Reynolds is up and Davis is down in a new SurveyUSA poll; Reynolds is at 49% and Davis is at 46%. That swing back in Reynolds' favor, given everything that's gone down in the last couple of weeks, isn't necessarily a surprise. After all, Reynolds has taken the October storm as an opportunity to beat a path to every microphone and camera within 50 miles of here. Between his grandstanding and credit-taking and Pataki naming Reynolds the designated contact for FEMA (an appointment that FEMA itself said was bullshit), a bounce for Reynolds makes perfect sense. The poll, however, comes with a caveat:

The media here in the dog's nose of New York State have been atwitter over Tom Reynolds' involvement in the PageGate scandal involving Mark Foley.  As has been widely reported, we know that the 16-year old recipient of Foley's inappapropriate emails was troubled enough to bring it up with Rodney Alexander (R-LA), who then took it to Tom Reynolds. 

Why?  Because Reynolds is in charge of the NRCC. 

Reynolds, in turn, did not engage in any sort of investigation into the matter, but instead claims to have informed his boss, Denny Hastert about the matter.  There was no ethics probe of Foley; no censure, no reprimand.

The AP reports that US Rep Thomas Reynolds, Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, bid US Rep Charles Rangel, Dean of the New York Congressional Delegation, a not so fond farewell earlier today.

More on the rabble rousing here.

While New York City tabloids have had fun coming up with clever headlines to decry the steep decline in homeland security funding under a new "threat-based" formula, Buffalo's one paper has been a touch more subdued. People here are somewhat more numb to bad news, perhaps.

Today's headline:  "Terror threat assessment of region may now consider border" 

May?!

WNY's homeland security funds dropped from $10 million in 2005 to $3 million in 2006 as a result of a threat reassessment that saw the region plunge from 25th to 46th out of 46 urban areas.