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Outside group could spend more than $600,000 on behalf of Jane Corwin

By Howard B. Owens

The GOP is apparently spoked by recent polling data indicating Jane Corwin could lose what was considered a safe Republican seat and so a group lead by former White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove is stepping in with a pledge to buy $350,000 in television advertising.

If that doesn't work, the group is prepared to dump another $300,000 into the race, according to USAToday.

"This race has become artificially competitive because liberal Democrat Jack Davis is now trying to pass himself off as a conservative while the other liberal Democrat, Katie Hochul, is benefiting from his trick," said Jonathan Collegio, communication director for American Crossroads.

"This ad buy seeks to expose the Democrat trick for what it is," Collegio said.

Rove's group, American Crossroads, is what is now known as a Super PAC -- a new kind of political action committee that doesn't have the spending limits of a traditional PAC.  Super PACs were created by the FEC in response to a Supreme Court ruling that determined corporations were persons and their political contributions couldn't be capped.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that congressional Democrats are finally about to jump in the race, having raised $100,000 on behalf of Hochul.

Democrats are accusing the GOP of being in full panic mode.

UPDATE 9:45 p.m.: According to Roll Call, Jack Davis has loaned his campaign another $500,000, bringing his personal investment in his election bid up to $2.1 million.

Dave Meyer

Love this :)

Apparently even with all the republican lemmings in this district the GOP feels they're in jeopardy.

Maybe they are. Maybe this seat isn't a birthright for the republicans.

Maybe the voters can figure out that Corwin is dumber than a box of rocks and clearly her strings are being pulled by people outside of this district.

Tell ya what...keep making those stupid, insipid commercials that insult the intelligence of the voters. Keep lying about your opponents. Keep exaggerating your resume. Yeah...keep that stuff up.

Pretty soon you'll find out that the voters in this district are just like Jack....we can't be bought.

May 10, 2011, 7:32pm Permalink
Janice Stenman

I'm surprised no one has commented on the 26th District race being highlighted on the Rachel Maddow Show last night.

Jane Corwin is a Republican minion who readily endorsed Paul Ryan's budget which included measures to end Medicare as we know it.

Kathy Hochul gets my vote and my husband's.

May 10, 2011, 9:05pm Permalink
kevin kretschmer

I believe pretty soon the voters in this district will be calling either Brian Higgins or Louise Slaughter their Congressional Representative.

May 10, 2011, 9:14pm Permalink
Thomas Schneider

Medicare is going to end one way or another. Its a shame people are so against trying to make changes that could possibly keep the system solvent. $30,000,000,000,000 in unfunded liabilities might not be scary to Washington politicians but it scares me. What happens when the subsequent generations who get stuck with the bill just refuse to pay?

May 10, 2011, 9:27pm Permalink
Dave Meyer

Let me get this straight.
At the start of Bush's first term we had a budget surplus, but now because of numbnut's tax cuts and two wars we're in debt up to our asses and the bad guys are senior citizens on medicare??

You want to know how to help fund your "unfunded mandates"?

All that has to happen is that congress has to have the balls to eliminate the taxable ceiling on FICA wages (currently $106,800). That way the FICA tax would be collected on the entire wages of all wage earners. It's a solution so simple, I'm frankly surprised that no one talks about it.

May 11, 2011, 5:22am Permalink
Ed Gentner

Thank you Dave for bringing that up...it's about damn time that it be put on the table along with ending tax subsidies fo corporations tha export industry and jobs. COrwin and her monied friends are under the impression that the vast majority of Americans are either complacent or to stupid to understand the Republican agenda that is embodied in the Ryan budget that all but four Republicas voted for and Corwin supports is an attack on the middle class and working people. First they try to split voters those over 55 from those under 55 with the lets change Medicare from guarenteed health care for seniors to a voucher putting seniors at the mercy of the private insurance industry. Jack Davis is opposing the Ryan scheme along with Ron Paul one of the four Republicans who said no to this travisty. They both support pulling our troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as limiting the places we post our military in nations who are more than capable of defending themselves. Davis has also called for the ending of tax breaks and preferential treatment of wall street bankers and hedge fund managers as well as for corporations that have moved industry and jobs along with the profits they derive from setting up offshore tax dodges. Davis will be an independent voice who will be our voice instead of the special interests that have put America on a path of decline.

May 10, 2011, 10:40pm Permalink
George Richardson

Karl Rove means lies, innuendo, dirty filthy tricks and evil intentions from a very sick mind. Those late night phone calls pretending to be from Jack's campaign come right from the Karl Rove handbook. Karl will say Jack is a racist, Hochul is a lesbian, they are both pro abortion and anti-American socialists who hate the American way of life and want to take your guns from you so they can kill babies and shoot holes in pictures of Jesus. Every word will be a blatant lie from an immoral whore nicknamed Turd Blossom and the ignorant voters of NY26 will believe every word. Jack is trying to "STEAL" the election from the rightful owners by getting the most votes. The Republican Party owns the minds of NY26 already, but they want your soul too.

May 10, 2011, 10:58pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has committed $250,000 in media support to Kathy Hochul, where is the headline "Nancy Pelosi pledges big money to Hochul campaign"? Newly formed Super Pac "House Majority Pac" is also considering pledging money to Hochul. It is a Democratic led outside organization that although required to submit donor lists, it will be affiliated with an organization that isn't which opens the door for "anonymous" donors. Just leveling the playing field since Karl Rove is always an easy target.

May 11, 2011, 6:18am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Jeff, what I just read in your comment is the first I've seen of this "news" ... if it is. I'll go look now, but sources? I mean, if you're going to question what I've posted, I can question you, right?

May 11, 2011, 7:13am Permalink
John Roach

Dave,
The FICA and Social Security tax should be on entire wages earned, not just the one.

Bush did not start with a balanced budget. There was no such thing. Clinton and the Congress took many items were off the books. You can make the books look balanced if you leave many spending items out. Bush just made the debt worse and Obama has made it worse than Bush. At least now all the items are on the books where it's easier to see them.

May 11, 2011, 7:20am Permalink
Thomas Schneider

Congress as a whole has made the debt worse. Its easy to blame the man in the White House because he is just one man. Every dollar that has been printed and spent has been spent with the authorization of Congress. People really need to start seeing through the us vs them games that are played every two and four years. The whole system is designed around power for political parties. All spending should be local, that is where the most control can be had by voters. The Founders wanted a weak central government for a reason.

May 11, 2011, 9:16am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

Thanks for the link, Dave. Good piece.

I think I read it years ago. Seemed familiar.

"It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts - of incompetence and irresponsibility."

And nothing has changed since he wrote it.

A book I'd highly recommend is Walter Lippmann's "Public Opinion," he which he explains how elites manipulate public opinion to obtain the results most favorable to them. The power elite have become even more diabolical and sophisticated in their machinations since 1922, when Lippmann wrote his book.

May 11, 2011, 10:35am Permalink

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