Recently in Ads Category

The Massa Campaign has released a new YouTube ad about the Iraq War to commemorate the anniversary of "Mission Accomplished". The ad is interesting because it hits both the real cost and the opportunity cost of the war, two issues which will no doubt be on center stage during the campaign this fall.

My wife received a mailing [pdf] today from the Healthcare Education Project, a joint venture of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA).  The four-page glossy mailer urges the reader to "write Congressman Kuhl today and urge him to vote against President Bush's proposed healthcare cuts".  A list of cuts for 29th District hospitals is displayed prominently on the second page of the piece.

The attached postage-paid return card is addressed to the union, which is a round-about way to "tell Congressman Kuhl" anything.  I assume the mailing was targeted at women, since my wife isn't a union member or healthcare activist.

Unless you've been hiding in a cave, you know that the New York State Presidential primary is tomorrow.  I've contributed a guest post to Rochesterturning in support of Barack Obama, and you can view Obama's latest ad after the jump. 

The New York Democratic Party has a special webpage full of information for Democrats.  There doesn't seem to be a similar page for Republicans. 

For those interested in an overview of polls, there's an excellent post at pollster.com which summarizes the recent history of every poll in every Super Tuesday state in one easy-to-read chart.

With favorite son Rudy Guliani out of the running, Randy Kuhl has officially endorsed John McCain.  Eric Massa is tacitly supporting Senator Hillary Clinton. 

I received the following robo-call yesterday:

This is an urgent message from American Family Voices at 202-293-1128. Congressman Randy Kuhl voted for a $13 billion Christmas present for the oil industry in the way of tax giveaways.  Meanwhile, Congressman Kuhl has taken thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the oil industry.  Why, with oil prices over $100/barrel, and gas prices on their way to $4/gallon this year, why in heavens name should Congressman Kuhl be giving tax giveaways to big oil?

Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and tell him we should be helping Americans at the pump and not rewarding big oil.

WETM, Channel 18 in Elmira, also has a story on the call.  By my count, this is the fourth robo-call from this group.  Other calls concerned unsafe toys, S-CHIP and war with Iran.  According to the non-partisan Public Citizen organization, American Family Voices is a 501(c)(4) funded mainly by AFSCME. 

I received another robocall call earlier this week:

Hello, I'm calling from the Campaign to Defend America.  Congressman Randy Kuhl needs to be honest with the American people. US intelligence agencies have revealed that Iran stopped building nuclear weapons four years ago.  Congressman Kuhl, George Bush and Dick Cheney were wrong about having [?] to bomb Iran, just like they were wrong about invading Iraq.  Call Congressman Kuhl at 585-223-4760  and tell him to stop pushing us into wars based on lies.

Update:  Reader lean, who considers these calls harassment, sends along the full contact information for Campaign to Defend America:

Campaign to Defend America, Inc.
1825 "K" Street NW
Suite 400
Washington DC 20006

Phone (202) 454-6200 main
(202) 263-4528 (direct)
(202) 263-4530 (fax)

info@iraqcampaign.org
www.noiraqescalation.org

Reader Elmer sends a story from the Corning Leader [pdf] about Randy Kuhl's appearance at the dedication of the community center in Addison.  This example of retail politics is one of the many examples of the natural advantages of incumbency. 

Another is the high-quality four-color foldout [pdf] I received earlier this week from Rep. Kuhl's office.  This mailer, produced and mailed at taxpayer's expense, is an example of the power of the franking privilege.  Each representative uses their franking budgets in different ways.  Before I was gerrymandered out of Louise Slaughter's district (NY-28), I used to receive her mailings, which were more like a cheap newsletter than Kuhl's polished document.  As of 1997, each Member of Congress' franking budget was $112,000, a number which has probably been adjusted for inflation in the last decade.

I received the following robo-call earlier this week.

Hello.  This is a call from American Family Voices,  202-293-1128.   Congressman Randy Kuhl has allowed China to import unsafe products to our nation by underfunding our inspection agencies and allowing corporations from around the world to import goods to America without proper oversight.  Pet foods that harm pets.  Toothpaste that contains antifreeze.  Even children's toys that use lead paint.  While our trade deficit soars, and the holiday season approaches, Congressman Kuhl's unsafe products keep coming in from China.  This is dangerous, and it's costing us thousands of middle-class jobs and putting our children at risk.  Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and tell him to put America first.

This is the third set of robo-calls from this group.  S-CHIP and possible war with Iran were the subjects of earlier robo-calls.  According to the non-partisan Public Citizen organization, American Family Voices is a 501(c)(4) funded mainly by AFSCME. 

My wife was kind enough to save this message on our answering machine:

Hello, this is an urgent message from American Family Voices at telephone number 202-393-4352.   Congressman Randy Kuhl and President Bush want another $46 billion to fund the war in Iraq, while here at home Congressman Kuhl voted once again to support Bush's veto of the State Health Insurance Act, which will provided health coverage for 10 million needy children.  The S-CHIP program costs about what we now spend for 40 days in the Iraq War.   Call Congressman Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and ask him why he wants $46 billion more for the War in Iraq and nothing for American Children.

A slightly altered version of the S-CHIP passed the House this afternoon with exactly the same number of yes votes as the original S-CHIP legislation.  Randy Kuhl voted against the bill. 

I haven't studied the changes in the bill closely, but they don't sound like the product of a compromise, judging from this National Journal article.   A recent Kuhl blog post echoes the complaints of his leadership:  the vote was held without enough advance notice, and without California members who were back in their districts because of the recent fires.

It sounds like the House Democrats are taking some advice from Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who supported S-CHIP in the House:

Grassley has suggested that, were he a Democrat, he would send the SCHIP measure to Bush repeatedly until the president agreed to sign it.

From the media reports, it sounds like both sides in this debate have wedged themselves into intractable positions.  Republicans like Kuhl have taken a big hit for their opposition to S-CHIP, and they've responded with a lot of red-hot rhetoric about the bill.  They need some tangible changes in the bill to justify changing their votes.  Democrats see how well S-CHIP polls, and are under fire from their constituents for their failure to end the war in Iraq.  With 43 Republicans on their side, they've chosen S-CHIP as a bi-partisan effort to get a few more Republicans accustomed to voting against their party.   This is a recipe for stalemate, and it looks like we're going there sooner, rather than later.

And, by the way, both MoveOn and AFSCME are launching still more ads in the district to publicize Kuhl's  vote.

Itchy over at Rochesterturning got robo-called by American Family Voices.  The subject of the call was the possibility of war with Iran, and the text is included in his post.