In one of 1998's most costly, caustic senate races, New York candidates Charles Schumer and Alfonse D'Amato battled it out with negative campaign ads, personal slurs, and attention on previous political mistakes. Yet somewhere among the mud-slinging and personal attacks some issues emerged, of which education became a top priority. Schumer and D'amato both realized the importance of education to New York voters and therefore the necessity of addressing the issue in each of their campaigns. D'amato promised to reform a dysfunctional school system, by improving the quality of teachers, which he blamed for many of the problems. Schumer, conversely, sought to improve the current, well-functioning system, with increased funding and standards for students (Saunders, 1998). Although both candidates were forced to address their contrasting views on of education as a response to public pressure, the issue was clouded by the negative campaign and discussed mainly in the context of the other's past political actions.Education became such an important issue in this senate race because New York City's recent rejuvenation and economic boom has shifted New Yorker's focus from social issues such as crime and welfare to those of education and taxes. New York has previously been a state politically divided between the north and south on many issues, but education is one that unites them. With many educated citizens of upstate New York fleeing for more promising academic territory and downstate's hope of retaining an educated middle class, education reform has gained importance throughout the entire state. A Quinnipiac College poll asking New Yorkers to name the single most important problem facing the state resulting in 17% pointing to education, with only 7% singling out crime (Dolman, 1998). This prompted each candidate to address the issue in his campaign without the fear of alienating any specific district, even though neither of them had focu...