Howie Hawkins for New York

9.  Howie isn’t running for president in 2008, so he cares more about voters in Buffalo, Manhattan and Utica than he does about voters in Buffalo, Texas; Manhattan, Kansas; and Utica, Mississippi.

8.  Howie isn’t a cosponsor of a Utah Republican’s “flag-protection” amendment.

7.  Howie didn’t raise nearly $50 million in campaign contributions over the past six years. His top donors aren’t major corporations and their officials, and he didn’t raise the most campaign contributions from the Wall Street investment banks, stock brokerages and hedge funds of any politician in the country.

6.  Howie supports health care for all Americans, allowing Americans to import low-cost prescription medications from Canada and using the federal government’s buying power to negotiate better drug prices for seniors. He hasn’t taken PAC money from America’s Health Insurance Plans, Humana, Aetna, Express Scripts, UnitedHealth Group, Caremark RX, Hoffmann-La Roche, Pfizer and Sanofi-Pasteur.

5.  Howie wants to crack down on high credit-card and banking fees the average American faces and stop predatory lending. He can push these issues because he hasn’t accepted PAC money from American Express, Bank of America, Bank One, Citizens Financial Group, Washington Mutual and HSBC North America.

4.  Howie would support lower-polluting renewable sources of energy and require auto manufacturers to increase fuel economy. You guessed it: no PAC money from General Motors, Exxon Mobil, National Grid, KeySpan Energy or Duke Energy.

3.  Howie didn’t vote for Bush’s Patriot Act, and he will fight to protect the Bill of Rights, which makes our democracy the world’s best. He will demand answers from Bush’s cronies on why the administration is spying on law-abiding groups such as the Raging Grannies, the American Friends Service Committee, Gold Star Families for Peace, 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, People for the American Way and the NYCLU.