House Ratings Update

Once David Paterson declares the New York 29th congressional district vacant there has to be a special election between 30 and 40 days. That’s a short amount of time for a congressional campaign. If a candidate doesn’t start on equal footing it’s difficult to catch up. Republican candidate Tom Reed has been campaigning for months, assumably shaking hands and selling himself. As of December 31, he had $230,276 in the bank. That’s not an exceptional amount but it’s a good start when there’s no incumbent. The Democrats won’t have a candidate until the end of the month. From that point the Democrats would want at least 60 days before an election. Don’t expect Paterson to call the seat vacant any time soon.