With the 2008 presidential race in full swing and Congress adjourned for its summer recess - activists in New York and around the country will use the dog days of August to “inspect the flesh” as they say in horse racing. In short, asking the question - should we bet (i.e., donate) cold cash on this race or not?

The first race on the card is New York’s 29th Congressional District. For those who don’t know – and in the blog community this will be a small pool – it will be a rematch of 2006 when Eric Massa ran against first term incumbent Randy Kuhl. Randy, or as he is affectionately known in political circles “shotgun Randy,” has had a bulls eye on his back since 2004 when he beat political neophyte Samara Barand.

In short, Randy is probably one of the worst of the kool-aid gulping Bush acolytes in Congress. He is wrong on so many issues that the Daily Gotham would need to buy an extra page on the internet to list them all here. That said Eric was still unable to unseat him in one of the biggest congressional tidal waves since 1974.