The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

The Kuhl campaign has released a new TV ad, which is embedded below:

Today's Corning Leader editorial [pdf], courtesy of reader Elmer, expresses the Leader's dissatisfaction with Kuhl's rejection of the WETM/Leader debate invitation.

Citing the 2006 debate where Kuhl's response on Katrina received some laughs from the audience, the Leader notes:

The question that has to be asked is, if Kuhl is shaken by a few laughing audience members, how would he react in a true crisis?

It also appears as if Kuhl is afraid to face questions he hasn't prepared for ahead of time.

Sean Carroll at 13-WHAM has announced that WHAM will be taping a debate between Randy Kuhl and Eric Massa on October 10. The debate may be streamed live over the Internet, excerpts of the debate will appear on newscasts, and it will be available for viewing in its entirety on the 13-WHAM website.

October 10 was the date for the now-canceled WETM/Leader debate.

Carroll believes that this is the only "confirmed" debate between the two candidates. As of last week, the candidates were to appear at a forum in Chemung County on October 26, and at an in-studio debate at R-News on October 28. We'll see if those dates hold.

I just got robo-called by "Working Families Win." The call tried to tie Randy Kuhl to the current economic crisis. It said he had taken "over $300,000" from Wall Street interests, and that the policies he supported put working families retirement at risk. It also noted that Kuhl will receive "a guaranteed pension at taxpayers expense." The call ended with Kuhl's office number.

Joe Spector has coverage of the latest apology request in the campaign. Randy Kuhl wants Eric Massa to apologize for not noting that the reason Kuhl chose not to attend Monday night's WXXI debate was that Congress is in session starting at 6:30 p.m. next Monday.

Today's Massa press conference was well-attended and lengthy. Julie Sherwood at the Messenger-Post has already filed her take on both Massa's and Kuhl's press conference. My abbreviated report continues below.

Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader Editorial Page [pdf], which includes Bob Rolfe's column on Randy Kuhl's voting record, as well as a couple Letters to the Editor on the 29th race.

Reader Justin sends a link to a Joe Spector blog post on the race. It concerns Charlie Rangel, who held a fundraiser for Massa earlier this year.

Spector also posts on today's Kuhl ad and Kuhl's refusal to debate in Bath.

Kuhl's latest ad accuses Massa of starting negative attacks. It's embedded after the break:

Reader Tom sends the Star-Gazette and Corning Leader [gif] (jump [gif]) stories on the Bath debate cancellation.

Susan Multer of the League of Women Voters is quoted in the Star-Gazette:

"It's a sad day for democracy when elected officials are unwilling to
participate in local candidate forums," Multer said. "It shows great
disrespect for the public for a congressman to take five months and a
state senator to take six weeks to tell the sponsoring organization
that they will not participate and give no reason."

Update: WETM also has a debate story.

Syracuse News 10 is reporting that the League of Women Voters debate in Bath has been canceled. Both Randy Kuhl and George Winner [R-SD-53] declined to attend.

I covered this debate in 2006. Compared to the usual televised debates, it was a tea party. The League screens the questions. Kuhl was born in Bath. It's the friendliest imaginable format in a Kuhl stronghold.

I had thought that Kuhl's delay in accepting debate invitations was just political jockeying. But now it looks like he's trying to minimize his debate appearances.

At the Massa press conference two weeks ago, Eric Massa claimed that there were 10 debates scheduled in the 29th. I was skeptical about that claim, and asked his campaign to sent me a list. It turns out that ten non-partisan third parties really do want to hold Congressional debates. This includes WHAM, which has offered to post those debates on their website.

Conventional wisdom says that incumbents who are ahead in the polls shouldn't debate, because debates give your opponent legitimacy by appearing on the same stage. If there's a poll that shows Kuhl way ahead, his campaign hasn't paid for it recently. The last public poll in this race was taken on November 7, 2006, and it was pretty tight. And I doubt that there's anyone in this district inclined to listen to debates who hasn't heard of Eric Massa.

Kuhl has accepted only two of those ten debate invitations. He's stopped town hall meetings. He spent a good part of last month in Washington participating in a silly, meaningless protest that isn't even supported by his party's President or Senate. I don't know if there's a master plan underneath all this, but from where I'm sitting, it sure looks like Kuhl is simply hiding from the press and the public.