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Monday, October 09, 2006

NY-26: CQ Makes a Dramatic Rating Change

Posted by James L.

From Leans Republican to Leans Democratic. Wowza.

The scandal surrounding resigned Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley and the salacious messages he sent to underage congressional pages has engulfed Washington, D.C., and reordered the already pitched partisan battle for control of the House.

And nowhere is that more true than in New York’s 26th District, where the re-election prospects of four-term Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds — head of the Republicans’ national House campaign organization — have seen a stunning reversal of fortune. The controversy over Reynolds’ handling of information about Foley’s activities has prompted CQPolitics.com to change its rating on the race to Leans Democratic from Leans Republican.

That switch comes just one week after CQPolitics.com downgraded Reynolds to Leans Republican from Safe Republican — a position where Reynolds had comfortably resided prior to Foley’s abrupt Sept. 29 resignation.

National Republican Campaign Committee chairman Tom Reynolds is in such a bind that CQ is calling him the underdog now. That's no small feat for a formerly popular Republican in a district that only gave 43% of its vote to John Kerry in 2004. In the wake of Reynolds' involvement in covering up Mark Foley's predatory behavior in Congress (with Reynolds even going so far as to ask Foley to run again after he learned of inappropriate e-mail messages sent from Foley to a 16 year-old boy), CQ notes that national 527s and PACs like Majority Action and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are pushing Reynolds' pressure points hard. To hear Majority Action's no holds barred radio ad slamming Reynolds' role in the Foley cover-up scandal, click here. I'd love to see AFSCME's ad, but I have yet to see a copy of it distributed online.

This is what striking at the head of the serpent looks like.

Posted at 06:52 PM in 2006 Elections - House, New York | Technorati

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Comments

NY-19: CQPolitics has changed its rating on the race to Leans Republican from Republican Favored. They highlight the fact that Kelly took over the chair of the Page Board from 1998-2001 apres Kolbe and that Hall's fundraising efforts have exceeded expectations, the disarray in the NY Gop that existed before the scandal and aftermath of same re: Reynolds:
http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/10/kellys_connections_to_foley_sc.html

Posted by: Predictor at October 10, 2006 01:20 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

w00t!

I still want to see polling from after Reynolds ads ran. And I've got to believe we're going to see some unbelievably negative attacks from Reynolds soon.

But momentum is on our side.

Posted by: Steve at October 10, 2006 06:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

When are you going to start looking at NY-19. Sue Kelly is the incumbent there and was on the Page Board during the time that Kolbe was voicing concerns.

Read it for yourself and see how CQ is already changing the possiblities of this race.

Reynolds was asked to run by whom??

Not so far South sits Kelly...claiming she knew nothing.

A post about this quite in order.

Posted by: Lizzy at October 10, 2006 08:18 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Lizzy don't jump down the guys neck.

When I have asked in the 'what races are you intrested in' thread he has usually posted some good info about the race.

I want the NY-19 to get more coverage too.

I hope someone gets their act together and posts about the race (please do SSP) about how Kelly's fellow Page Board member knew and how this was all going on while she was Chair and how this is an issue needing to be resolved.

-- MrMacMan

Posted by: MrMacMan at October 10, 2006 10:41 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment