The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Representative Michelle Bachmann [R-MN-6] said some crazy things about Barack Obama (he's "anti-American") and her house colleagues (the media should find out whether they're "pro-American"). Her comments caused a million dollar fundraising burst for her opponent, and the DCCC is pouring a million more into her race.

Casting around for more Michele Bachmann-like comments, The Hill thinks they found one by Randy Kuhl, made at the 13-WHAM debate on October 10th to 13-WHAM in an interview:

I firmly believe the Democratic majority wants the American public to suffer and to hurt so that they can make some political gains at election time, and I think that’s wrong.

Politico thinks this is significant enough to be called the play of the day.

Update: Exile at The Albany Project has the video. It's from an old interview with Kuhl, conducted in August.

Reader Elmer noticed that Eric Massa was endorsed by American Hunters and Shooters.

The Star-Gazette also reports that Randy Kuhl was endorsed by Monroe County Town Supervisors, who are all Republicans.

Rochesterturning has scans of the new DCCC mailer, which, like the recent TV ad, highlights free trade.

The NRCC has released their first ad in the 29th district, which is embedded below. The charges in the ad are almost identical to Kuhl's most recent ad. (via The Albany Project)

Sean Carroll at the 13-WHAM blog has a profile of the newly announced write-in candidate in the race.

The Albany Project has scans of some pro-Massa mailers sent by the Working Families Party.

News 10 has an story asking whether endorsements matter.

Yesterday's Star-Gazette says that the 29th race is going to be a nail-biter.

Exile at The Albany Project found a Messenger-Post story about a write-in candidate in the 29th race.

Finally, it looks like the NRCC dropped some cash on the 29th, in the form of mailers for Kuhl. They've spent less than half ($71K) of what the DCCC has spent ($181K) on the race so far.

I'm on the Obama mailing list, and last night they sent me an email (embedded below) urging me to vote for Eric Massa.

That's about all the help Massa can expect from the Obama campaign, which isn't spending much in sure-win New York. That's unfortunate for Massa, because Obama is deploying the most sophisticated get-out-the-vote (GOTV) operation in recent Democratic history.

Similarly, Randy Kuhl can expect little help from the cash-strapped McCain campaign, which conceded New York before the election started.

According to independent polls, Obama and McCain are running neck-and-neck in the 29th, which is a switch from 2004, when Bush took the district by 14 points. But without a GOTV effort from either campaign, neither Congressional candidate will be riding coattails.

The Democrat and Chronicle's endorsement of Randy Kuhl is the usual low-quality product of their opinion page. It condescends, ignores facts, and demonstrates the writer's ignorance of the most basic political truths.

Their first argument, such as it is, is that the little people of the 29th don't need a Congressman who is "encyclopedic on the issues", like Massa. We are too simple for that. We "can't afford politicians who fight the big battles". Massa is a "big-picture guy in a district with small-picture needs". The D&C apparently feels that Kuhl is the better man to keep the hicks in the 29th down on the farm.

The D&C also says that Kuhl has become "more confident" and "less defensive". No evidence is provided for these claims because the facts are in complete opposition to them. If anything, Kuhl has become more defensive since 2006. A few minor protests caused him to make his town hall meetings appointment-only events. He refused to participate in any public debates. Those aren't the actions of a confident politician.

The D&C believes that Kuhl, who has a long record of voting with his party, has "moved away from Bush". Their evidence is his words, not Kuhl's voting record. Kuhl voted against any effort to limit funding to the war in Iraq, thus handing the Bush administration a blank check, yet the D&C believes that "[h]e's challenged the administration on war issues." Kuhl switched positions and voted for the second, pork-packed bailout, but the D&C is satisfied that he "questioned the lack of accountability in the Bush-proposed legislation."

The underlying problem with the D&C is that they cling to a fool's notion of politics. They say that Kuhl "must put aside partisanship to work with Democrats." This is wishful thinking based on complete ignorance of Kuhl's leadership status and voting record. When it comes to important votes, Deputy Whip Kuhl has voted with his party 90% of the time.

The D&C has been cutting reporting staff to invest in their social networking website. When reporters don't report, the end result is fact-free editorials like this one.

When I heard that Randy Kuhl was going to be interviewed on 20/20, I wrote this:

Anyone familiar with Stossel's interviews might not be so quick to brag. Stossel usually a takes a skeptical, somewhat libertarian view of politics. He's death on pork-barrel spending, and he's already turned in a negative piece on the Ethanol boondoggle.

Today, Kuhl's office posted a press release with the title NY Farming Community Responds To Inaccurate Portrayal of Farm Bill by ABC’s 20/20.

Res ipsa loquitur.

Reader Michael sends a screenshot of the Internet ad below, which is sponsored by the same group that sponsored an anti-Kuhl health care ad.

The ad shows the good and the bad of Internet advertising. The good is that you can figure out (roughly) where a user is from, and push ads related to the user's location. The bad is that you often can't control where your ad appears.