Each day this week we will focus on one of the Upstate New York races included in Operation Counterweight. As mentioned before, Upstate NY is critical to holding the House, as several seats were gained by Republicans in an otherwise blue state in 2010. There also are good chances to flip one or two seats away from vulnerable Democrats.
We hope you will make a donation to each of the campaigns this week, as even small amounts of money help the campaigns in these mostly rural districts.
As before, these analyses were prepared by a Cornell student who wishes to remain anonynous.
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Watertown Businessman Matt Doheny is running to unseat Democrat incumbent Bill Owens in Upstate New York’s new 21st Congressional District. The new district is consolidated to include the Northern regions of the state, removing much of Central New York from Owens. It seems that Doheny knows the district’s geography quite well. Rural and agricultural issues are a focal point in this race.
In a recent poll likely skewed by the Democratic Convention, Owens leads Doheny by a sizeable margin. However, Owens’ recent attempts to portray himself as a moderate on fiscal issues are a strong indication race that Owens expects the race to be tight and wouldn’t risk being portrayed in favor of raising taxes in a feeble economy. Owens recently voted to extend all of the Bush tax cuts for the next year, but, when questioned, said he supported middle class tax cuts and that he hadn’t yet decided whether the cutoff for extending current rates should be below $250,000, as proposed by Obama, or below $1 million.
Meanwhile, Doheny’s fiscal platform is focused on lowering the federal corporate tax, a hindrance to economic growth in New York especially, which stacks a 7% state corporate tax on top of federal corporate tax rates, now the highest in the world.
Check out Matt Doheny’s campaign website here and consider making a donation.
WAJ adds — this is a really important and winnable race. Please consider a donation.
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Comments
So, was this double-posted piece written by Professor jacobson or jacobarluck? Inquiring minds want to know.
Owens was elected because of the Dede Scozzafava mess, which was an unforced error by the NY GOP and Conservative Party. Scozzafava threw her support to him when she withdrew her candidacy in 2009. He was reelected in 2010 despite the GOP wave. Scozzafava now has a cushy job in the Cuomo administration.
The longer-term implications are cautionary.
Even if I’m rediscovering what was already posted at LI, this bears noting: A hopeful sign for the current race is that this time the GOP and the Conservative Party have the same nominee in Doheny, whereas Owens will presumably lose some votes to the Green candidate.