BY GARY ANTHONY RAMSAY

Many people who read the PRESS have come up to me on the street to ask me why I was a little hard on Carl McCall at the beginning of his campaign. 

In an article in February of last year I wrote:

“It occurs to me that a lot of people don’t even know Carl is Black.

I was thinking hard about what he has done that was high profile, edgy, and proactive.

I could only remember one time when he got arrested with some of the crowds down at One Police Plaza to protest the shooting of Amadou Diallo.

Now I like Carl. He has done an excellent job watching the state’s purse strings.

Part of me is thinking that should be enough — to do your job and show the world that  Black people are more than just capable, they can excel.

However I am uneasy with the notion that he hasn’t really been out there for Black people. I am equally disturbed that the Democratic Party would abandon McCall and risk alienating the African American community, which could cost Cuomo if he wins the primary.

All this being said, I have gone from a “decided” to an “undecided” and now both men will have to work for my vote. Neither man can win without the Black vote.”

Now that we are sure that it will be Carl McCall vs. Governor George Pataki in November, we know who Carl McCall is. 

The Democratic Party did not abandon McCall in the end although there were rumblings of among some of the right-leaning party members who did not think a Black man could beat Pataki.

McCall may still not beat Pataki but it will not be because he is Black. 

Instead it might be because the incumbent will outspend, and his supporters will outvote McCall.

If Carl McCall is to make history, it will require a history-making push to get it done. 

It will take the kind of push this town hasn’t seen since the likes of the David Dinkins and Jesse Jackson campaigns.

Since the money between the candidates is unequal, to pull off what would be an electoral “miracle” will take the kind of elbow grease, grassroots legwork, and zeal that I have yet to see in this campaign.

As a private citizen, I have still to get a phone call from the McCall campaign telling me just “who” he is and why I should vote for him.

I have yet to see anything in my mailbox and many white people who I know still continue to ask me “ who is this guy?” 

That is bad news for this campaign.

All the people who shout his name in my ear have to shout it louder and not just to people who care. 

They have to break out of the old mold and take their message to places they would not normally go, to let people know about their man. 

This campaign could have the potential of becoming a kind of mini-Colin Powell run for Albany given McCall’s background and fiscal spending policies. 

But so far it’s “yawn”.

Even the New York Times has warned McCall that his effort so far has been lackluster and even though they endorsed him in a primary that turned into no primary at all, the newspaper would withhold judgment on the general election nod until a later date.

Get it in gear Carl! 

Let the people know who you are. 

If you are in a race, then run.

The other side isn’t worried about your campaign. 

People need to be emotional about one person or the other to get out and vote.  

People want to see someone who can take the State in a new and exciting direction. 

If the heart rate of this campaign doesn’t get a jolt, and soon, it will be flatlining by November.