Last Saturday was one of the most remarkable days of my life.  I helped to organize a Vote for Change voter registration drive in Peekskill, NY, which is about 50 miles north of NYC.  We registered an estimated 215 voters in one afternoon.  Among those who participated in the drive was Congressman John Hall's campaign.

Now, when I say that Congressman Hall's campaign participated in the drive, I do not mean that a few staffers who happened to work on on the campaign signed up to volunteer and registered a few voters on the day of the drive.  No, I mean that Congressman Hall's campaign actively participated in every facet of this grassroots volunteer voter registration effort.

More Congressional-Grassroots collaboration below the fold

John Hall, the former songwriter/singer/guitarist for hitmaking ("Still the One," "Dance With Me") group Orleans, has recorded his first "hit" as a freshman Democrat in Congress -- and it's on his pet issue of help for American veterans.

Hall's legislation to upgrade the V.A.'s  disability rating process was unanimously passed by the House this past Wednesday.   Hall, now 60, is chairman of the veterans' affairs subcommittee on disability assistance.

Let me interrupt here to say that I sometimes like to say I had something to do with helping to get Hall into office.

Last week I opened my email to find a communication from my friend John Hall, a Congressman from New York who is representing a portion of the state just down the road from where I live.  I respect, admire and intend to emulate Congressman's Hall's openness and communication as he explains what he did and why.  Below is the note that he sent to his email list:

Twice in the past 48 hours, I have felt proud to have John Hall (NY-19) as my representative in the House.  On Thursday, Hall voted against the Iraq Supplemental Appropriations Bill.   This he did,  despite his strong support for the new GI Bill of Rights which was contained therein.  As he wrote to his constituents:

I remain firmly opposed to the U.S. military presence in Iraq. I will not vote to fund an open ended commitment to President Bush’s mistaken war and have thus always refused to vote against any funding that is not tied to a timeline for withdrawal.

Very strong words from a freshman who represents a district that went for Bush in 2004.

More below the fold

McCain and his campaign made another huge blunder yesterday in New Hampshire. The McCain campaign at the conclusion of a town hall meeting used the copyrighted song "Still the One" without asking either the writers or the performers for permission. To make matters worse, the song's co-writer, is John Hall, current New York congressman. John Hall is a Democrat who supports Barack Obama.

Some great news. Local Republicans in NY's 19th District have now tapped wingnut Keiran Michael Lalor to take on John Hall in November, with the likelihood of a sweeping win by Hall in this moderate, somewhat liberal, and firmly Democratic leaning district. This is looking like a safe seat for the Democrats.

John Hall, unabashed liberal, is running for reelection in the former republican stronghold of NY's 19th district. He is solid proof that when liberals run as themselves they can win anywhere.

Here are five reasons for supporting him - even if you are not a resident of NY's 19th district:

John Hall, freshman Democratic congressman from NY 19 congressional district, will be gearing up for his first reelection campaign this fall.

It will be an uphill battle - New York's 19th has 152,000 registered Republicans and 143,000 registered Democrats. (It is OK to say Democrat in this context isn't it?)

John Hall defeated incumbent Sue W. Kelly in 2008. He was and is an unabashed liberal with a liberal agenda and he won in a district that used to be a Republican stronghold. He is the type of person you would be glad to see elected anywhere but getting elected in NY's 19th is really sweet.John Hall

A quick heads up to those in the 19th District of NY and its surrounding areas.  There seems to be a new blog that was launched with the sole purpose of discrediting Dem Congressman John Hall.  That in itself is hardly breaking news, but what is interesting is that the username of the person who owns the blog is "Take 19".  

Those of us familiar with the 2006 election will remember a prominent local blog by the name of "Take 19" whose sole mission was to oust former Rep Congresswoman Sue Kelly.  It seems like the Republicans in the district are now trying a similar strategy, although I doubt it will be successful, given that John Hall's only competition is from Kieran Lalor, a pro-war neocon.  But I thought that the use of the name "Take 19" was awfully suspicious at worst, or just snarky at best.  It might be something that folks over at The Albany Project might want to look into, but I have no clue from their site as to how to bring it to their attention.  It will be worth keeping an eye on to stop any lies dead in their tracks about Rep. Hall.

John Hall has sent an editorial to various media outlets outlining his feelings about the present FISA debate. I attended a meeting of local Hall supporters and the Congressman in Dutchess County recently, and he distributed The editorial.

