The Washington Post blog is running with a report that Vito Fossella will not seek re-election.
GOP aides speaking on the condition of anonymity said they expected Fossella would announce imminently that he won’t seek reelection. But Fossella spokesman Craig Donner tells the Sleuth that no announcement or press conference is planned.
It looks to me like national Republicans are doing what they can to push him out sooner rather than later. In any case, he is damaged goods and they are looking to make a fresh start. We are going to have an open seat on our hands and we better recruit vert quickly.
An open seat will be difficult to pick up, especially if the Republicans nominate Andrew Lanza or James Oddo. The only bright side would be if Michael Cusick or Michael McMahon runs.
Obama isn’t going to help much here I don’t think.
I know the 13th is one of those NY districts that still sometimes vote Republican for president, if only because neither party seriously contests NY these days. But I also know Clinton carried the area in 1996 (he carried every NY district that year, and only the one currently held by Tom Reynolds was even all that close). Is there much chance of an Obama landslide of that proportion this time around? If so, I don’t see the top of the ticket hurting us, and it might even help us.
Either way, I’ve been thinking a lot lately of a GOP press conference I saw shortly after Fossella was first elected. They made him out to be some sort of giantkiller for winning a district they had already held for sixteen years at the time, which was pretty funny in itself. Thinking about it now, well, it’s right up there with the fact that they were also lobbying Gary Condit to switch parties around that time!