Friday, May 12, 2006

What is Michael Arcuri doing with that primary campaign money?

Index of the Michael Arcuri campaign:

  • Last "breaking" news article on the Arcuri campaign web site: 17 days ago.

  • Last press release from the Michael Arcuri campaign: 8 days ago.

  • Last press release before that: 18 days ago.

  • Items on Michael Arcuri's campaign calendar for May: Zero.

  • Items on Michael Arcuri's campaign calendar for June: Zero.


    What is Michael Arcuri doing with all that campaign money donated specifically for his primary campaign? Arcuri proudly boasted of bringing in almost $100,000 for the primary campaign, but what's he doing with it?

    The people who donated thousands of dollars of their hard earned money deserve a Democratic candidate who will work like hell to get elected.

    Michael Arcuri has a full time job as District Attorney for Oneida County. He was re-elected to that job just a few months ago, so I understand that he has a lot of pressure to devote his time to that job instead of to his own campaign.

    That's why he needs to use the money he's raised to hire people to build a campaign.

    Mike Arcuri is waiting too long and moving too slowly and speaking with too little initiative. If he is able to use the secretive support of the DCCC to win the Democratic nomination, he will be in a weak position to take on Ray Meier... and still working full time as Oneida County District Attorney.

    I don't want to wake up on Election Day this year to look back on a campaign year where the Democratic candidate ambled his way casually to the polls. I want to see a Democratic candidate running hard all the way to the finish line.
  • 20 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    You are way off here pal. Mr. Arcuri has a huge team, and as for the money, check the next disclosure and stop being so presumptive. However, if I may be a little presumptive myself, Arcuri doesn't have much of a primary, therefore doesn't need to worry much about your bleading heart liberal Roberts.

    24thIndependent said...

    We will see.

    Perhaps if Arcuri is spending a huge amount of money he needs to think about whether it's effective the way he's spending it and whether his staff is serving him well.

    Arcuri is getting no media coverage on his campaign, and his web site is dead. No press releases out, no news articles, no events scheduled for over the next month...

    ... just what is it that all those people on the Arcuri campaign are doing anyway?

    I'm looking for results. Where are the results? The Arcuri campaign is looking invisible these days. I look around hoping to see something coming out of the Arcuri campaign, something noteworthy, and day after day nothing comes.


    Psst. It's "bleeding heart liberal". Not "bleading".

    How exactly does Arcuri plan to win the election? By alienating the liberal Democratic base? Blasting what he calls the "liberal fringe"?

    Pay attention to the news. It's not the liberals who are the problem.

    Anonymous said...

    The last thing that I heard from either of the candidates was arcuri talking about gas prices. Have heard nothing from Roberts in the media lately. Where are either of these two candidates?

    Anonymous said...

    Does Arcuri have a national campaign experienced manager yet?

    Anonymous said...

    Mike Arcuri doesn't have to waste any money beating Les Roberts. He's got you to do it for him for free. Since nobody has heard from Les Roberts since Al Franken kissed him off, why don't you worry about your own candidate's campaign. Furthermore, I would guess that the last person Mike Arcuri would share his plans with would be you.

    Anonymous said...

    I believe Mr. Arcuri has a new DCCC campaign manager. I believe the new manager doesn't know much about the district. I trust Mr. Arcuri's new manager will figure things out before Mr. Meier starts pointing out his mistakes in public.

    24thIndependent said...

    I have spoken in favor of Arcuri to my friends, but I have been wondering why he isn't running harder. I thought Arcuri knew what he was doing. I thought he would try harder.

    24thIndependent said...

    Perhaps the transition to a new manager explains it. Should I give Arcuri a wider berth?

    Could it be that that Arcuri is hunkering down for an on-the-ground petitioning effort?

    Anonymous said...

    I understand Mr. Arcuri had a tragedy in his family lately, maybe he's taking time off to mourn.

    Anonymous said...

    Does Mr. Arcuri's new manager have a name?

    Every day that goes by is one less day to get something done. That is a critical lesson that 4 of the 5 candidates will painfully acknowledge in November. One will probably not even realize why he won.

    Anonymous said...

