New York's 19th CD (map) has five Democratic candidates vying to replace incumbent Republican Sue Kelly. With links to their web sites, they are:
Is a debate a debate when everyone is on the same side? Answer on the flip ...
The prospects of the 19th for takeover have been discussed in prior posts of this series; specific topics were:
Today's event was sponsonsored by the Dutchess County Democratic Club in Beacon, NY. I was surprised at the turnout: about 100. Sue Kelly had been invited, but did not put in an appearance. Wonder why.
The Debate
Two rounds of brief presentations on their positions and background were followed by responses by each to five questions. A summary statement ended the formal proceedings.
Site surfers can find most or all of the background facts at the overview linked above or on the candidates' web sites. If today's questions were chosen to differentiate between their positions on the issues, you could not tell it by me. Responses were more in the nature of a difference in emphasis rather than on underlying issues. I am responsible for the distortions of sketchy notes.
- Health Care: how are we going to fund it? Shuldiner proposed insuring first young adults, that this would provide savings, and that coupled with the shut-down of the War would provide the money. Hall pushed a single-payer approach, which would yield savings; he received applause. Rigger focused on Kelly's do-nothing solutions. Aydelott promoted rescinding the Medicare ban on governmental negotiation of prescription prices and instituting caps on plan payments. Martorano emphasized a single-payer approach.
- Iraq: how to get out? and what is your position on veterans' health benefits? On both questions there was basic unanimity: get out, and the treatment of Iraq veterans has been appalling. If there was some difference in approach, it was only in an empasis on process (how do we get from here to there?) on the part of Aydelott and Rigger.
- Social Security: what do we do to fix it? Most of the comments were on the Administrations push towards privatization, deplored by all. Hall took a tangent into corporate bankruptcy; as it stands, they destroy pension funds; change the priorities so that pensions have the first bite of the pie and CEO compensation has the last bite; he got applause.
- Indian Point Nuclear Plant: what to do? In the 19th CD this is a very big issue, but there is no division among the candidates: close it down. Rigger got applause by noting that Kelly regularly shakes her fist, but has done nothing for the district in a decade. Hall gained applause by a flat opposition to nuclear power. Shuldiner probably lost a point by noting that Indian Point and nuclear power are separate issues.
- What are Kelly's vulnerabilities? This is hard to summarize as the responses were all over the map, but a shared theme was that Kelly's absence from district meetings and failure to vote the district's interests made it easier: get the record out on the table and we will win. Hall brought up one of Kelly's recent votes to move funds from fighting bird flu to adding Viagra to Medicare; this led to great merriment.
On a more subjective note, I found Hall a practiced speaker with Rigger and Shuldiner close behind. Aydelott and Martorano are not yet relaxed on their feet.
The metaphorical elephant in the room is, as always, money. A final question asked for comments on raising it. Martorano got great applause with a call for real campaign finance reform. An eye-opener for me was Hall's prediction (or a relayed prediction) of this being a 2-3 million dollar race. In 2002, as you can see in one of the links above, Kelly raised $1.27M and did not spend $1M. Fourth quarter results will be up in ten days.
At the end, the candidates introduced their staffs. Rigger had no staff present, but introduced his mother; she said he'd be a good candidate. Aydelott had one staff member present as did Martorano. Hall had four staffers present. Shuldiner had six. I will say more about staff along the way.
As Kos reports on the front page, Charlie Cook doesn't believe we can take back the House. And he does not include the 19th in his list of possibilities. One hundred Dems today disagree. True, we won't take back the 19th until we all get to work. To make a choice among the candidates, you need to meet and hear them. The next "debate" is on January 18th in Pawling, NY, sponsored by Take19. We'd all benefit if someone in the loop would respond to this with a time and place.