Congressman Bill Owens (D - Plattsburgh), who represents New York State's North Country region, continues to gain momentum against tough opposition, even despite having to run in more challenging terrain after this year's reapportionment.
With election day fast approaching, sophomore Congressman Bill Owens is quickly becoming a solid favorite to win re-election to another term representing the giant, sprawling 21st Congressional District in New York State's North Country, even despite solid, credible opposition in second-time challenger Matt Doheny (R - Alexandria Bay), a retired Wall Street investment banker, whom GOP leaders once hailed as the "Strongest GOP Challenger in the Country."
Recent fundraising numbers now show Owens with a solid edge in campaign cash after recent campaign finance report filings this week. According the FEC reports, Owens has more than twice as much cash in his campaign fund, with $770,032 in campaign
contributions on hand in comparison to a paltry $303,968 for Doheny.
From the (Glens Falls) Post-Star, October 16, 2012:
"Republican congressional candidate Matt Doheny personally loaned his campaign $300,000, and his wife personally loaned the campaign $35,000, new campaign finance reports show.
Even with the personal infusion of cash, Doheny’s campaign had less than half the amount of campaign cash on hand as incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, had as of Sept. 30.
Owens personally loaned his campaign $29,000 earlier in the election cycle.
Doheny had $303,968 in his campaign fund, and Owens had $770,032, heading into the final full month of campaigning, according to reports the campaigns filed with the Federal Election Commission."
Now heading into the final stretch of the race, some prognosticators, such as Roll Call, are now predicting a victory by Congressman Owens, after months of forecasting the race as a "toss-up."
From Roll Call:
New York’s 21st district: Tossup to Leans Democratic
Rep. Bill Owens won both his special election and his first full term in 2010 with less than 50 percent of the vote, a sign of real vulnerability. But Republican nominee Matt Doheny has not yet managed to capitalize on that vulnerability in this newly configured district in northern New York. Although the Owens-Doheny race is a rematch of 2010, Owens looks to be in surprisingly good shape. Democrats who, earlier this cycle, thought the incumbent was done are now feeling pretty confident on this race.
And this is a district that really should have been fertile territory for any somewhat attractive Republican candidate. Although trending Democratic, prior to Owen's first victory in a 2009 special election, most of the St. Lawrence and Champlain Valley regions of New York, including Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, and most of Essex County, were so ancestrally Republican that they had not been represented by a Democrat in Congress since prior to the Civil War era. This year reapportionment added the strongly conservative Upper Hudson Valley region to the district (Warren, Washington, and northern Saratoga Counties). Anyone remember the names John Sweeney or Jerry Solomon? And to top it off, two-time right-wing, third-party spoiler Doug Hoffman isn't even in the race this year.
It's really quite entertaining to watch how far and fast the Doheny campaign has literally fallen. And sometimes you can't also help but wonder when you think in the back of your mind, "this was actually the candidate that the GOP once hailed as their 'strongest challenger in the country'"?!
Either way, it will be great to see a competent, hard-working representative like Bill Owens receive another term. It appears as though the stars have clearly aligned for Bill Owens for a third time.