Washington Post: Maffei Exemplifies Democrat Ascendancy In Northeast

The Washington Post needed an example of a candidate in the Northeast that showed how Republicans have lost their dominance to a resurgent Democratic Party. They chose Dan Maffei and New York’s 25th Congressional District.

The article pointed out that our congressional district was the only one in the country where John Kerry won the Presidential vote, but where there was no Democratic candidate against the Republican House incumbent. Maffei saw his opening and almost knocked Jim Walsh off two years later.

I’m always amazed at how much clout the Republicans have lost in this town. I grew up in a Syracuse/Onondaga County that had one Democratic House victory in 1964, something that was considered a fluke of the Johnson landslide–and that was pretty much it. Since the 1996 Clinton victory, the D’s have won every Presidential race and Schumer and Clinton have each won two six year US Senate terms. Maffei would also currently be a member of the House if it had solely been up to Onondaga County. It was the vote in the outlying areas like Wayne county that snuck Walsh back in to office.

Let’s hope the Post is correct and Maffei wins his election over Dale Sweetland, the Republican challenger. Sweetland hates the city of Syracuse and will do nothing to help us in our struggles against poverty and deindustrialization. He demonstrated his utter contempt for the city during his reign as chair of the County legislature when he ran the group with absolutely no input or discussion from the legislators representing the city. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pair of victories of smart, well-spoken and thoughtful young men, over spiteful, intellectually-challenged old men this election season? Let’s Go CNY–Obama and Maffei!