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:

WETM covers Kuhl's drilling ad with a pretty favorable story, including a bunch of man-on-the-street interviews. Video embedded below:

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."

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 first Massa TV ad is embedded below. (via Rochesterturning)

Update: The Massa campaign has announced that they will run the ad for one week on TV stations across the district.

WETM reports on today's Massa press conference, where he was endorsed by Maj Gen (Ret.) John Batiste and former Horseheads Republican Committee Chair Sherman Moreland.

(Moreland isn't mentioned in the WETM piece, but a Massa press release includes him as another Republican endorsement.)

Update: Rochesterturning has video of Moreland's endorsement, which I've embedded after the fold. WENY in Elmira and Syracuse News 10 also picked up the event.

Update #2: Rochesterturning also has General Batiste's endorsement.

Today's Democrat and Chronicle has a analysis piece about Randy Kuhl's energy bill. It contrasts the Republicans' plan to blame Congress for high energy costs with some polling data. Polls show that Americans blame oil companies, President Bush, foreign oil producing nations and Congress, in that order.

The Kuhl Campaign announced that their petition filing includes over 11,000 signatures, which shows the strength of Republican organization, especially in the Southern Tier (that's an assumption). This is roughly 3,000 more than the Massa campaign reported Wednesday.

WETM has a story on petition filing in the Elmira area. Along with mentioning Massa and Kuhl's petitions, WETM reports that only Republican State Senator George Winner will have a challenger. Republican Assemblymen Bacalles and O'Meara will run unopposed this year.

After the break, I've embedded Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig's take on the popularity of Congress, which, as was discussed earlier, is in single digits. For Lessig, it's all about the money.

The DCCC has added a web ad to its campaign highlighting Randy Kuhl's present vote on Iraq funding. It will also field a new robo-call from General Wesley Clark:

Hi, this is General Wes Clark, calling on behalf of the DCCC.

Congressman Randy Kuhl had the opportunity to stand up for our veterans.

Instead he voted against expanding the GI bill for the first time since World War II to provide a free college education for veterans.

That's leaving our veterans behind.

Call Randy Kuhl at 607-776-9142 and tell him to stand up for our troops and our veterans.

Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

The web ad is embedded below:

Update: The DCCC released a Kuhl-specific version of the ad.

The DCCC and Americans United for Change ads are embedded after the jump.

DCCC Radio Ad:

Download mp3 (1.4MB)

Americans United TV Ad:

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.