That was the implication yesterday from the campaign manager of an African-American Assembly candidate, Kelvin Alexander, who lost the Democratic nomination and is now running against the party-backed candidate, Matthew Titone.

"I am one of those who firmly believes that when the time is at hand, a person of color be nominated and endorsed by the Democratic Party of Staten Island," McMahon said.

"The issue then becomes working with the community and finding elections that they can be successful in. Because whatever the election, whether it's the Assembly, state Senate or City Council a person of color has to be able to get votes from all the people in the district just like I, not being a person of color, have to get votes from people of color as well.

"My point is, the issue is not whether there should be a candidate of color but how best to accomplish that."

He went on to say, "They'll point to the fact that the Republicans Party has supported candidates of color, but it's in races when they have no chances of winning."

-- Azi Paybarah