Analysis, discussion and opinions by members of Newsday's
editorial board.  McKinstry: Alfonse D'Amato tells the story of
long-shot Republican candidates  D'Amato with Staten Island
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliatakos  D'Amato with Staten Island
Assemblywoman Nicole Malliatakos (Credit: Dan Janison)  TAMPA --
New York's delegation at the Republican Nation Convention
continued its lovefest for 1980 when it tapped another winner
from that year to tell his story: Alfonse D'Amato.  "In 1980,
they said it couldn't be done," D'Amato said today in
Clearwater, later adding that Ronald Reagan was well behind in
the polls in his come-from-behind win over President Jimmy
Carter. "I was Al Who?" The one-time long-shot from Hempstead
knocked off Sen. Jacob Javitz in a Republican primary that year
and then served in the Senate until 1999 when he lost to Chuck
Schumer, now the senior senator from New York. Like now, the
economy was pretty bad. There are parrallels. And with a virtual
dead-heat in national polls between Preside