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Does anyone know anything about Eric Massa? (29th CD)

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brooklynite Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Feb-06-06 08:39 PM
Original message
Does anyone know anything about Eric Massa? (29th CD)
Edited on Mon Feb-06-06 08:42 PM by brooklynite
I got a call from him today; he's a former Special Assistant to Gen. Wesley Clark running for Congress in the 29th District running against Randy Kuhl, Jr a freshman Republican. He said its a competitive race against a Tom Delay "clone"; the election results show that Kuhl won with 56% of the vote, but the district is 64% Republican. Anyone know anything about his odds?
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CarolNYC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-08-06 05:44 PM
Response to Original message
1. Well,
I've met him a few times. He's a great, passionate guy. He is a former Republican who told me one night, at a function for Charlie Rangel, that Democrats are a lot more fun to hang out with than Republicans. He truly seems to love being a Democrat and you kind of get the feeling that he wonders himself what took him so long to come around to the Dem side.

He's picked up a number of Democratic Committee and labor endorsements.

His website is here:
www.massaforcongress.com

Endorsement info is here:
http://www.massaforcongress.com/endorsements.asp

According to a recent article on the Star-Gazette:

"So far - back to racing - one Democrat has sprinted from the gate early to challenge Kuhl - should he run. Eric Massa of Corning, a former Republican and U.S. Naval Academy grad, has aggressively rounded up endorsements from local Democratic committees throughout the district. He paid two visits to the Star-Gazette in the past month, and as a retired Navy officer, he certainly won't be shy about getting in Kuhl's face.

He showed up at one of Kuhl's town meetings in the district and challenged the congressman on his vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which Massa opposes.

If it comes down to a Kuhl-Massa race this fall, 29th District voters will have an interesting choice between the widely known Kuhl, defending his first-term record, and Massa, who combines the issues knowledge of Democrat Samara Barend - who lost to Kuhl in 2004 - with the feistiness of Jeremy Alderson - who lost the Democratic primary to Barend

(snip)

So even though Nov. 7 - Election Day - feels like a long way off, voters had better start scouring Kuhl's and Massa's performance charts now. The 29th could be looking at a contentious and close race."

http://www.stargazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060129/COLUMNIST11/601290303&SearchID=73235063324613

He blogs regularly on kos, TPM and the Clark blog (CCN) and he responds to responses to his posts....so you can get a chance to dialogue with him if you wish.

His CCN blog is here:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/blog/1027

He will be on Fox News tonight sometime between 6 and 6:30PM.

The thing he needs most is $$$$$$$$. He's not got a personal fortune and he's new to politics. He needs to show the powers that be that he can bring in the funds before they'll really back him, it seems.

One thing's for sure, if he goes down, it won't be for lack of trying....The 29th could certainly do a lot worse....
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DinahMoeHum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-09-06 11:06 PM
Response to Original message
2. He's listed on the Band of Brothers website. . .
www.bandofbrothers2006.org

and he's been featured on Air America Radio's Majority Report show December 6, 2005: "Fighting Dems"
(every Tuesday evening, Majority Report, with help from DailyKos, features a military veteran who's running for Congress on the Democratic ticket)

www.airamericaradio.com

So he's bound to get plenty of support (and $$$) from the "netroots".

:kick:
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Feb-14-06 02:58 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. He did a lot of speaking at the Dem Veteran Candidates..
Edited on Tue Feb-14-06 03:09 AM by speedoo
event in DC the other day. I was very impressed. Wish he were running in my district against a chickenhawk rethug.

On edit: I just saw that he represents my former home (Fairport, NY). I'm kinda surprised that's a majority rethug district. I knew lots of progressive people when I lived there in the 70's, but that was a long time ago.

Also, I am just remembering one of the things he spoke about: He wants to stop * from speaking with soldiers in back of him. I loved hearing that, it's one of the things I hate most about *.
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Adelante Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Feb-15-06 08:11 AM
Response to Original message
4. Kuhl has his problems
Like trying to shoot his wife (twice) in public :beer:

Newsday had an article yesterday. A money guy tried to challenge Eric, but he's been beaten back. Haha.

http://tinyurl.com/cjlqy

Eric is looking pretty good in the race. He has a strong backing - all but one Democratic Committee and labor and grassroots support. He is a great guy, very classy, and always on the ground in the district, which is huge. He's raised $180,000 with no help from DCCC, so much more is needed, but he spends very wisely.

When Eric came out of the service he was a Republican and worked for the House Armed Services Committee. Somebody saw him shaking Wes Clark's hand during the primaries and Eric was lost his job. He changed parties and went to work on the Clark campaign and was encouraged by Wes to run for public office. Clark and Max Cleland have both endosed Eric. Eric is a major force behind the Fighting Dems movement and did much of the early organizing. One of the things Eric has going against Kuhl is that Eric is a straight arrow all the way, and like I said, Kuhl has image problems.



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Earth_First Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Feb-18-06 06:02 PM
Response to Original message
5. In my personal opinion, this is one of two districts that could flip
NY29 (Kuhl) and NY26 (Reynolds) both have Democratic candidates that are running on the Upstate economy, which I believe will be THE issue in 2006. Whether or not the national campaign platform decides to run campaigns built around this issue is to be seen, but this will be the winning issue Upstate in 2006.

Eric is a great candidate, I saw him speak at a DFA event in Rochester a few weeks back.
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CarolNYC Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Mar-17-06 03:57 PM
Response to Original message
6. Nice write up about Eric by Matt Stoller on MyDD
Edited on Fri Mar-17-06 03:57 PM by CarolNYC
Meeting Eric Massa
by Matt Stoller, Fri Mar 17, 2006 at 01:32:17 PM EST

I met Eric Massa yesterday. A 24 year veteran of the Navy, Massa is running in an upstate NY district that is beset with economic problems. It traditionally leans a bit to the right, but there is a deep rage there against the status quo that suggests that incumbent Republican Randy Kuhl is vulnerable. Kuhl, you'll remember, is a first-term Congressman who is famous for pulling a shotgun on his wife. He's not well-liked in district, but he has lots of money. If we're going to take Kurl out, the first reelection campaign is when it's going to happen.
......

There was a lot more to it than that. Massa is a new politician, but he's a good one. So far, he doesn't have that much cash on hand, but the institutional spigots are starting to open as people realize Kuhl is vulnerable. Massa blogs every Sunday on a bunch of blogs (including MyDD), and he says he'll keep doing it when he gets to Congress because it helps him communicate with more people and stay in touch.
.....

The bottom line for me is that Massa is a leader, and we need some damn leaders in Congress.

http://mydd.com/story/2006/3/17/133217/574
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Tom Rinaldo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Mar-23-06 10:11 PM
Response to Original message
7. I've met him. I love this guy
Very real, very sincere and down to earth. If you ever get a sense to sit down with Eric you can literally feel his outrage over what is happening to America. Money can't corrupt this guy, he is all about principle.
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Eurobabe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Apr-01-06 09:31 AM
Response to Original message
8. Eric is the real deal, I know him from Clark campaign in NH
He's honest and sincere: a true officer and a gentleman. My dad and I trekked around with Wes Clark and his entourage after the Keene State Town Hall meeting in Nov. 03. It started to rain as we left the event, and a man offered me his umbrella. Lo, and behold, I find out it is Eric Massa - Clark's right hand man in NH. I met him several times at events after that through the primary. Eric worked his tush off for Wes Clark during the primaries, it was brutal.

Everyone should support Eric in any way they can, I regularly give $$, even though I live in Ohio (leaving here soon, thank Karma!) GO ERIC!! We're with you all the way man!!

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