If Representative Randy Kuhl has extraordinary powers or a form-fitting costume, he'd better pull them out. The same goes for his challenger, Eric Massa, because the mess this country is in is a job for Super Congressman.
The Republican Kuhl is seeking his third term, but he is facing a tough rematch with Massa, a Democrat, in a closely watched fight for the 29th District. Massa, a retired Navy commander, came extremely close to unseating Kuhl in 2006 - winning 49 percent of the vote. Since then, Massa has been in constant campaign mode, raising more than $1 million. And not too long ago, it seemed like the wind was at Massa's back, given the country's sentiments toward President Bush and the war in Iraq.
But voter attitudes have changed. Governor Sarah Palin has emerged as the Republican Wonder Woman - though her powers may be diminishing. And Kuhl has plenty of support in the Southern Tier. The 29th District's population is a little more than 650,000, according to the 2000 census, and leans to the right with 167,000 registered Republicans to about 114,000 registered Democrats as of March 2008.
Still, Massa has made sizable inroads. The race is so tight that the Cook Political Report, a wonky journal that follows races across the country, calls it a toss up and places the 29th District in both its Democratic and Republican columns. Another publication, CQ Politics, says the race leans slightly in Kuhl's favor.
Kuhl has been running a TV ad that presents the Republican response to the energy crisis, which amounts to: "Drill, drill here, and pay less." The Republicans blame House leader Nancy Pelosi and the "do-nothing Congress" for blocking new drilling, and Kuhl and the GOP did manage to put Democrats on the defense about energy. Kuhl, like many Republicans, supports expanding the land available for drilling, including the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve. He argues that the suggestion that it would take 10 years or more before any of that oil would be available is a fabrication by environmentalists.
"You can have oil tomorrow, practically," Kuhl says.
Actually, it was the US Energy Information Administration that concluded that "comprehensive drilling would have no impact in the near future" in reducing US dependence on foreign oil or lowering gas prices. But drilling is a message that could resonate in the Southern Tier. Wellsville was the country's first energy boomtown and the area is still a source of natural gas. Conservation and a shift to alternative energies are part of his comprehensive energy plan, Kuhl says. But a shift to alternatives will take time, which is why Kuhl says that increasing domestic drilling is so important. More domestic drilling can serve as a bridge to the future, he says.
Massa doesn't agree with opening ANWR for drilling. Dependence on foreign oil is a threat to our national security, he says. The shift to alternatives should be our highest priority and tax breaks should be given to the fledgling green industry, he says. Doing so would bring that energy online sooner and create new jobs in the process, he says.
Kuhl and Massa disagree on other major issues, too. Kuhl was not in Congress at the time the decision to go to war was made, and he says that he was skeptical of the surge, but he knew that a "precipitous end of the war would lead to chaos in Iraq and the region." And he predicts that all troops will be home from Iraq within three years.
Massa supports Obama's planned withdrawal from Iraq within 16 months. He points out that funding for both wars is money borrowed from China and has never been budgeted.
"We are spending billions of dollars a week repaving Baghdad while we can't get our own potholes filled," Massa says.
Kuhl supported the State Children's Health Insurance Plan or S-CHIP, but he voted against it when the bill included coverage for adults. Assuring health care for all is his first priority, he says. But he is against anything that resembles government-supported universal care. Instead, he says finding ways to lower costs and encourage prevention would help to make health care more affordable and available to the uninsured. And he co-sponsored the health savings account bill, something that Massa says borders on ridiculous.
"How can you support a health savings account bill, when there's nobody who can afford to save?" Massa says. "How does this help the 47 million Americans who are uninsured? You have to have the money first."
Kuhl says that he would never completely privatize Social Security as it was initially proposed by George Bush - essentially brokered accounts in the stock market. Kuhl favored a different proposal that made the accounts optional. But considering recent events on Wall Street, selling a concept like that to the American public just got harder.
"I will never allow Social Security to be privatized," Massa says.
The current program should be strengthened, Massa says, and Congress should not raid Social Security to pay its other bills. He will not vote to raise the retirement age or decrease benefits, he says.
And Massa strongly supports federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. He sees the research as a catalyst for medical advancement and as an economic engine for Upstate New York. Kuhl doesn't support using federal funding for embryonic stem- cell research.
Both candidates have crisscrossed the state making public appearances. Kuhl showed up at Pittsford Celebrates, a small art festival held in September in the village. It was a gray afternoon, but a lot of people came to the event anyway, and many were eager to greet Kuhl. He shook hands, posed for photos, and occasionally talked up his campaign. But mostly, he just asked people how they were doing. One by one, people smiled and made polite conversation - the same as they would with neighbors over the back fence or in the driveway.
But in interviews afterward with more than a half-dozen of the people, not one person committed to voting for Kuhl. One was a Massa supporter and the others said that they were still undecided. When asked what concerned them most in this election, each one said jobs or the economy or both. And concern for the issues was laced with insecurity.
"I have a good job and I make a decent salary, but I'm barely able to pay the bills," said Ken Wagner, a resident of the area. "I don't get the sense that our elected officials really understand what it's like out here in the real world of high gas prices and the high cost of food. They wouldn't know how to make it paycheck to paycheck like a lot of their constituents do."
Randy Kuhl
Age: 65
Residence: Hammondsport
Party: Republican, Independence, Conservative
Education: B.S. civil engineering, Union College; J.D. Syracuse University College of Law
Occupation: Attorney in Steuben County; elected to state assembly in 1980; elected to state senate in 1986; elected to US Congress in 2004.
Eric Massa
Age: 48
Residence: Corning
Party: Democratic, Working Families
Education: Graduate of US Naval Academy
Occupation: Retired Navy officer, 24 years.