It looks like Sue Kelly now knows that her re-election bid is
in doubt as the Cook Political Report has put her seat in the "Likely Republican" column on the competitiveness range, and she is even getting
Giuliani and McCain to bail her out in fundraising (interestingly, Giuliani's stop over to help Kelly is part of the same stop-over to help NY-20's Republican rubber-stamp, John Sweeney!)
Kelly has gotten desperate to the point that she is now running her
first campaign ad in August. This is in contrast to 2004, when she didn't run her first ads until October! In her ad, she doesn't even reveal her political affiliation, but she does claim to be "an independent voice in Congress" (as if taking large amounts of money from DeLay, voting to cut student loans, and voting for Medicare Part D make her a "moderate!")
In the ad, she also refers to the pork that she has been bringing back to the Hudson Valley (while national issues may influence this election,
so will local issues! Do not discount the pork factor!)
Here's an excerpt (from http://www.suekellyforcongress.com/why/) from her website promoting the pork:
Residents of the Hudson Valley have benefited from her efforts to secure our fair share of transportation and homeland security funds. Many communities have received critically needed funds to improve drinking water supplies, repair roads, bridges, sidewalks and highways, augment local police protection, improve fire safety, and preserve open space. She was instrumental in securing funds to construct a new Veterans nursing home in Westchester County, and a new state-of-the art control tower at Stewart Airport in Orange County.
Kelly is so pork-friendly, that she was even ranked by the Club for Growth as someone with an affinity for beacon. Among her pork projects include a $500,000 swimming poll for Banning, California, and $180,000 for Hydroponic tomato production in Ohio!
These projects are do not in any way, shape, or form benefit residents in the NY-19, yet Sue Kelly seems to support them anyway!
Unfortunately, she may just win re-election, due to the ridiculously late primary date in NYS (September 12th!) and because the high cost of advertising in the NYC market. But if you want to take down Kelly, donating to Judy Aydelott, John Hall, Darren Rigger, or Ben Shuldiner can go a long way in stopping her. May the best candidate win on September 12th, and hopefully by then we can start getting the truth out about Sock-Puppet Sue.