In other news, Sean Carroll tells me that he'll have an extensive interview with Tom Reed and his wife, about Reed's health, on tonight's 5 and 6 o'clock newscasts on Rochester's 13-WHAM.

Happy New Year to all of you.

Update: Sean Carroll confirms that it's a Pulmonary Embolism (PE) probably caused by a clot thrown from his leg. This is a common malady for people who have been sitting on planes or in cars for long periods of time. It does strike young people. For example, David Bloom, a NBC News reporter, died of a PE at age 39 earlier this decade.

Here's a gadget from Google that helps you find your polling place:

In Chemung, Monroe and Schuyler Counties, the contests will be in Columns 9 & 10
In Ontario, Steuben, and Yates Counties, the contests will be in Columns 10 & 11
In Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties, the contests will be in Columns 14 & 15

This allegation is ridiculous - We are not even doing any robo calls – not a single one. Not even for Tom. Certainly not for Matt.

One vote is for the special election to serve out the rest of Eric Massa's term. The other is for the general election to serve the next two years in Congress.

Update: Reader Elmer sends this morning's Corning Leader front page [pdf], which makes this really, really clear.

I don't know whether this is true, but if it is, I'd be surprised. I'm also surprised that Reed is running any negative ads. (The ads aren't negative against Zeller, but they do attack Democrats.)

As the prohibitive favorite, Reed should be completely positive.

The Zeller press release is included after the break.

Tom Reed's Dirty Halloween Trick

Victor, NY- Despite numerous pledges from Tom Reed to run a positive campaign; perhaps as a sign of things to come, he's already breaking his promises. The Reed campaign has paid for thousands of automated calls, called "robo dials" to contact voters in the waning days of the election.

Yesterday, voters both Republican and Democrat received calls purporting to be from the Zeller campaign asking them to vote for Matt Zeller. The only problem? Voters had to contend with four calls, back-to-back-back in hopes of annoying voters into supporting Reed or staying home on Tuesday.

"When they know they can't win on the issues, politicians will resort to almost anything to try and win. He may say he's not a career politician, but he certainly is acting like one," said Chris Rackl, campaign manager for Zeller for Congress.

Said Zeller, "Personally, I'm disappointed. Amidst all the negativity voters are subjected to when trying to make an informed decision, I was heartened that both Tom and I were able to run positive issue based campaigns. We definitely disagree on a number of issues, but we both stayed positive and played by the rules. I expected more from him."

Added Rackl, "Reed's dirty trick is backfiring. We've received number calls from Republicans complaining about all of the robo dials, and as soon as the voters have heard they weren't from us, they're immediately angry Tom Reed would stoop so low."

The Zeller Campaign also noted the only calls they've commissioned feature Matt Zeller reminding voters to remember to vote twice.

And the Democrat and Chronicle predictably endorsed Reed. While they generally endorse Democrats, the D&C hasn't been able to endorse a Republican in the 29th District, and I don't think the reason has anything to do with editorial integrity or a careful evaluation of the candidates. The D&C is simply looking for editorial cover, and the 29th serves as the token district where they can say they endorsed a Republican in a competitive race whenever they're accused of being a "Democratic" paper.

Joe Dunning's column [pdf] includes a few observations about the candidates, including a note that Zeller is far more convincing than Reed when discussing Afghanistan.

Also courtesy of the comments, here's the Hornell Evening Trib's run-down of debates and candidate events.

Allegany County Tea Party write-in congressional candidate Janice Volk has been on the reieving end of some harrassment, since her campaign for Congress started up. "This race is getting nasty," Mrs. Volk said at last night's Tea Party get-together in Olean. "My grandbaby's asking me, 'Mama, what's a nig---? Because they're going by my house, calling me names."

Mrs. Volk also claims that she was run off the road while driving, and that gunshots were fired in the air near her, and that since she's been campaigning for Congress, members of her family have been harrassed as well.