Now that the Democrats have apparently settled on their candidate for the 23rd Congressional District seat, ( Plattsburg Attorney Bill Owens) it will be interesting to see how lock step the Democratic rank and file are in lining up behind him. It is no secret that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and State Chair June O'Neill played a major role in inducing the 11 County chairs to bypass all of the Democratic contenders to choose the Plattsburgh neophyte..and now the question is..will it play In Peoria? (or Pulaski, Potsdam, and Parish). While Owens is telegenic and personable enough...does he have the gut instincts that connect with the very fiber and being of North Country Democrats? They are, for the most part, not members of his type of golf club. He is not a Darryl (Everyman) Aubertine, or a feisty farm girl (boy) like Addie Jenne Russell. He doesn't seem to have the same gut instincts for politics that an Ernie LaBaff possesses...so, will all the special interest Washington money they can pour in triumph over basal politics and the gut instincts of the downtrodden but determined Democrats who have tilled the North country political soil for many years? We shall see soon enough!
Maybe his former law partner's wife, the Albany lobbyist, and employer of Joe Bruno, Kay Stafford, can dip into her piggy bank left over by her late husband's campaign, to make sure that he has enough sheckels to show he has the right stuff on TV. Right now, it looks like it is going to be a hard sell...but, hey..you never know!
