GOP Fall Dinner

They warmed the crowd and prepared them for the next 11 days of what promises to be hard fought battles. The GOP fall dinner was held Friday night at Bonnie Castle and the enthusiastic supporters came out to greet Senate candidate David Renzi, Assembly candidate Bobby Cantwell, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, State Supreme Court candidate Tom Cerio and Congressman John McHugh.

Dede delivers a wholehearted, full throttle endorsement of the state candidates David Renzi and Bobby Cantwell. Dede even followed the theme Ted Ford used today on Danger Democrat (see "Me Too" here) that Bobby Cantwell can be effective as a Minority member in the New York State Assembly, just like she has been able to (and Ted Ford attested) do for the North Country.

"Bobby Cantwell can make a difference and don't let anyone tell you different," said Scozzafava.

David Renzi approached the podium to a standing ovation and spoke eloquently about what it means for the North Country to maintain a check and balance in New York State government and to have a member of the majority. He spoke of; 2nd Amendment rights, the love of hunting and fishing in the North Country and a very under the radar issue that people need to be aware of - reapportionment of legislative seats including retaining Congressman McHugh's seat.

John McHugh was his usual fluent orator mixing humor, forcefulness and sub stance while speaking about the differences between the candidates from the Pr esidential rac e through to the Assembly races. McHugh has never been at a loss for a little humor s o he brought along a friend and used him for dual purpose prop. First, to poke a little fun at MSM for their fixation on a skeleton that appeared in his campaign ad and secondly, to illustrate what people may resemble after the Democratic Congress gets done picking the meat off the bones.

23rd Congressional Race

Mike Oot is a real person, who has a pulse, he stands, walks and talks, so, must be there is a real campaign for the 23rd Congressional seat.

While this blog may joke about the race, do not think for a moment John McHugh does, he takes every opponent serious and he showed up to play ball last night. Any young, up and coming politico out there should show up to watch John McHugh debate, he is an excellent teacher with excellent debating skills assisted by his depth of knowledge on issues. He has a mix of his ideas, his accomplishments and an attack of his opponent's ideas in every response. His eloquence and humility were impressive for the 102 people in attendance.

(Disclaimer - Dan Francis will not agree with anything in this post, that point is recognized)

The candidates sparred over energy prices, health care, the economy, dairy farming, foreign policy, border crossings and budget cuts.

Oot took a very left of center approach on issues including health care with his universal health care approach while McHugh pointed out he does not think government is best to run health care and cited unfunded liabilities of Medicare, underpaid providers and a government that brought the public the compassion of the "IRS." McHugh asked, is this the same government you want responsible for providing health care, "I don't think so!"

Oot version of foreign policy concerns was less than an original answer, "end the war." He made no mention of Iran or the aggressions of Russia or any other policy. McHugh quickly responded that he favored ending the war, but using a different approached so all the work accomplished was not in vain.

There is a campaign for the 23rd Congressional seat and McHugh is ready to defend his solid effort for the people of the North Country, while Oot is struggling to run a campaign.

McHugh clearly was the winner of this debate.