How to lose an election

Why don't Republicans get it? Democrats win elections by running as moderates or what they call "blue dog Democrats"-Democrats who espouse conservative ideas (at least until they're elected and fall in line behind the likes of Pelosi, Reid and Schumer). Sure, there are some exceptions, like John McCain who, oddly enough, has turned right since the primaries.

Much to my chagrin, my Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives, Dale Sweetland, has come out in favor of releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Who does he think he is, Dan Maffei? Why not just come out and announce that we can turn the economy around if all Americans raid their 401k?

Dan Maffei vs. Dale Sweetland

Which candidate is more likely to represent the interests of Central New Yorkers?

According to the Post Standard, 80% of Republican Dale Sweetland's campaign contributions were raised locally. Sweetland said that if the National Republican Congressional Committee were to offer him funds he would accept, but other than that he's not trying to raise money in Washington, DC.

On the other hand, they report that Washington fuels Maffei's lead over Sweetland's local cash. Only about 14% of Dan Maffei's campaign contributions came from local donors. The majority of his funds came from Washington DC but he also raised quite a bit in California, New York City and Boston.

So who can we assume Dan Maffei is going to be working for? Us? That's doubtful.

One more thing to keep in mind, a vote for Dan Maffei (or any other Democrat running for Congress) is a vote to for Nancy Pelosis to remain as Speaker of the House. Wake up, folks.

What are the new "green technologies" the Democrats keep talking about?

The Associated Builders and Contractors has announced its endorsement of Dale Sweetland, noting Dale's history of fighting for business rights.

In the mean time his opponent for the open 25th Congressional District seat, Dan Maffei, has used some more of his far left-wing money to release a new television ad. He said he's going to take our money and invest it in "green technology". I would suggest that Mr. Maffei read up on where all of this green investment has gotten us thus far.

The government thought it would be a great idea to subsidize ethanol, which is more expensive to produce than gasoline and has helped to drive up the price of gas. According to this report of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, regarding ethanol and the energy bill proposed by the EPA:

Ethanol costs considerably more than gasoline, so the mandate benefits Midwestern corn farmers and the ethanol industry at the expense of the driving public. In addition, the logistical difficulties of incorporating ethanol into the nation’s fuel supply also have added to costs. In effect, the ethanol mandate is yet one more costly federal fuel requirement piled on to an overly complex regulatory scheme and has proved to be a step in the wrong direction.

Dan Maffei appears to be against competitive enterprise so it is doubtful he will take any time to read any of CEI's reports.

Dan Maffei-bought and paid for by the far left

Dan Maffei is running for Congress in New York's 25th district. He's running a new commercial in which he says that his grandfather's little factory closed and one hundred Syracusans lost their jobs. He is going to "stay and fight" to make Syracuse a great place to live again.

He says in his commercial that people leave NY for jobs in other states. Yet he fails to see the connection between the liberals in NY and their policies which have caused businesses to close and people to move away. People don't leave New York to live in California, New Jersey or Massachussetts. They leave NY to live in states with low taxes, where people can still afford to do business.

Mr. Maffei likes to remind us that he grew up in Syracuse. He leaves out the part about him being in Washington DC for most of his adult life. He doesn't mention that the only reason he moved back from Washington was to run for Congress. He also fails to mention where all of his campaign cash is coming from. His donors include the likes of George Soros and Eliot Spitzer. That doesn't include the thousands given to him by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

His sales pitch about being a home town kind of guy is nonsense. The people weren't buying it the last time around. Let's hope they don't buy it this time.

Dan Maffei - Big Thinker?

Washington Insider Dan Maffei moved home from DC to run for Congress. He lost, but that didn't stop him so he's trying again. The DNC has given him lots of money and lots of talking points. In fact, I wonder if any of his "thoughts" are his at all.

His op-ed piece in today's opinion section of the Syracuse Post Standard is titled "Part of 'thinking big' is working for US energy independence". Something tells me he didn't put a whole lot of thought into this.

Maffei opines "If we need any further reminder of how far American power and prestige have fallen over the last eight years, we got it when the Saudis told President Bush they weren't going to lift a finger to help us." Why should they "help us"? Are we helpless? We have our own oil, we just need to get it out of the ground and refine it.

He tells us he is "running for Congress because we need change." Where have we heard that before? Hmmm....change....who said that?

His plan will take "the power away from Big Oil by taxing their huge windfall profits ". Maffei concedes that "not everything we try will work". Really? Like using the taxpayer's money to subsidize biofuels and driving up food prices?

If I were Mr. Maffei I would be very angry with the Democratic party and all of their candidates (and some Republicans, too) for stealing his ideas.

Finally, he promises that if he is "elected to Congress, (he) will never support measures that do not benefit hard-working men and women." If that's the case, he will need to completely abandon his party's platform and his environmental agenda.