First, I must apologize for not blogging recently. With the wedding planning (which was this weekend, and we had a very special surprise visit at the reception from none other than Congressman Kuhl), and starting my new job, I've just been swamped. In addition, while I will be blogging throughout the fall campaign season, I will be on another two week hiatus starting this weekend for my honeymoon in Italy.
Second, I have good news to report on Kuhl's fundraising figures. According to the FEC, Congressman Kuhl has outraised Massa by $43,000. While Massa has around $50K more cash on hand, he still has $75K in outstanding debt, meaning he actually only has $577K cash on hand compared to Kuhl's $610,000 cash on hand.
Below is the Kuhl campaign's statement on the latest figures:Bath, NY – U.S. Representative John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr.'s campaign today announced Kuhl's best fundraising reporting period in his three campaigns for Congress. Kuhl will report raising over $333,000 during the second quarter. He announced his reelection plans just prior to the start of the quarter.
"I'm deeply humbled by the strong grassroots support my campaign is receiving throughout the 29th Congressional District," said Representative Kuhl. "I am proud to be an independent voice who has a record of delivering for my constituents. Western New Yorkers believe in lowering taxes, increasing the exploration of America's energy resources, finding affordable solutions to healthcare, and making our economy stronger so we can attract and retain competitive jobs. I look forward to continuing out on the campaign trail because I know we're on the right side of the important issues facing the families of my district."
Between April and June, Kuhl raised $333,201.43. Kuhl's previous best fundraising reporting period was three years ago – the second quarter of 2005.
Last week, Kuhl, a lifelong resident of Western New York, announced he will run on the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines this November.
UPDATE: According to the Star Gazette, the Massa campaign owes most of its $75,170 debt to Massa's wife...
With New Year's and all of the coverage going on with Iowa and New Hampshire, here's a new poll of which I haven't seen much coverage, but it certainly bodes well for the GOP:The number of Americans who consider themselves to be Republicans jumped nearly two percentage points in December to 34.2%. That's the largest market share for the Republican brand in nearly two years, since January 2006 (see history from January 2004 to present).
At the same time, the number of Democrats fell to 36.3%. That's down a point compared to a month ago. During 2007, the number of Democrats has ranged from a low of 35.9% in July to a high of 37.8% in February. ...
[I]t is startling to note that the Democrats have lost two-thirds of the partisan advantage since taking control of Congress. ...
[Speaker] Pelosi herself is viewed favorably by 38% and unfavorably by 51% of voters nationwide. At her peak, shortly after becoming the first woman Speaker of the House, Pelosi was viewed favorably by 49% of voters. [Editor's Note: I wonder if it's because she's leading this "Do Nothing Congress"?]
Rasmussen also notes that these figures are for "all adults, not Likely Voters." During my years of political involvement, I've always been told that Republicans do far better in likely voter polls than just adults polls, so if this is an all adults poll, I would speculate that the numbers look even better for the GOP when the sample is likely voters. I think polls like this give further proof that other polling outfits should stop substantially underestimating the number of Republicans in their samples.On top of this poll comes this article on how the RNC has raised $32.5 million more than the DNC in 2007, and has $14.4 million more in cash-on-hand. Happy New Year, indeed!
