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draw those lines in a way that would pit me against Bella Abzug and give her an advantage. Now, if they drew them river to river, I would be at a greater disadvantage than if they drew them with a primarily east side district, because my district has never been west of 8th Avenue to the Hudson River except in a brief little block or a small area from 59th to 73rd where it went one block west of 8th Avenue. So if it went from river to river, which was one of the proposals, from Houston on the south to 33rd or 34th on the north, river to river (that would be one proposal, to cut Manhattan east and west instead of north and south, which is the way it is now), that would throw Bella and myself together and would make for problems.

Now, nobody wants to be running against Abzug because she is a very difficult candidate. I believe I would beat her, and ultimately she decided not to run against me in any event under those lines that were finally drawn, although she wanted to, but she took a poll that showed I would beat her, but it would be unpleasant. I mean you'd have the reformers split all over the map, and she's a vile fighter -- I don't like her; we've been through that -- and she would have the advantage if the district was drawn that way. I don't know whether she had any input into it or not and tried to get them drawn that way, but I know that at one time that was a very expected way that they would come out. But the Republican law chairman kept me informed constantly. They weren't going to do anything for me. From