The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Since the 29th District will soon be re-districted out of existence, I'm making official what's been obvious for a long time - this site is now closed. I've set it up so that all the content is still reachable and searchable, and I'll continue hosting it for as long as it makes sense, but there will be no new content posted. Comments are turned off because they're just spam-catchers as this point.

Thanks to everyone who contributed over the years and perhaps we'll meet someplace else on the Internet.

You are now reading the Fighting29th on a new server. You'll find the electrons much fresher here.

If you see any problems, drop me an email, or throw in a comment.

I'm going to slip on my winter Crocs, bust out the kinara, and prepare for a joyous Kwanzaa. Because my Kwanzaa preparation ritual is extremely rigorous, don't expect any blogging until after I've fully celebrated the seven principles.

Of course, if something interesting happens, I'll be back to comment.

A while back, A reader pointed out that they were no longer getting Google alerts from posts here. I think that's because Google was pulling the Massa press releases from this site, and once the Massa office began posting them on his site, Google figured I was re-posting them, and they don't like that. Google still indexes this site, but doesn't post alerts when I post. Hopefully removing them will change that.

I started posting the press releases for two reasons. First, Massa's site wasn't up and running yet. Second, I think it's interesting to compare the press releases with what's published in local media. Since Massa's been posting them for all to see, I've removed them from the front page. If you want to see Massa press releases, they're here.

The feed of Massa's recent votes which was on the left column is now at the bottom right.

I've added a left sidebar to the site, which will be used to track Eric Massa's votes and legislation. At the moment, only recent votes are visible. As soon as Massa makes a floor speech or sponsors some legislation, a feed of that information will be visible, too.

This data is provided by the excellent GovTrack site, which allows you to set up custom trackers for Congress. The site is an impressive, free effort by Josh Tauber and a few other volunteers, and it's worth a visit.

I've also changed the top right menuing to remove earmarks (which aren't available yet), and replace it with a resources page. That page has a few links for those curious about doing more Congressional research.

I'll be pimping up the feed displays over the next couple of days.

Evan Dawson at 13-WHAM has more on tonight's blogger portion of the CW-16 show. It will be broadcast on the Internet at 13-WHAM.com.

Howard Owens from The Batavian will be joining us.

The live blog here will start around 8:30 or so. Check in then to see what's happening.

I will be on CW-16 tomorrow night starting at 9:30 to discuss the election. Exile from The Albany Project will be there, too.

We will be live-blogging with DragonFlyEye. Check back here around 9:30 tomorrow for the live-blog, and I hope anyone interested will join in.

Update: CW-16 is a Rochester TV station affiliated with 13-WHAM. I believe they will simulcast on the Internet at their website here. Tune in to the live blog tomorrow for more information.

The first Massa/Kuhl debate is at 9 tonight on 13-WHAM.

We'll be live-blogging starting a little before 9 p.m. tonight.

Tomorrow night we'll be doing something new - collaborative live blogging. Around 9 p.m., Exile from the Albany Project will join me in commenting on the 13-WHAM debate.

We'll be using some new software that allows everyone to comment in real-time. It's more like IM or a chatroom, so it should be pretty interactive. If you're watching the debate and near a computer, stop in and participate.

The media pachyderm Gannett is having trouble mating with the Internet elephant Google. The result is that most Star-Gazette stories aren't showing up in my feeds from Google, and a bunch of blog posts from political reporter Joe Spector are appearing a Westchester County Gannett site. I try to catch those, but I greatly appreciate all who have been sending Star-Gazette and other Gannett content.

In today's post on the debates, I claimed that there have been no public polls in the 29th, and that Kuhl's campaign has not paid for a poll in the recent past. A sharp reader wrote to point out a Kuhl poll which was distributed in January that showed Kuhl 20 points ahead. Just to be clear: in addition to being a poll from one side, that poll had a few other issues that made it really unreliable. Follow the previous link to learn more. There's been no third-party polling in the district that I know about.