DCCC to target Kuhl and Walsh
It’s no secret that progressives in this area are very angry with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for not getting more involved in the races in NY-25 and (especially) NY-29. I think this anger is justified: no matter what their polling and registration numbers told the DCCC, it was pretty clear to people on the ground (like me) that these races would be hotly contested. In NY-29, one could tell from the energy of Massa’s campaign that he’d give Kuhl a run for his money; in NY-25, you could tell from Wash’s comically bad (and Maffei’s very good) performance in the first debate that Walsh was in real trouble.
In fairness, the DCCC did drop $450K on NY-25 race in the end, but they spent nothing on NY-29. In retrospect, it’s pretty clear that another few hundred K might have swung the race to Massa — he got creamed by Republican attack ads the last few weeks. And I think that if the DCCC had spent more earlier on Maffei, he probably would have won.
But that’s all water under the bridge now! The DCCC is coming down hard on Walsh and Kuhl over the next few weeks. They’re running this radio ad against Walsh. And they’re targeting Kuhl with telephone calls, emails, and web videos.
I think this is very smart. Kuhl and Walsh are likely to bail on the war this fall, but they deserve to feel political pain for rubber-stamping The Decider for as long as they have. Both races are among the most winnable in the country — I personally would be surprised if Walsh gets re-elected. (And let’s hope the DCCC jumps in on NY-26 at some point now that we’ve got a strong candidate in Jon Powers!)
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A Fearsome Onslaught…
The DCCC has announced a “blitz” of ads targeting Randy Kuhl, among others, over the July 4 holiday. Unlike top-tier candidates (such as Jim Walsh in NY-25), who will be targeted by radio ads, Kuhl will be hit by “telephone……
Great news!