2006.10.11: October 11, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: Syracuse Post Standard: James Walsh, an 18-year Republican incumbent is facing his first serious challenge in a decade
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2006.10.15: October 15, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Why do Democrats suddenly think they have a chance to defeat veteran lawmaker James Walsh? :
2006.10.11: October 11, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: Syracuse Post Standard: James Walsh, an 18-year Republican incumbent is facing his first serious challenge in a decade
- 2006.11.07: November 7, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: CNN: Jim Walsh projected to win re-election to Congress Sunday, November 19, 2006 - 6:29 pm [2]
- 2006.11.04: November 4, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: News10: James Walsh hasn't relied on the heavy hitters who've campaigned for other republicans says his record speaks for itself and hopes it will be enough to send him back to Washington Sunday, November 05, 2006 - 11:48 am [1]
- 2006.11.03: November 3, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: Newday: Republican congressman Jim Walsh is battling a sour mood among upstate conservatives by charging his Democratic opponent is a carpetbagger from Washington Saturday, November 04, 2006 - 7:43 am [1]
- 2006.10.27: October 27, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Nepal: Politics: Congress: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle supports Walsh for Congress Saturday, October 28, 2006 - 7:17 pm [1]
James Walsh, an 18-year Republican incumbent is facing his first serious challenge in a decade
Walsh opened by displaying his congressional pin, which is numbered to display seniority and now shows Walsh to be number 90 out of 435 members. "Seniority matters a great deal in the Congress, and that's a golden rule I think everyone agrees on," Walsh said. "Mr. Maffei has never been elected to anything. He's never been elected to anything in Central New York because he hasn't been here." Congressman James Walsh of New York served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal in the 1960's.
James Walsh, an 18-year Republican incumbent is facing his first serious challenge in a decade
Mudless debate for Jim Walsh, Dan Maffei
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
By Frederic Pierce
Staff writer
Rep. Jim Walsh and challenger Dan Maffei each got in some sharp jabs, but generally stuck to the issues Tuesday during the first debate of an election struggle that's already filled local television airwaves with an unusual amount of political mud.
Walsh, an 18-year Republican incumbent facing his first serious challenge in a decade, and Maffei, a congressional staffer making his first bid for elected office, laid out starkly different positions on topics ranging from the Iraq war to the importance of congressional seniority.
By the end of the hourlong showdown before about 60 people in WCNY public television's Salina station, each candidate had painted a pretty clear picture of himself.
Walsh was the experienced legislator who's earned enough clout to bring home funding for major Central New York projects. Although he spends his weeks in Washington, he returns
home on weekends and is so trusted by his constituents that he can occasionally vote his conscience as he did in opposing embryonic stem cell research when he knows it's not how a majority of Central New Yorkers feels.
Maffei was the idealistic challenger, riding a wave of national dissatisfaction with President Bush's administration, Republican scandals and an unpopular war. He established his Syracuse-area roots and vowed to vote according to the wishes of the district, even if it conflicted with the way he personally felt.
Maffei opened with an attack on the administration and the GOP Congress, saying their priorities have hurt disproportionately people in Central New York.
Walsh opened by displaying his congressional pin, which is numbered to display seniority and now shows Walsh to be number 90 out of 435 members.
"Seniority matters a great deal in the Congress, and that's a golden rule I think everyone agrees on," Walsh said. "Mr. Maffei has never been elected to anything. He's never been elected to anything in Central New York because he hasn't been here."
Maffei, a DeWitt resident, was quick to note that Republicans may no longer be in control of the House after the Nov. 7 election. That same Republican leadership that Walsh rose to prominence in has helped the Bush administration mire the nation in an unnecessary war, run up disastrous budget deficits, cut critical programs and shown little accountability for the scandals of individual members, Maffei said.
"Over the last 10 years, he's voted with the president 88.4 percent of the time," Maffei said. "The problem is not that he's voting with the president, it's who the president is that he's voting with."
Frederic Pierce can be reached at fpierce@syracuse.com and 470-6062. Visit the politics blog at www.syracuse.com/politics/notebook.
When this story was posted in October 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Syracuse Post Standard
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