The battle for the ballot lines in NY’s 24th Congressional District

By Sam Foster
Via the Utica Observer-Dispatch

In NY races, sometimes it's all about the number of party lines you fill.  Yet more proof that Mike Arcuri is in serious trouble against his Republican challenger Richard Hanna.  We are but a September poll away from this race moving into likely Republican category.

U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri, D-Utica, is attempting to gain an extra line on the November ballot by circulating a petition to run as an independent candidate in addition to his spot as a Democrat.

During his first run for Congress in 2006, Arcuri received endorsements from the Democratic, Independence and Working Families parties.

In 2008 and this year, he lost the Independence Party endorsement to Republican Richard Hanna of Barneveld. Arcuri also wasn't endorsed by the Working Families Party this year, after the party became upset with Arcuri's vote against the health care bill.

Now, Arcuri is seeking a new way to have a second spot on the ballot.

"Our campaign is circulating petitions to start a NY Moderates line because we heard time and again from independent-minded voters that they were looking for a viable alternative to voting on the scandal-ridden local Independence Party line this November," Arcuri spokeswoman Carolyn Ehrlich said.

Arcuri and Hanna are facing off in a rematch of their 2008 race, which Arcuri won with about 52 percent of the votes.

Hanna called Arcuri's independent petition "a cynical attempt to try to rebrand himself and to fool all the voters all the time."

"Mr. Arcuri is anything but a moderate," Hanna said, in an e-mailed statement.