This is a quick one.  My very first push poll.  Just got the call a few minutes ago.  It asked if you knew that John Hall (D-NY) was being supported by Barack Obama, who is in favor of raising taxes, and if it would make you more likely to support his "Republican opponent."

Of course, the push poll didn't say it was being run by the NRCC, but Hall doesn't have any republican opp. at this time, and they referred to the "Republican opponent" without naming names.

While I will grant you that this would normally constitute a comment, I can't imagine that this is being done just in New York State.  Anyone else get the same call in their districts?

This is a feature I wrote about John Hall after the 2006 election (obviously for a snow sports publication!) - - he's a really great guy - I hope you'll help him out for 2008 -
http://www.johnhallforcongress.com

The results of the November 2006 national election brought many changes to the established order of parties, players and politics in Washington, D.C.  

The results also brought an active member of the PSIA, the Professional Ski Instructors of America, to Congress.  

"I believe I’ll be the only certified ski instructor in Congress. I’m definitely the first Hunter Mountain ‘Ski Instructor of the Year’", jokes John Hall, 58, newly elected Democratic member of the House of Representatives from New York's 19th congressional district.  

Today we should all be claiming victory on the landmark energy bill the House passed.  Increased CAFE standards, a Renewable Energy Standard, and no new taxpayer-guaranteed loans for nuclear power – measures that we've been fighting hard for - have ALL made it into the final bill.  As you know, the bill also contains tax credits and subsidies for solar, wind, biofuels and other renewable sources of energy.

This bill reflects the biggest shift in energy policy we have seen in decades; because of what it includes and what it doesn’t include.

It's getting downright pathetic for the GOP here, just an hour north of Manhattan, and home to freshman congressman John Hall (D, NY-19). Just a few months ago, this race was on Karl Rove's "Top-20" list of most vulnerable Democratic house seats.

Until November 20th, when Andrew Saul, widely hailed as one of the GOP's greatest hopes in the upcoming '08 cycle, drops out due to press revelations about questionable campaign contributions.

Then, at the end of Thanksgiving weekend, Iraqi War vet Kieran Michael Lalor announces his candidacy, amidst widespread concern and skepticism within his own party that he's too far right, even for them. Well, what else can you say? Plenty. It just keeps getting better and better...

[See below the fold.]

It's getting downright pathetic for the GOP here, just an hour north of Manhattan, and home to freshman congressman John Hall (D, NY-19). Just a few months ago, this race was on Karl Rove's "Top-20" list of most vulnerable Democratic house seats.

Until November 20th, when Andrew Saul, widely hailed as one of the GOP's greatest hopes in the upcoming '08 cycle, drops out due to press revelations about questionable campaign contributions.

Then, at the end of Thanksgiving weekend, Iraqi War vet Kieran Michael Lalor announces his candidacy, amidst widespread concern and skepticism within his own party that he's too far right, even for them. Well, what else can you say? Plenty.

[See below the fold.]

In the GOP's search for a mainstream opponent to incumbent, progressive Democratic Congressman John Hall (NY-19), it's being reported by credible sources, over the past 24 hours, that national and state Republican leaders have reached out to 2004 NY GOP US Senate candidate and former NY Insurance Commissioner Howard Mills. And, according to the report, Mills is interested.

Until I started reading this (see link, below), if you'd asked me the trivia question: "Which NY Senator was elected by the widest popular margin?" I would've answered: "Hillary in '06." But, apparently, Chuck Schumer's landslide win over Mills, two years earlier, was even greater than Hillary's re-election romp last year.

http://www.cityhallnews.com/...

[See below the fold.]

Since wealthy NY businessman Andrew Saul's abrupt withdrawal last week from the GOP primary to challenge incumbent John Hall (D, NY-19), supposedly due to "personal reasons," (including the very personal reality that the guy may have accepted a pantload of ethically-challenged campaign contributions per the NY Times piece which ran just a couple of days prior to his withdrawal from the race)

http://www.nytimes.com/....

rumors have run rampant throughout the area's political intelligentsia with regard to whom, if anyone, would step in to fill his shoes.

See link to today's NY Daily News piece, below the fold...the story gets interesting...

Rothenberg's running a story on his site tonight, entitled, "New York 19: Saul Dropping Out."

[http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/...]

Republican, multi-, mult-millionaire Andrew Saul, widely considered to be Rep. John Hall's (NY-19) leading challenger for re-election, apparently, is calling bigwigs tonight and notifying them that he's dropping out of the race, according to a lead story running on on Rothenberg's website.

Speculation's running high north of NYC tonight about what's coming next. (See poll.)