Editing Abraham Beame (section)

===Early political career===
Beame was a "clubhouse" or [[political machine|machine politician]], a product of the [[Brooklyn]] wing of the patronage-oriented "regular" [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] organization, the borough's equivalent of Manhattan's [[Tammany Hall]] and the locus of New York patronage politics following the ascent of [[Meade Esposito]], as opposed to the policy-oriented "reform" Democrats who entered New York City politics, most effectively in Manhattan and the Bronx in the 1950s.<ref name="Lichtenstein">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/08/archives/madison-democratic-club-brings-influence-to-brooklyn.html |title=Madison Democratic Club Brings Influence to Brooklyn |first=Grace |last=Lichtenstein |date=November 8, 1974 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

Before being elected to two nonconsecutive terms as city comptroller in 1961 and 1969, he was a longstanding member of [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]]'s influential Madison Democratic Club and served as [[political boss]] [[Irwin Steingut]]'s personal accountant. Members of the Madison Club, including attorney/fundraiser Abraham "Bunny" Lindenbaum and Steingut's son, [[Stanley Steingut|Stanley]], frequently liaised with real estate developer [[Fred Trump]]. The club also played a decisive role in the political ascent of [[Park Slope]]–based attorney [[Hugh Carey]], whose tenure as [[governor of New York]] coincided with Beame's administration, though Carey eventually broke with the organization by endorsing [[Mario Cuomo]]'s 1977 primary bid to unseat Beame.<ref name="Lichtenstein"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/nyregion/hugh-carey-who-led-fiscal-rescue-of-new-york-city-dead-at-92.html |title=Hugh Carey, Who Led Fiscal Rescue of New York City, Is Dead at 92 (Published 2011) |first=Richard |last=Pérez-Peña |date=August 7, 2011 |work=New York Times}}</ref>

In 1965, Beame was the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. [[Edward N. Costikyan]] was his campaign manager and [[James Farley]] his campaign chair.<ref name="RFKOH-ADB-01-TR">{{cite web |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/sites/default/files/archives/RFKOH/Beame,%20Abraham%20D/RFKOH-ADB-01/RFKOH-ADB-01-TR.pdf |title=Abraham D. Beame, Oral History Interview – RFK -- 6/27/1978|page=10}}</ref> Despite having Senator [[Robert F. Kennedy]]'s strong support,<ref name="RFKOH-ADB-01-TR"/> Beame lost to the Republican nominee, [[John Lindsay]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Witkin|first1=Richard|title=Lindsay Beats Beame In A Close Race; O'Connor and Procaccino Both Win; State Senate Is G.O.P.; Hughes Victor - Seesaw Contest - Vote Is Tightest Here in Quarter Century - 13% for Buckley|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/11/03/95912986.html?pageNumber=1|access-date=18 August 2016|work=The New York Times|date=November 3, 1965|page=1}}</ref>