"This is Unbelievable"
Randy Kuhl does it again. Randy Kuhl wanted to win today's Elmira-Corning, NY TV news cycle with a so-called "non-political" event in Corning. Randy fully intended to sneak in, hand over an oversized check for a bike path and bridge repair to local dignitaries, and let the local TV stations get some good video with local landmarks in a background. Good copy, good video, and voila, Randy wins the news cycle. That was the plan anyways. However, things didn't turn out exactly the way Kuhl planned.
Some Eric Massa campaign supporters got wind of this stealth plan and ambushed Randy's PR event, by standing with signs on a picturesque bridge behind the podium. The podium was moved to a less photogenic location but Massa supporters were still able to position their big honkin' sign well within camera range. Randy got a little torqued-off at this point and started to struggle with the sign held by the Massa supporters, trying to push it out of camera range... a struggle that happened to be captured by the local NBC affiliate
WETM TV-18 and resulted in
this video and headline on their website, "Kuhl Upstaged."
Instead of a headline like "Kuhl brings Home the Bacon," he's hit with a 6:00PM local news broadcast lead entitled "Kuhl Upstaged." Not exactly what the Kuhl campaign had in mind when they got up this morning. A stunned Kuhl was even overheard telling his staff, "this is unbelivable" as the event was winding down. Good stuff.
This is a really exciting race to watch and Eric is first-rate candidate. Overall, the Massa supporters are an enthusiatic bunch and the energy on the street in the Southern Tier for Massa is amazing, unprecendented for a congressional candidate in the reddest congressional district in NY, a district that Bush won by the widest margin of any in NY in 2004. Things are really looking good. The New York Times ran a fantastic story on the Massa-Kuhl race this past weekend and there there are Massa yard signs everywhere, even in places that have never seen a Democratic sign in the past. That said, Eric needs all the help he can get in these last few days. Contact your local Massa office and give the campaign a few hours of your time this week if you live in the area. We can really win this one if we bust hump this final week.