staten Island, Andy Lanza – who had the chance to run last year and turned it down – it should be smooth sailing to the nomination.  There's no reason why any of the GOP electeds on Staten Island would oppose him.  After all, Brooklyn does make up a full one-third of the voters in the district.  And then it would be a pretty straightforward race in a district that leans Republican anyway.

Of course, the real question is: What would happen after he won?  Who would run to replace him?  And, unfortunately, the answer’s not good.  The obvious choice would be City Councilman Vinnie Gentile, who narrowly won election to Marty’s old seat and has held on to it ever since.  He certainly would have much more incentive to head back to the now Democrat-controlled State Senate.  And he would have an easier shot at it than before as Southwest Brooklyn turns bluer and bluer.

No, in the 11 years Golden has been in office, not a single Assembly seat or City Council seat overlapping with his senate district – or in the entire borough – has become Republican.  The GOP in NYC has a great flair for eating their young.  So, when and if the time comes to replace Marty, there will be nothing but Democrats waiting in the wings.

Which makes YR “cocktail parties” – as Billy Idol so eloquently put it last week – all the more important.  In some place, the young and new to the party are welcomed with open arms, celebrated as the future they are, encouraged to play an important role in the political process and thanked when they do.  But sometimes, those clubs have to grow in spite of the party.  And maybe they’re a little stronger because of it.

In the meantime though, we need to rebuild, to grow and to win back territory we never should have lost.  In that spirit, Marty Golden for Congress.

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