Whatever happened to the CNY Underground blog? The Republican-leaning site, often criticizing Michael Arcuri but rarely praising Ray Meier, has been replaced with an automatically-generated page full of links about phentermine, home mortgages, credit cards, and the like.
The fall of CNY Underground follows the disintegration of the Weekly Democrat, the abandonment of You Go Mike, and the slowdown of Maimun Khan's blog to the pace of molasses in November.
It's a mystery to me why, the closer we've gotten to Election Day, the more election-themed blogs have fallen by the wayside here in New York's 24th district.
One possible explanation is that people feel much less personal interest in the general election than they have in the contest to see who will represent their political party. Primary season was hot with excited discussion and debate in a way that the contest of Michael Arcuri against Ray Meier has not been.
Of course, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats got a chance to vote for who would represent their party in the general election. The local parties' leadership arranged the nomination all on their own. Perhaps that set the precedent for people's feelings about the election in general.
Talking to both Republicans and Democrats in person about this election, I've noticed a complacent sort of feeling, with little attachment to either to Mike Arcuri or to Ray Meier. This election seems to have become a contest more of the political parties than a contest between the actual candidates. It's more about the Republicans vs. the Democrats than Ray Meier vs. Michael Arcuri.
Most voters don't know much about what kind of policies Ray Meier or Michael Arcuri stand for. When they think Ray Meier, they think generic Republican. When they think Michael Arcuri, they think generic Democrat. This generic perception of the candidates is so dominant that voters are inclined to reject any information that doesn't fit expectations of what a Democrat or Republican will do in Congress.
Without much specific attachment among voters to particular candidates, information about the candidates has come to seem not so important. The race has become not so much of a local affair as many campaign insiders suggested it would be. Rather, the election seems to have become just a local representation of the national contest for control of Congress. Voters seem less concerned about having a good representative than they are about which party has majority rule in the House of Representatives.
We seem to be less citizens of New York's 24th congressional district than we are citizens of the United States of America in general. Local control of this campaign was ceded long ago, with the national Republican Party and the national Democratic Party setting the beat.
So, what's a local blogger to do in this atmosphere? Repeat the party line? React to campaign commercials from the national Democratic and Republican parties? I don't blame so many bloggers for dropping out. The race has not produced much inspiring material to work with. Both Ray Meier and Michael Arcuri have demonstrated more cowardice than leadership.
Then again, I don't really know what's led CNY Underground to hit the dirt, or for other blogs to call it a day. Maybe something else is afoot, leading the bloggers to fall by the wayside. Anyone have any hints?
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8 comments:
CNY Underground disappeared because the three Bigguses departed CNY for more southern climes, ostensibly to avoid CNY taxes.
There are other blogs out there, but promoting them has become impossible with all of the Google-bombing going on, and the sea of information that already exists.
http://meier24.blogspot.com
http://soundingthetrumpetblog.com/
http://uticaod24.blogspot.com/
Thanks for the info.
The promotion problem is big when it comes to Google Bombing. A tip for next time around, for those other blogs, starting early helps.
As for Spotlight on the 24th, the uticaod24 blog, well, that's not really so much a blog as a source for quick links to newspaper articles. Useful, but very little you can't get with a Google News search or a quick scan through area papers yourself. I'd like some more insights from the creators of that "blog".
Why "Biggus Dickus" left probably doesn't have to do with taxes, but rather a job that he interviewed for. In any case, the number of times that blogger referred to recovery from a night of big drinking suggests that a little restraint could have more than made up for the extra amount paid in taxes here in New York State rather than in the services-poor South.
Someone will fill the niche, in time.
I have to say that the writer of the Meier24 blog makes some good observations about the political scene around here, though I don't agree that Ray Meier is a good choice for Congress.
Biggus decided to follow a friend (or two!)who got a job someplace else, and then he packed up and left inside of one week without saying a word, and the fork ran away with the spoon.
The blog is gone gang. This doesn't seem a little strange to you?
Ha HA HA! We have been wondering what happened to Biggus also. From the start, we made it a point not to "know" exactly who he/he/he was.
You can be sure that if BD was able to let us know what was going on, we would have heard from him.
Here, we were wondering if he hadn't gotten into a bit of detainment with his drunken debaucherie, as you mentioned, but from what we know, something slightly fishy is going on.
We assume he will contact us when he is able... he knows how. And we also assume he will have an interesting tale to tell... If his "dissappearence" is due to some actual duress, we expect to hear about it, and will make sure that everyone else hears about it too.
You're right about the original blogs falling by the wayside though. Aside from the 'regulars' we don't see too much new traffic at our blog, and it has affected our actions. We have been applying our time to more direct and focused efforts, doing the visits and backround efforts at debates, as wel as supporting the Dem in our "other" local race in Westchester.
Either way, this race is one that won't be forgotten
Through it all Jon, we came to agree that Taking the House Back IS the way to go, however, doing so by supporting Mike Arcurious is NOT the way to do it.
Come Wednesday, we expect that yes, The House will be taken, and possibly even the Senate, but the good news is that the 24th will not have to suffer from having Mike Arcuri as Congressman.
To us, that would truly be a case of Having Our Cake and Eating it Too!
Enjoy Jon, it looks as if you will be getting your wish!
Maimun's blog is probably less used because she is in charge of all of arcuri's volunteers, nearly four hundred of them. She is at the headquarters day and night during these last weeks working on a campaign in the real physical world, like phone banks, arranging rides to polls and door to door literature blitzes. She also runs a board for all the volunteers. She is probably too busy to be blogging to a handful of people who already made up their minds one way or the other. It looks like Hyde is busy with the state senate race too. I see all those TV ads on his blog.
My best guess is that a firm was being paid to create fake blogs in a variety of competitive districts, and when the GOP needed to reallocate its money to hold its firewall districts/states, they cancelled the contract and all the blogs (including CNY Underground's) were shut down.
I'm surprised you all are taking at face value the claim that the blogger was thinking of moving somewhere with lower taxes - you don't think that was a NRCC talking point to be inserted in every right-wing blog to try to reinforce their frame of Dems=high taxes?
Mr. Curious I didn’t agree with you. CNY Underground couldn’t disappear because of the reasons you told. Although I don’t know another reasons :)
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