Dean of Democrats in Rochester Thursday (Updated)

Howard's Here (UPDATED) - Howard Dean is in Rochester Thursday night for the Monroe Co. Democratic Convention. The chairman of the Democratic National Committee is in Syracuse Thursday morning, in a show of support for Dan Maffei, running for the 25th District seat in Congress. Tonight in Rochester, several Dem candidates will be officially given the party nod, like judge candidate and current assistant district attorney Joanne Winslow, and county clerk candidate Tom Hasman.

The big story, of course, is Howard Dean steering the Democratic ship. No surprise, he remained neutral on the Democratic Primary.

'Elo Guv'nah (UPDATED) - Gov. David Paterson gave News 8's Evan Axelbank an exclusive 1-on-1 interview Wednesday. Paterson said he is still supporting Clinton, and that anything can happen. When asked to name a scenario where Clinton would be the nominee, he balked. Evan has posted more interesting insights from the Governor here, and here.

Tough Tapdance - The most interesting endorsement of Barack Obama on Wednesday didn't come from John Edwards. In fact, it wasn't really an endorsement at all. The New York branch of NARAL, the National Abortion Rights Action League, broke with it's parent organization by not throwing it's support behind either Obama's or Hillary Clinton's limping campaign.

NARAL NY is just one example. It's in a bind, like a lot of local and statewide organization branches and elected officials. NARAL can't appear to bite the hand of Hillary; however, the longer the organization waits, the more irrelevant-seeming the endorsement becomes.

Of course, there's the irony of a pro-choice organization choosing not to choose.



Sweetland Sweep - Republican Dale Sweetland, running against Dan Maffei for the 25th Congressional seat, has recieved the endorsement of the Wayne Co. Republican Party. This is the seat that will be up for grabs when Jim Walsh retires this year. Sweetland is from Fabius in Onondaga County, where he was a county legislator. Sweetland (on the left) also bears an uncanny resemblance to British boxer Nigel "The UK Hammer" Hudson (on the right).