In this race to replace Representative Sherwood Louis Boehlert, only 2 viables remain. And while ideologically different, financially ... not so much.

State Senate Republican Ray Meier has raised $496K to Oneida County DA, Democrat Michael Arcuri's $455,000; and Meier has about $90K more cash left on hand.

by Seth Williams

Since the Congressional race in NY-10 hasn't been on anybody's radar yet, let me lay out some of the key dynamics in this truly bizarre race.  The incumbent is Representative Edolphus Towns, who has held the seat for 24 years and done very little with it.  Which is a pity since many of the district's neighborhoods, like Bed-Stuy and Crown Heights, are in bad shape and in need of serious leadership.  Towns spent the last few decades basically floating, bringing occasional draughts of money to Brooklyn for hospitals and schools, and occasionally drawing fire for his close and questionable ties to the energy lobby.

So you wanna lobby Congress discreetly, entirely off the record?

Not a problem!

Larry Margasak and  Sharon Theimer of the Associated Press walk you through the ins and outs of lobbying by Congressional Caucus in today's Washington Post.

Perhaps the most interesting moment in the race to represent the 25th Congressional District came last week when attorney Paloma Capanna dropped out of the Democratic Primary.  She exited stage right so that her opponent, Dan Maffei, would have a clear shot at 18-year Syracuse incumbent Republican Jim Walsh.

Your NY Congressionals recently took a hard look at their inner martians, casting a vote on an amendment (introduced by Mass Rep. Barney Frank) that would have prohibited funds from being used for a manned space mission to Mars.

The folks here - ummm ... space cadets, henceforth - were all over the Mars thing.

While these folks - das earthlings - were ... uh... not so much.

While the Democratic delegation split almost evenly, it's probably worth noting that Rep. Sue Kelly was the sole Republican earthling on this particular mission.

The Tangled Politics of Identity

What's a black, Jewish, Puerto Rican candidate to do?

Read the piece in its entirety here. 

A Texas judge just ruled that Republicans CANNOT replace former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on the ballot for the 22nd Congressional District race.

(via the Houston Chronicle)

Probably comes as no surprise that Representative John Sweeney's challenger, Kirsten Gillibrand, is running at least in part on the issue of ethics.  This year has not been a particularly good one for Sweeney who's been immersed in one scandal after another.

Having said that, Sweeney wins this week's Megabuxster award simply because a whopping 41% of Sweeney Corp is owned by lobbyists and PACs.  Add to that the fact that his reach among the grassroots is a third less than Gillibrand's 10%, and you begin to have the makings of a shaky incumbency.