We here in the City may occasionally forget this, having little reason to remember it, but there are still some members of the republican party in New York State who hold elected office. Now, clearly, this is a profoundly unnatural state of affairs, and one that must be addressed and remedied.
Arguably the worst republican left standing in New York after the tidal wave of last November is Randy Kuhl, who represents, somewhat, the 29th District in Congress. Last November, Democrat Eric Massa came within a hair's breadth of ousting the man.
Now Massa is shooting for a successful result in 2008, not however, this time, unopposed; there's a Democratic primary in the 29th District this time around. This primary pits one David Nachbar against Massa; the former has the advantage of being able to self-fund, as well as the support of Louise Slaughter; but also comes burdened with the way that he made his money, which was by advising American businesses on outsourcing their domestic jobs to foreign, low-wage jurisdictions. This kind of activity is, in fairness, not too popular with Democrats.
The key ingredient in prevailing in a primary is the support of Democratic county and local organizations, and by that measure, Massa is doing quite well. On June 11th, he wrapped up the support of Rush, NY; on June 12th, he got the endorsement of the Yates County Democrats; on June 14th, he received the support of the Gates, NY, Democratic committee, in Monroe County, bringing his total to seven such endorsements in Monroe alone; on June 15th, Major General John Batiste, the former Commander of the United States Army's First Infantry Division, announced his formal endorsement as well. Yesterday, the Cattaraugus County Democrats chose sides, and unanimously went with Massa. These kinds of endorsements carry real weight in a district that is largely rural and dotted with smaller cities.
I'm personally a big believer in primaries, and Massa is by no means a candidate without flaws. However, I also detest outsourcing; it's very close to economic treason in my book. That's perhaps an old-fashioned conceit in the days when we keep on hearing that the world is flat, and that sending our jobs to India and China is somehow good for us; but many people, especially those that have them or would like to have them, are rather fond of jobs in this country. That simple observation makes support of David Nachbar very difficult, in my book, at least.
On the web: Eric Massa for Congress [1]
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