Richard Neal (MA-2) (D) Calls in the Big Guns! – Victoria Kennedy Campaigns for Neal at Smith College Campus –Prefers Small Venue to Debate

Fromthe Gazette: Richard Neal got a little help from his friend, Victoria Kennedy, at a rally held Sunday afternoon to a room full of the party faithful, including local elected officials. Neal, did have the opportunity to Debate his opponent, Tom Wesley on WWLP, Channel 22 Springfield, but obviously had more important things to do that giving his constituents a chance to see how he differs with Mr. Wesley. The debate, however, took place without Congressman Neal. Neal, in speaking to the devoted audience, at Smith, a women’s college located in Northampton, MA, an exerpt follolws:

After first announcing that the Patriots had won in overtime, the widow of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy set about cheering for another team that she's a staunch supporter of - that of U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield.
"Are you going to send him back this Nov. 2? Absolutely," said Kennedy to cheers from about 70 or so Democratic faithful who attended a Neal rally at Union Station Restaurant. "I would go anywhere for Richie Neal."
It didn't take much to rouse those faithful. After all, it was a room where many among the crowd felt comfortable enough to address Neal as "Richie."
But Kennedy, a 56-year-old attorney, had many in the audience nodding their heads or smiling with her humor, her memories of the friendship between her late husband and Neal, and her straightforward reasoning as to why Neal deserves to be elected for a 12th term in Washington.
"The 2nd District is never left out or left behind," she said. "Richie Neal has never forgotten where he came from and why he was elected. He fights every single day for you."
Neal faces Republican challenger Tom Wesley, a former U.S. Navy pilot, for the state's 2nd Congressional District, a 41-community district he has represented since 1989.
Sunday's event drew several local representatives, including Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, state Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton, newly elected Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, Northampton City Council President David J. Narkewicz and Springfield City Council Vice President E. Henry Twiggs.
Politicians aside, the event drew many local Democratic supporters, enough that Higgins quipped during her opening remarks that, "elected officials don't outnumber" the residents in attendance.
Neal took the stage to the song "Simply the Best," by Tina Turner. When the music died down, he joked, "That was very good staff work."
Then he got down to business, calling the midterm elections a battle about the future that will be decided by who shows up to vote in little more than two weeks.
Neal, and later Kennedy, had a clear theme to their message, and they delivered it without mentioning Wesley by name. The message went something like this: Look to the future and let's move the country forward. The alternative is a step backward and a return to "the failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place," said Kennedy.
She said Neal is one of the best at helping the country move forward, and he might be tapped as the new chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. She recalled numerous times when the former Springfield mayor and her late husband would meet to discuss strategies and policies and how to make legislation happen.
"It's not easy work," she said.
Neal called out Republicans for their attempts to pin the nation's problems on President Obama, saying the notion is "preposterous." He noted that President Bush's tax cuts and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other initiatives, reversed a $5.7 trillion surplus when that administration took office in 2001.
"The people who set the fire are now the ones calling the fire department," Neal said.

(rest of article Here)

Neal failed to mention that those expiring Bush Tax cuts would cost every working family in the district, up to $5,000 annually regardless of their income level. This will occur because the Congressman along with a majority of Democrat Incumbents preferred to cut out of Congress early to get back to their districts to campaign, instead of working on the tax package, leaving businesses in limbo, effectively continuing hiring freezes. That said Neal appears to feel more comfortable in a controlled and smaller venue setting that his opponent, Republican Tom Wesley. That was apparent in a recent debate shown on Channel 57, Springfield Public Television, where the two met in a tightly controlled environment; however, even then it was apparent that Neal appeared uncomfortable.

2010 Mid-Term - MA1 & MA2 Congressional Districts: Incumbents Richard Neal (D-MA2) and John Olver (D-MA1) Decline Debates – Debate Video and Analysis

Springfield, MA: On Sunday, October 16, WWLP, the Springfield, MA NBC affiliate held two debates, one for the MA1st and one for the MA2nd Congressional Districts. Both incumbents, Richard Neal (D) and John Olver (D) declined the invitation to meet their opponents, Tom Wesley(R) who is running for the MA2 Congressional District and Bill Gunn(R) and Michael Engle (I) who are running for the MA1 Congressional District in a Lincoln Douglas style debate. The videos from WWLP are shown below. Congressman, Richard Neal did accept one debate with opponent Tom Wesley, in a pre-tapped ½ hour moderated debate on WGBY, Public Television, podcasts of the debate here are not yet available; the last airing was yesterday morning at 10:30 am. WWLP, however, offers a larger share of the districts viewing audience, even though the debates are held during the afternoon (The affiliate makes all debates available on their website.)

Incumbents are declining to debate across the country, most notably, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, who is refusing the debate her opponent, John Dennis. Although the strategy to pretend one does not have competition for one’s Congressional seat, might appear to be a good idea, especially in MA and CA, where “reliable Democrats” are counted on to get out and vote, the issues facing the nation, high unemployment, specifically, do not allow that luxury this election cycle. The facts that races are rated safe Democrat by CQ Politics (Congressional Quarterly), Richard Neal is considered “Safe Democrat”, based on his 2008 election, where there race was not contested. In addition CQ factors in the results from the 2008 presidential election, in order to further emphasis their hypotheses The same is true of the MA1st and the CA8th. However, one has to recall that other elections have taken place (special elections) in MA where those statistics tell a different story. For example: Scott Brown (R), bested Martha Coakley (D) by up to 57% in most MA Congressional Districts, therefore the data is skewed to favor the incumbent.

