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Tuesday, May 09, 2006

NY-29: Ninety-Three Percent

Posted by DavidNYC

Myth:

"My voting record has been independent...."

- Randy Kuhl, announcing that he won't retire (5/8/2006)

Reality:

Randy Kuhl, 2005 Party Unity Score: 93%

- CQ Weekly (1/9/2006)

I think there must be a "lying gene" that the Republican Party simply favors by natural selection. Of course, they don't believe in natural selection, but that's neither here nor there.

In other NY-29 news, Eric Massa is petitioning to get on the ballot. This is a frustrating fact of life for almost all New York campaigns, especially since NY has some of the most onerous ballot access laws in the nation. However, there's a nice silver lining, which is that the petition process forces you to ramp up your field operations well in advance of election day - consider it something of a trial run. Moreover, the campaign gets to identify and make contact with tons of potential supporters, which is also very useful further down the road.

Eric needs 1,250 signatures, but obviously wants to get more. Kuhl will probably sic his minions on the Massa petitions (in NY, a petition can be invalidated for as little as an errant mark of a pen), so it's important to have a big buffer. If you live in the area (note: you do NOT have to be a district resident to carry petitions) and you want to get involved, sign up for Eric's e-mail list here. (Be sure to check the "Volunteer" box at the bottom.)

Because it's petition season throughout New York State, other campaigns will be looking for help as well. Check Barry Welsh's site for any Dem challengers near you.

Posted at 12:42 PM in 2006 Elections - House, New York | Technorati

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Comments

Thanks. I wanted to add 2 other things about NY petitioning.

Petition period for 2006 runs from Tues June 6 to Thurs July 13.

You must be a registered Democrat in New York State to sign and witness a Democratic nominating petition in NY. If you witness a petition and are not registered to vote as a Democrat, all signatures on that sheet can be invalidated.

Posted by: John Mills at May 9, 2006 03:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Funny...they don't believe in natural selection. That's only kind of true.

They believe in social Darwinism, just not actual Darwinism.

Nice work with the site! It's always on my read list.

Posted by: The Woo at May 9, 2006 06:28 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

That's a sadly hilarious point, Woo. (And thanks for the kind words.)

BTW, to add to John's point, you can't carry petitions for Dem if you are anything other than a properly registered Democrat. A lot of people who say they are Dems are unregistered, or registered with no party affiliation (aka "independent," though this is confusing because there is also an Independence Party in NYS). Being registered for another left-wing party (eg Working Families) is also no good.

Similarly, signatures can only be collected from registered Dems. Obviously, there's no way to check on the spot - sigs can only be verified back at the office. But for signature-gatherers, don't be disappointed if only half (or even a quarter) of your sigs turn out to be valid. Again, a lot of people aren't registered Dems, or give old address information, etc. etc.

Posted by: DavidNYC at May 9, 2006 06:55 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

David - Thanks for clarifying. You said it much better than I did.

Posted by: John Mills at May 9, 2006 07:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Thanks David for the shout out - we can use all of the help we can get. Our race is going to be very exciting - and we are looking forward to building a strong team to create the connections within District.

Posted by: Sanford at May 9, 2006 10:41 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment