N.Y. Congressional race defies expectations

(CBS News) 

By Phil Hirschkorn & Elaine Quijano

AMHERST, N.Y. - Democratic congressional candidate Kathy Hochul considered herself an underdog when she began her race for the House of Representatives seat vacated by Christopher Lee, the married congressman who resigned after being caught placing shirtless personal ads on Craigslist earlier this year.

The race was expected to be an easy one for Republican Jane Corwin. Instead it's turned into a $9 million campaign and a proxy for the national debate over the House Republican budget, complete with a Tea Party twist.

The latest poll of New York's Republican-leaning 26th District, which stretches from the Buffalo suburbs to Rochester, showed Hochul with a slight edge over Corwin and Independent Jack Davis.

The Sienna College survey of likely voters released Saturday found 42 percent preferred Hochul and 38 percent were for Corwin, while 12 percent supported Davis, who is running on the state's Tea Party ballot line.

"The priorities that I have are aligned with the people of this district, regardless of party affiliation," Hochul told CBS News in an interview. "I am not a hyper-partisan person."

The 52-year-old Hochul, a lawyer, was once a legislative aide to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and is now the Erie County Clerk.

In a race that may be turning on the issue of reforming Medicare, Hochul believes some voters may be experiencing buyer's remorse following the Republican sweep into controlling the House of Representatives.

"I really think that people who put their faith in the Republicans last November have seen what's been happening since January," Hochul said, referring to the latest House Budget authored by Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan.

"Their priorities - which are encapsulated in that Ryan budget - are not in line with the Republicans. Independents and Democrats in my district," Hochul said.

Her steady attack on Republicans' Medicare reform is that, for Americans currently under 55, it would replace the government-run health insurance program for citizens over 65 with a voucher system. "End Medicare as we know it, and convert a guaranteed health insurance plan to a program that's 'You're on your own with insurance companies. Here's an $8,000 voucher; you're on your own, good luck,'" Hochul said.

In a district where 40 percent of registered voters are over 55 years old, her message has gained traction.

The Sienna College poll found likely voters in the 26th District ranked it their top issue, just ahead of jobs and cutting the federal budget deficit.

Republican candidate Jane Corwin, 47, a member of the New York State Assembly, has bristled at the Medicare critique, and denies she is for vouchers.

"That is a complete lie," Corwin told CBS News in an interview. "She [Hochul] doesn't offer a plan of her own. She is content to sit back and just kick the can down the road and let Medicare go bankrupt in 13 years."

Republicans rely on the annual Medicare trustees' report, released on May 13, which stated that the hospital insurance trust fund could be insolvent in 2024, five years earlier than previously predicted.

Bleaker outlook for Social Security, Medicare

"I'm trying to preserve Medicare," said Corwin. "I am supporting a plan that will make sure that seniors today receive the benefits they expect, but that the plan is around for the future. If it's not a perfect plan, and I'm sure it isn't, I'm open to modifying it or changing or improving."

Besides the Medicare debate, Corwin's expected road to Washington has encountered another major roadblock: Jack Davis.

Davis, 78, a Marine veteran and manufacturer of heating elements for industrial furnaces, has spent $3 million running on the Tea Party line. He vehemently attacks free trade policies as hurting the nation's manufacturing base, and is against proposed agreements with Korea, Panama and Colombia.

"Believe me, it's not going to get better until we change our policies," Davis told CBS News in an interview. "Working men and women in this country know free trade is a job killer."

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[noloyalisti]

Let's make sure all our friends and neighbors know the Republicons are trying to kill Medicare and Social Security. They can't help themselves since they work for the Top 2%, the new robber barons of America.

[kansas1946]

Not a surprise to me. The Republicans have been running around acting like idiots for the last two years.

[superdem1]

Just remember, when you have to check your dear mother into a nursing home, and it costs $6,000 a month just for the room alone, the Republican vouchers are NOT going to cover it, and the insurance companies don't want to hear your whining. You are going to have to sell your house and everything else you own to pay those bills - because the Republicans don't care about you, they care about the insurance companies. That's free enterprise.

[antoniof123]

Looks like the end is near want to bet now the GOP may start working together of course it may be too late America is still Angry and no jobs.

Good luck folks have nice day.

[bigsk8fan]

too bad bush republicans used our social security, medicare and medicaid money to pay for wars in iraq and afghanistan!

[actornaught]

But, newt says "Voters will permit GOP to fix Medicare"...!

I guess he missed the part about how one of the most republican districts in the country & that it's about to go Democratic because of 'pub medicare lies.

[johndevinejr]

One important thing that people need to remember. republican economic policies are the cause of the problems we have. Over the last three decades republicans been the party of debt.

1978-2005 Democratic Federal Spending Increase 9.9%
1978-2005 Republican Federal Spending Increase 12.1%

1978-2005 Democratic Federal Debt Increase 4.2%
1978-2005 Republican Federal Debt Increase 36.4%

1978-2005 Democratic Gross Domestic Product Increase 12.6%
1978-2005 Republican Gross Domestic Product Increase 10.7%

As you can see republicans spend more, increase the debt more and produce less.

In addition, every time republican economic policies have been implemented they have caused a recession.

The notion that republicans are fiscally responsible is hogwash. They have been and are totally irresponsible, seeking to fix their latest mess on the backs of the middle class and the poor, while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest 2%, claiming that this will produce jobs. This has never happened before and will not happen now. It is exactly what George Bush said, and look what happened.

[actornaught]

Republicans are classicly bad on defense, as well. Compare the military victories of Democrats vs. Republicans of the last 100 years...

[realist51]

Good fact based post. Now,how many repubs are really going to believe them? None! In there blind faith to the party they will tell you that you are a liar and ask for links and then attack you personally as being a government mutton pup.Who lives on welfare and robbing them of there precious tax dollars and that the rich are right there to help save your soul but don't ask for a food stamp or a job, that would cut into there bottom dollar.