    The people on this blog are obviously inexperienced when it comes to campaigns. At this stage almost all of the work is going on behind the scenes--fundraising, lining up endorsements, hiring staff, making connections with local party and interest group activists, developing a campaign plan and media strategy, working up issue positions, analyzing election and targeting data, etc. Each of these things is vital for a successful fall campaign, but almost none of them will be visible to broader public. There's little benefit doing more visible stuff at this point because most voters aren't tuned in and those you do reach will forget what you said by November.

    Remember, this blog is not the campaign. Just because Jonathan doesn't see it doesn't mean it's not happening.

    24thIndependent said...

    Well, we all may be inexperienced when compared to you, but we're not blind.

    We can take a look and see what other Democratic candidates for Congress are doing right now about raising public awareness, and see that it's much more than what Arcuri is up to.

    The flaw in your logic, 9:10, is that the choice between behind-the-scenes campaigning and public campaigning is a false choice. A good campaign does both, and public campaigning can be made to help bring in volunteers for behind-the scenes campaigning efforts.

    Your excuse for Arcuri doesn't wash, whether you have more experience than the rest of us or not.

    It's certainly very easy for you to come on here, write anonymously, and claim to be more experienced than the rest of us.

    I could write here anonymously and claim to be Pope Benedict XVI. If you want to use your experience as a reason that we should believe you, then register, use your name, and prove that you really do have experience.

    I've shared my name. What's yours?

    Anonymous said...

    So, how's Les doing, Jon? Going on AirAmerica again any time soon?

    Anonymous said...

    9:10 am - the problem is that fundraising, endorsements, lining up volunteers, etc, etc, etc is not happening. If it was, I would have been contacted.

    I have been involved in campaigns at this level and it isn't happening the way it's supposed to this time buddy. Since neither Democratic candidate has run for Congress before, and Mike Arcuri has only had one contested election many years ago, I am very doubtful if they know what needs done when and how much work it really is. That is why an experienced Congressional campaign manager is a necessity.

    Please give us the name of the experienced Congressional campaign manager that Mike Arcuri has.

    Anonymous said...

    So who made Mr. Cook the "decider" when it comes to figuring out who's running a good campaign?

    Mr. Cook, have you ever actually worked on a campaign? One at or above the level of a congressional race? Any level?

    You purport to some expertise here, so tell us what it is.

    24thIndependent said...

    Who made me the decider?

    Well, I write the blog. You all decide to come and read what I say here.

    I'm a citizen. I'm a Democrat. I'm a resident of the 24th congressional district.

    That makes me plenty qualified to write about this race.

    I don't see any evidence of a vigorous campaign by Michael Arcuri. I donated money to the Arcuri campaign a few months ago, but I haven't received any mail from them. Not a phone call. Nothing.

    I could go on for pages talking to you about my long experience as a consultant in the field of marketing, shaping the brands and advertisements that you see on TV with Fortune 500 companies and top non-profits. I could tell you a lot more than that. I could get on bragging about myself, and we all could get into a big pissing contest here.

    But, this blog is not about how great I am. I don't purport to have any special connections to any of the campaigns or candidates running in this race.

    This blog is about the candidates and their campaigns, although, when people from different campaigns don't like what I say, they try to make me the issue.

    What it comes down to is this: In a free, democratic society, no one needs permission, or experience, or a professional title to talk about politics.

    I write. You can agree with me or not, but I try to use argue in a logical form. It is not within the logical form to critique an argument by saying that a person is not qualified to make the argument. Either the logic holds, or it doesn't.

    So far, those who come here defending Michael Arcuri's near state of campaign inaction have not done a good job critiquing the argument that I've made - if they've even tried.

    That, in itself, tells me something.

    Anonymous said...

    So the answer is that you have NO campaign experience. Thanks for clearing that up.

    24thIndependent said...

    No, that's not the answer. Surprise.

    The answer is that I believe that's not relevant to the discussion.

    It is very relevant that people like you who try to replace logical discussion with claims of suuuper campaign experience choose to remain anonymous.

    I could come on here anonymously and say that I ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 re-election campaign. That wouldn't make it true. So, if you want to come on here and make claims that you know better than all of us because you have so much campaign experience, why don't you prove it and tell us who you are.

    Register. Give us your name. Put up, or stop blustering.

    Anonymous said...

    I ran Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign.

    Anonymous said...

    10:08 - I have significant campaign experience including at the Congressional level. I'm not seeing a level of effectiveness from the Democrats that is adequate to win this district.

    What is your expertise again?