The writing is on the wall for the race to succeed 10-term incumbent Walsh, and it's not good news for his Republican Party. Democratic nominee Dan Maffei - who in 2006 ended Walsh's long string of easy re-election wins by hold him to a margin of under 2 percentage points - essentially never stopped running, and has established an overwhelming fundraising lead over the Republican nominee, former Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Dale Sweetland.
Maffei reported raising $1.9 million and had $599,000 on hand through Sept. 30. That gave him a 4-to-1 cash advantage over Sweetland, who reported raising $334,000 and had $137,000 in hand by the end of the quarter.
Sweetland has a fair degree of name ID in Syracuse, the 25th District's biggest city and the population anchor in its eastern end, from his days there as county council chairman. And the district, though generally trending Democratic, is hardly a slam dunk for the party, as presidential challenger John Kerry edged Bush there in 2004 by just 2 points.
But Sweetland entered this race late as a second choice after the original candidate recruited by party officials dropped out in late March citing health concerns. Sweetland needed to post blockbuster fundraising totals in the third quarter of the year, which runs July through September, to have the resources necessary to launch a strong final campaign push for the seat, and he appears to have fallen short of that horizon.
The Democrats made the 25th District race an early and top priority for the election cycle, and the cash-strapped National Republican Congressional Committee can offer little help to Sweetland.
