in 19th District, campaign turns negative . . .

[OneBlueSky]

Democrats say recent polling calls were negative campaigning in 19th District

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NEWS02/607240325/1204

Democrats across the 19th Congressional District have received telephone calls testing opinions about the party's two front-runners and the fallout has resulted in finger-pointing among the field about injecting negative campaigning into the race.

The calls purport to be a poll, but Kevin Mulqueen of Wallkill, a Democratic town councilman there, said whoever's behind it was making "an attempt to change someone's mind."

Questions reportedly asked during the poll insinuate that candidate John Hall, a singer-songwriter and music producer from Dover Plains, had a drug problem, took two years off to go sailing, earned a living as a ski instructor and never finished college.

Questions about candidate Judy Aydelott, a malpractice lawyer from Katonah, tended to be milder, said Mulqueen and other Hall supporters who suspect she is behind it, a charge she denies.

- more . . .

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060724/NEWS02/607240325/1204