One can check the rating of their respective representatives on an interactive map available here , however, Massachusetts Districts, will show, for the most part, the information available from 2008. These ratings are used by a variety of websites, to support the fact that the incumbents are likely to be reelected. Using historical data, is, normally speaking; a safe bet, however, to not acknowledge the current mood of the electorate or the fact that these Congressional Representatives have actual challengers is irresponsible to say the least.

That said, WWLP, in giving both Tom Wesley and Bill Gunn and Independent Candidate Engle an opportunity to debate (or in Tom Wesley’s case, answer the moderators questions, in some detail) allows those in the district and opportunity to learn more about each candidate, however, it does little good for the incumbent to appear either too arrogant or too busy, to take the time for their constituents. In addition, the incumbents do not have the ability to rebut any statements made, which appears to put the respective representatives at a clear disadvantage, as more of the electorate are engaged. It is worth watching both debates for the MA2 and MA1 shown below due to the variety of ideas on issues from unemployment, taxation and the nations deficit that are offered by these candidates.

Video's below courtesy of WWLP, local news/infocus the Debates Note: videos not available on WWLP's You tube channel.

Embattled House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi - In Denial Avoids the Inevitable – Losing Her House Seat in 2010

Nancy Pelosi has become the one woman in American that those vested in politics, at any level; love to hate – even those from her own party. Pelosi, who made history by becoming the first woman to hold the position of Speak of the House in 2006, has, in that short period of time, become a symbol for all the ills facing the Democrat Party and the nation as a whole. Her particular brand of tough talking, partisanship which had divided the Congress and now the nation, has finally played out in her own district, where she is being challenged, for the first time in her Congressional career, by a candidate that is not only competent but stands to best her in the November 2nd, 2010 mid-term elections.

Although her seat has been deemed “safe democrat” by CQ Politics, that website has not updated the election coverage since 2008, therefore, it does not acknowledge her 2010 Republican opponent, John Dennis who has been endorsed by individuals and groups within the 8th district one would normally find in Pelosi’s back pocket. Therefore, from a “think tank” in Washington, that either bases their assessments for individual House or Senate Seats on the 2008 presidential race, (if Obama won in any given State or District) or the historical trend of the district for the past 8 years, is akin to “spitting into the wind” in order to make a projection.

Is Nancy Pelosi’s job safe? The answer is hardly safe at all. If it were, indeed safe, without calculating what is taking place on the ground in the 8th district, one might ask why embattled House Democrats elsewhere are running campaigns that either distance themselves from the speaker, or outright campaign against her in order to appeal to their suspicious constituents (New York Times).

Many of the powerful House Democrats, with a few exceptions, have sat down and faced the “music” so to speak, by engaging in debates with their opponents. One has to give credit to the MA4 District’s, Barney Frank, who has debated his opponent, Republican Sean Beilat, on several occasions. Although no public polls have taken place in the 4th district, internal polls indicate that Congressman Frank will no longer be serving the constituents of the MA4 come November 3rd. (Technically, any defeated incumbents will serve in Congress, until January when the new members are installed.) Some are given partial credit, for debating their opponents in safe settings, (pre-taped debates) such as Ways and Means Committee member, Richard Neal (MA2), who recently spent a half hour with his Republican opponent, Tom Wesley. Massachusetts, not unlike California, has, for the past 10 years or more, trended heavily Democrat, however, going on voting trends in an atmosphere that demands change, is ridiculous. Very few of these types of races have received attention from National Pollsters, believing that trends will prevail, over the shift in national conscious, (or more likely, the costs associated with taking such a poll and believing, based on the assessments of CQ, and like websites or publications, it would be a waste of money.) Polls alone, however, will not decide a race, and many surprises may be in store on Nov. 2nd (or 3rd for some districts).

Surely Pelosi is an intelligent woman who knows what she faces in her own district, which is why she has refused to debate her opponent, John Dennis. She recently took the time out to meet with Microsoft, a video provided below by the Dennis campaign on You Tube, shows Polis in that meeting, and when queried about the option of debate, she opined (paraphrasing) “she did not have the time, as she was busy helping other members get elected.” Clearly, she must have been reading articles that, for weeks have shown that those members are trying to run as far away from her as possible, therefore, Ms. Pelosi, in fear of having to stand on her record, in fear of losing her position, has decided to take the low road, and simply wait out the election process without giving John Dennis or her constituents the time of day. Nancy should, in a phrase, “woman up” and meet Dennis in the debate arena.

There are two reasons for any incumbent to do so, even in this environment, and without the cash on hand to run ads against her opponent (Ms. Pelosi, according the FEC filings has $140,161 available to use for her campaign and $0 debt.) Source: Open Secrets. Ms. Pelosi would at least appear to be fighting for her district and her constituents, and have the ability to at the least, highlight any positives she may possess in the debate format. Secondly, by not debating John Dennis, who has a clear on-ground advantage, she appears to observers who do not believe “all is rosy" with the Speaker, to be either afraid of meeting Dennis one on one, or so out of touch with what is going on in her own district, that she sees no need (goes to arrogance) to debate, believing the outcome would be in her favor. In this particular race, one need only Google John Dennis or Nancy Pelosi under the news heading and find local articles to tell the tale of what is happening in the 8th district. Parsing not only the headlines, but reading the comments as well, to understand that this race will boil down to turn-out, true, but also the number of Democrats and Independents in the District who are now looking for a change in their government.

The economy will drive this election, even in the 8th California district, as well as traditionally “safe democrat” seats nationwide. Therefore, for those Congressional Representatives who feel the need to avoid debates and the fact that there is a race at all (by working hand in hand with editorial boards at local newspapers) remember: at least Congressman Frank has decided to go down swinging which, in the end, will go towards his credit historically.

Video Nancy Pelsoi, on Why she Won’t Debate John Dennis, her Republican Opponnet