Tuesday 8/17/10, 6:15am. Today's a big day...and perhaps the last day...for the Volk Campaign. At last check Janice Volk was removed from the GOP ballot line after a challenge to her petitions showed that she failed to meet the 1,250 signatures needed to force a primary. Today she's expected to hand in petition signatures for a 3rd party (Tea Party) line on the ballot.
The Volk Campaign expressed confidence in its ability to meet this new 3,500 signature threshold with the help of Tea Party petition-passers. Seems like a tall order if you ask me, but if they achieve it I'd have to say the NY-29 could suddenly take on an interesting feel. Not just because of the addition of Volk to the ticket, but specifically because that many signatures would suggest quite a great deal of support for the Tea Party movement in this district.
Matt Zeller remains the lone Democrat on the ballot. I receive virtually no press release updates from that campaign so I can't even venture a guess as to what they've been up to. (As Election Day draws near I'll be checking in with all campaigns much more often.)
Tom Reed campaign expect to appear on the Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party lines. Reed's campaign had their bid for the Independence Party line thrown out by the BOE, but a press release from Reed's camp Monday states that a legal challenge re-validated those signatures and thus he will be parked on the "I Line" in November. While Reed still hosts weekly media calls & I receive the occassional press release on policy or legislation, there has not been much chatter or buzz to report yet.
Lastly, our friend Rottenchester at
Fighting29th has an interesting post. Apparently in his discussion section some talk of Matt Zeller prompted
Zeller's mom to rush to her son's defense.
This isn't the first time parents of a candidate have received attention in the race for the NY-29. Kuhl-Massa Part Deux featured a bit of back-n-forth involving Massa's parents and Rep. Kuhl.
We'll check back later today or tomorrow as soon as I learn whether or not the Volk campaign reached the number of signatures needed for that Tea Party line.
In case you're wondering...it's been 162 days since the people of the NY-29th had a vote in Congress.
