The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The final debate of the campaign has just finished.  I didn't see it, because, like many of my suburban Monroe County neighbors, I don't subscribe to Time-Warner Cable.

Debates are only important if voters watch.  Here's the list of debates in the 29th and the coverage of each:

1. 10/5:  Rotary Club, Canandaigua.  Seen by 200 people.
2. 10/10:  WETM, Elmira.  Broadcast on the WETM Time-Warner cable channel in Elmira during prime time, and then re-broadcast on WETM UHF channel 18 the following Sunday morning.
3. 10/11:  Bath LWV.  Another 200 or so people saw this debate.
4. 10/12:  WLEA, Hornell.  A low-powered radio station with a "distant" signal radius of less than 40 miles hosted this debate at 3 p.m. on a Friday.
5. 10/16: Rnews, Rochester Time-Warner Cable.  This debate will be re-broadcast on Time-Warner affiliates in the Southern Tier.

None of these debates were broadcast in prime-time on an over-the-air station.   The one over-the-air TV broadcast was during off-hours on a low-coverage UHF channel. 

My conclusion:  there's no reason to think that the debates were widely watched, or that they will have anything but minimal impact on this race.