The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Eric Massa attended a Kuhl news conference this morning to ask Kuhl about scheduling time for a debate. Things got a little heated, as this WETM story recounts.

According to the report, Kuhl, who was "visibly unamused", talked a little smack after it was over:

"That's not the way I was raised," said Kuhl of Massa's behavior. "Unfortunately, there are people who didn't have the luxury of having wonderful parents like I did who taught about parental respect."

I understand the first part of Kuhl's taunt: Massa had bad parents (i.e., "Your Momma"). The second part, about parental respect, doesn't quite make sense. Is Massa supposed to treat Kuhl like his Daddy?

Video after the break:

Eric Massa had a short press conference this morning to announce his new trade plan. The plan is available on Massa's site[pdf]

13WHAM's Evan Dawson has coverage of a Republican press conference in Rochester. One piece is Amo Houghton's remarks on why Randy Kuhl is targeted. (Because he's a moderate?) The second is an interview with Kuhl and House Majority Leader John Boehner.

One point of pride in Randy Kuhl's 2006 campaign was his pledge to visit all 145 towns in the district every year. Because of last year's protests, and their attendant media attention, Kuhl changed those meetings to by-appointment-only this year. He's held a handful so far, and no more are scheduled on his town hall meeting page. His campaign website also contains no mention of the meetings.

A reader noticed this state of affairs and contacted Kuhl's office asking about meetings. He was told that Kuhl will be having more meetings if he's elected this year.

In 2006, town hall meetings were a major part of Kuhl's effort to portray himself as a "service Congressman". In 2008, they are a public relations liability that are no longer part of Kuhl's campaign.

This morning's Massa press conference concentrated on Randy
Kuhl's radio ad.

The video [27MB wmv] of this morning's House Republican press conference is now available. Randy Kuhl speaks at about 2:10.

Kuhl says that it is "outrageous that Speaker Pelosi, a multi-millionaire, travels around the country promoting a book when we, Members of Congress, are receiving letters and phone calls daily from people pleading for help." Kuhl read a letter from constituent Elizabeth, from Wayland, NY, who travels 50 miles daily to work in Rochester. Her heating oil budget has tripled, and her electricity budget is up by over half.

Since each of the Members had a couple of minutes, and many of them repeated the same talking points, the press conference gets a little long. But don't miss a reporter's question at 13:50, "None of this legislation will immediately drop the price at the pump, will it?"

John Kline [MN-2], replied, "It remains to be seen. It takes a while for oil to come out of the ground [...] two years, or three years, or five years." He added that it's an "important signal to the market", so "we think it will have an affect on prices."

Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader story [pdf] on Massa's request yesterday.

The Leader also publishes their policy on letters to the Editor [pdf] today, in anticipation of a flood of letters by partisans on both sides.

Update: Today's Messenger-Post also covers the energy back-and-forth.

The Kuhl campaign has started a media effort coordinated with Kuhl's appearance at the House protest this week. Kuhl's new radio and TV ads, which the campaign says will air across the 29th district, are embedded after the break.

Kuhl will also appear at a press conference on C-SPAN C-SPAN2 this morning at 11.

The Massa campaign had a special press call this morning, where Massa called for Randy Kuhl to use his "close personal relationship" with President Bush to call for the President to re-convene Congress.

Massa said that he finds himself "in open disagreement with Speaker Pelosi" about the importance of debating an energy bill now. Massa said, "We need responsible offshore drilling, and we need to solve this problem. Calling the House into session is just a political stunt. If the President calls Congress into session, then we can get something done."

Massa said he realizes that "I'm probably out there on my own" on this one. But "the Constitution is clear: only the President has the power to re-convene Congress".

13WHAM's Sean Carroll has posted a blog entry about the energy plans of the two candidates in the 29th. WHAM has also posted raw video of his interview with Kuhl and with Massa.