Kuhl running scared?
There is probably no surer sign of political fear than a hastily constructed campaign website. And that’s just what Kuhl campaign has just put up over the past couple days. The big news over there seems to be — I kid you not — that Randy Kuhl has miraculously secured the endorsement of the Monroe County Republican party. We all know how hard it is for an incumbent to pull down endorsements like these.
And Randy Kuhl has also started marching in parades: after phoning it in on the July 4 parade circuit (to our knowledge all he did was stand in the crowd at the Pittsford and Chili July 4 parades, secure no doubt in the knowledge that the all-important Monroe County GOP endorsement wouldl power him to a second term in Washington), he showed up last week at the Wellsville Balloon Parade and at another parade in Gates.
There have also been reports of gushing letters about Randy Kuhl that have appeared in local papers — I wonder whose campaign might have dictated them. These aren’t available on-line, but if any of you have seen them, please give us some snippets in the comments section.
Here’s NRCC chair Tom Reynolds’ less than glowing appraisal of the Kuhl campaign:
“He (Kuhl) has done all the types of things he needs to do as an incumbent”….there is some “decent party apparatus” in place that can help promote Kuhl’s candidacy, he added.
Translation: he’s not the best candidate, but at least he’s an incumbent.
It’s pretty clear: Randy Kuhl knows he’s in a political dogfight. It’s likely that his campaign has run a field poll, been frightened by what they’ve seen, and are now bringing out their big guns — letter-writing campaigns, a half-finished website, half-baked endorsements from other Republicans. If that’s the best they’ve got, we should be talking about Congressman Massa on November 8.
Update: Zinnian Democracy provides links to three letters in the Corning Star-Gazette. It is clear that the Kuhl campaign put out the word: “write something good about me ASAP. I like this one especially:
Several times in my adult life, I have come across a problem in which I needed expert help. The person who always comes to mind is U.S. Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl, R-Hammondsport. Randy always takes care of his people and makes certain that any wrong committed is corrected and done right.
This sounds not unlike the sort of thing the North Korean press writes about Kim Jong-Il.
Related posts:
Whoa! Someone should tell Tom Reynolds not to over-do the praise for Kuhl! I understand the man blushes easily. And who wouldn’t blush at the notion that they’ve done the “types of things” that an incumbent needs to do? Reminds me of my days as an aspiring rock star: when my friends told me the show was “pretty cool,” I knew that was a polite way of saying it sucked.
What type of things does an incumbent need to do? I would have liked a definition of that, Tom. If you mean holding townhall meetings, then yes. If you mean holding the party line, then yes. If you mean representing his districts interests to the best of his ability, then no. It would have been nice when Reynolds referred to Kuhl’s fundraising if he had told us how much of those funds came from special interests/PACs, because that’s really who Randy represents.
TomT, you’re scaring me with your psychic abilities. As I was driving to get the scratches on my car estimated, I was piecing together the very evidence you cite above. Except my title was “Kuhl running scared?” (I updated your title to that– hope you don’t mind!) Great friggin post, man. Thanks.
here:
http://zinniandemocracy.blogspot.com/2006/07/randy-kuhl-my-hero-sigh.html
Thanks, Zinnfan. I updated the post.
[...] RocTurn had the original post, and Zinnian Democracy follows up on the apparently hasty campaigning that Kuhl and the Gang have been doing in the last week. It’s as though someone just checked thier email at campaign headquarters and realized they’d better get Randy back to the district, quick. No time to carry Washington Republican water when you’ve got a campaign to run. [...]