Martha Robertson, under fundraising cloud, named to “Red to Blue” list in NY-23
Democrats are putting a lot of eggs in Robertson’s basket.
Martha Robertson’s fundraising cloud just won’t go away in her challenge to Republican Tom Reed in NY-23.
Robertson raised funds based on the claim that GOP operatives were caught trying to take down her website during a critical fundraising period. She never has come forward with any proof, and broke her promise to hire a forensic computing investigator to find the evidence.
The local media is becoming increasingly frustrated with Robertson’s dodging the issue, as we mentioned yesterday.
Today Robertson was named to the prestigious “Red to Blue” list by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as reported in the Buffalo News:
Martha Robertson, the Democrat who’s challenging Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, this fall, got a big boost Monday when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named her to its “Red to Blue” program — signaling that she’s one of the top Democratic House challengers in the country.
The Democratic campaign committee selects challengers for the Red to Blue program when they’ve shown strong ability to raise funds, build a campaign and present a credible alternative to voters.
This will signify increased money flowing into the district. Robertson also is getting fundraising help from NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and is an Emily’s List candidate.
My local sense is that it won’t make a difference, and not just because of Robertson’s fundraising cloud.
This is not the District of Maurice Hinchey, when the old NY-22 (since renumbered to NY-23) stretched like a snake from college town to college town to keep a left-wing ideology in office for decades. Redistricting gave geographic sense to the district, and turned it blue by several percentage points.
This is a largely rural district in which Robertson’s pro-single payer, pro-Obamacare agenda is unlikely to sell.
The fundraising scandal was Robertson’s introduction to the district, and it’s hard to change a first impression.
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My own personal perspective is that a lot of money thrown at campaign adds aren’t going to overcome the huge negative that is Obamacare’s massive failure.
The dems and establishment republicans are still operating (falsely imho) under the notion that money thrown into campaign ads will help sway voters on the fence.
It is my impression that fence sitters are now such a small minority of the likely voters that campaign ads for establishment incumbents are likely to be a wasted investment in futility.
The people affected negatively by obamacare are now rumored to be around 1/3 of the entire population of the country. That’s an insanely huge number of people to piss off with lies about keeping their old healthcare.
The momentum is decidedly not in favor of democrats, but also not in favor of incumbents either.
Given the choice between two candidates though, the one most seen to be in support of the disaster that is obamacare will likely lose.
Obamacare in NYS is not a trump card. As NYS literally had “all the above” in place as far as insurance mandates and costs prior to Obamacare. The program actually picked up federal dollars by extending enrollment by the higher earnings cap to for newly eligible Medicaid/entitlement enrollees. Medicaid enrollment made up the majority of all enrollment on the state exchange and is currently at a all time record high though sustaining it will be catastrophic in 3 years when federal dollars stop picking up the tab and state tax payers will have to pay for all the expanded benefits which were tagged on to the health care portion.
Robertson will be playing her act to those who are on the receiving end of all these welfare programs which are funded at a rate which is the highest in the country and to the collective socialist progressives across the district who refuse to allow shale fracking or industrial revitalization to uplift the economy of the same people.
Never count out the givemeshit voter and never count out the I’llgiveyoushit candidate.
My father lives in NY, and he says the advent of Obamacare actually brought his healthcare costs down.
Translation, NYS had all by itself already f’d it’s healthcare system to levels beyond that of Obamacare.
So the repulsion the rest of the country so clearly feels towards the ACA might not be as prevalent in NYS.
But who cares. It’s a slave state, always will be. Write it off. I left decades ago, would never go back.
–Andrew, @LawSelfDefense
Have you urged your father to escape yet, Andrew? ^^
were his deductibles that high before in NY?
Andrew: As a Senior N.Y. resident, I can appreciate why you do not have a NYS Dr. Lic. ! If I want to see my grandkids, I need to travel or wait for their vacation breaks. Moving is not always an option for older residents for a myriad of reasons. Why I can appreciate Prof. J. taking on the Tompkins Cty. Political machine that dominates itself across the 23rd district.
“turned it blue by several percentage points”
I think you mean “red”.
states that elect people like they have elected will feel no repulsion over aca.
don’t underestimate what the ads can and will do.
For the past two or three years, with the property and school tax bills we receive here in our Upstate New York city, there’s a letter that recounts the costs of unfunded state and federal mandates. As in any other state, a New Yorker’s glee at having his stuff paid for by someone else is far exceeded by his anger at having to pay for someone else’s stuff. No one likes being a milked cash cow.
Can the dem machine manufacture voters in this district as they do in other districts?
NY-23 is chock full of colleges and universities, given the politics on these campuses I expect at least 125% of ’em to come out and vote.
Despite the Democrat efforts, nothing is likely to change the electoral arithmetic for Robertson. This district has a Republican registration edge of +4. Tompkins County, her home base, gave Reed’s opponent a 10,000 vote edge last time and he still lost by 10,000. 2014 is shaping up to be a Republican year. Presidents usually lose seats in the House in mid-term elections. Robertson’s stands on energy development, single payer health, and taxes are out of touch outside Tompkins. She can’t run on her record outside Tompkins and so is trying to make Reed’s character the issue. Desperate. If Democrats want to waste their money by giving it to Martha, so be it, but it is a waste.