Thanks for the shout out, Chris, for RochesterTurning.  MyDD has done more for the little guys like us than anyone else has.  And we certainly appreciate all of it!

around 34% of all ballots cast in NY-25 were blank in 2004.

Even against a third party candidate and no Democrat, Walsh got 60%.

Oh yeah, Kerry won NY-25, Gore won NY-25.

May seem as if it's not exactly on topic but
the tie in comes at the end..

In Nov 2004 the commentariat mantra was
was that the democrats lost  "at every level" .

Not exactly.

A week or so afterwards , CSPAN covered a conference of state legislators whose executive director announced that overall the dems had picked up enough seats nationwide to swing from a small minority to a small majority.

When an NPR news host made the "loss at every level " comment I emailed its political editor
with those numbers who responded , agreeing  that I was right and in fact providing slightly revised figures , with a slightly wider gain.

I'll be curious to see whether Dean's 50 state
philosophy translates into further gains at that level. If nothing else that might help avoid situations where there seems to be no natural candidate at the Congressional level.

Dan Maffei's campaign is doing a great job; I think he's going to win. They're good people in that campaign, too ...

In fact, I'd say Maffei has a better shot than Gillibrand by a pretty good margin. As does Massa, imo.

There's a whole lot of movement in CNY and northern NY right now. It's subterranean, but we've done some internal looks at the electorate, and there's just a whole lot of "persuadables" among populations previously solid R and a strong anti-incumbent feeling ... and the Spitzer effect shouldn't be overlooked. Not just in GOTV, but he imparts a certain attitude to the "D" label that's perfect for the time. Reform-oriented, active ... he's a force to be reckoned with.

What they want is a big battalions set-piece battle like Busby in SoCal.

Every little long-shot race against an incumbent will send said incumbent to the leadership with tears running down his face, begging, threatening, and finally getting cash. It doesn't matter what the pros on the campaign staff say; the members rule.

So start fires everywhere; scare the piss out of people. Even a half a dozen freeway blogs when the GOP member drives back from the airport could leach money away from the more genuinely competitive races.

And BESIDES, some longshots always win and some favorites always lose.

I wouldn't be overconfident in your handicapping. It's obvious the Netroots missed one in Maryland last week. Who the hell knew? The truth is, you never know. You don't think the Boy Wonder woke up surprised after the NH Primary? He had to notice John McCain blew Bush to hell by a margin that nobody expected.

I believe the money targeting should exclude (without further comment) the Democrats you don't like, and include everybody else who's running a hard, precinct-walking campaign. Any candidate who's willing to get off his lazy ass and ask the voters to vote for him deserves a few bucks.

It's in our power to give Rove the worst kind of Grand Klong constipation.

All it takes:

1. Stop bad-mouthing Democrats and bad-mouth Republicans instead.

2. Work harder than they do.

--steve

Ny-25 is very winnable.

And Chris is right it is beautiful country.

NY-20 is very winnable.

NY-19 is very winnable.

NY-24 is very winnable.

I don't know the others well enough to know for sure. What I do know is that there are 9 Republican held seats in NY and there isn't one of them that is a lock for a Republican if the right candidate has the right amount of money and the right number of people on the ground working their tails off to make it happen.

I'm sure this is true of most states and districts to one degree or another.

If you aren't involved where you are then why not?

If not now, when? If not you, who?

And don't forget fighting29th.com

They do a great job of covering the 29th.  

Dunno how viable a candidate history professor Glenn Melancon is against Ralph Hall (R-TX), but given that Hall publicly ridiculed, apparently at Abramoff's behest, the well-documented claim of a 15 year old girl that she'd been abducted from the Philippines to serve as a sex slave in the Northern Marianas Islands, we may only need someone who can appear in public and not drool all over himself.

Crazy stuff is going to happen like this all the time - especially when the majority party is as comfortable in its corruption as this one is - but in order to take advantage of it when it happens, we've got to, at a bare minimum, have a name on the ballot in the Dem column.

Fifty states.  Every district.  Because you never know when and where opportunity's going to practically bust your door down.

I have supported the campaign since announced this spring. Work concentrated in Monroe and Onondaga although I have found wayne county active dems among volunteers. My town voted for Kerry ahead of Democrat registration in '04

Contesting every seat is great. We make them spend more and we may win some suprises...such as CO-5, where Jay Fawcett is in striking distance of Doug Lamborn, choice of the christofascists. This is a reliably conservative district, where focus on the family is located. Lesson of 06, no matter what happens, is fight for every seat. Make the republicans work for it.

How about this one...

Walsh's sure thing, which means he could have given $$ to other campaigns (whether statewide or nationally) means money Dems won't have to fight against in other places.  

Also... given that NY GOP is so destitute these days... I'll grant a 5pt bounce to any D over what a poll says.

I still find it a bit hard to believe, but the Republicans' stranglehold on Central New York might be coming to an end. It's a good thing.

At the age of 24, I am finally becoming excited to be a Democrat.  That is damnation with the thinnest veil of praise, yet by god I actually am motivated to go knock on some doors.  Keep up the exuberance and i might become a believer.

I just read how the editor of MYDD, Chris Bower has lowered himself to place an anonymous and disgusting bigoted comment on this site. Does Chris Bower really think that this helps the Democratic Party in any way?

I just want to say thank you for the update on the NY-25th race. I've been hearing rumblings for almost 2 years in Wayne County from usual GOP voters who are getting fed up and turning Dem. I'm really hoping western NY gets it's act together this time around. And I'm giving a shout out to the fellow Sodus Pointer! I grew up there :)