The New York Times:
WASHINGTON — National Republican officials have decided to withhold financial support from all but two closely contested Congressional races in New York, as the party braces for the possibility that it could lose several more House seats in the state.
The decision to abandon much of the state came after internal party polls showed Republican candidates in at least three once-promising races falling behind their Democratic opponents, a party official briefed on the internal deliberations said. [...]
Two of the races effectively being written off in New York are in districts currently held by Republican incumbents who are retiring at the end of the year — the 25th Congressional District in the Syracuse region, now held by James T. Walsh; and the 13th District on Staten Island, where Vito J. Fossella is stepping down. Representative Fossella was found guilty in a Virginia court this month on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.
A third New York race the party has chosen not to finance is in the 20th District, a heavily Republican area that runs from the mid-Hudson Valley to Lake Placid. It is represented by Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat who is completing her first term.
The NTCC seems to think, despite recent polling, that it still has some juice in NY-29 and NY-26.
The only two New York districts where the national Republican Party is financing candidates are the 29th, in the state’s Southern Tier, and the 26th, in the Buffalo area.
In the 29th District, Representative John R. Kuhl Jr., a Republican, is being challenged by Eric Massa, a former Navy officer whom Mr. Kuhl defeated two years ago. In the Buffalo race, Chris Lee, a Republican, is battling Alice Kryzan, a Democrat, for the Congressional seat currently held by Thomas M. Reynolds, who is retiring.
Just to put that into perspective: these five seats have been held by the other party for generations. To abandon them days before an election is more than a hint of what's coming on Tuesday: a bloodbath.
