Randy Kuhl has spent a lot of time trying to blame our nation’s energy woes on the Democratic Congress. He’s indicated that he believes that “There won’t be any children, there won’t be any United States” unless we expand drilling soon.

Massa has turned the tables on Kuhl, blaming him for the closing of a local company:

Democrat Eric Massa has blamed U.S. Rep. Randy Kuhl, R-Hammondsport, for the closing of a trucking company that had operated out of Farmington and Chesterton, Ind.

More than 1,000 employees across the country lost their jobs Friday when Priority Transportation, which had offices on Collett Road in Farmington, closed its doors.

[....]

[Chief Executive Officer] cited “continued high fuel prices, weak freight demand and escalating operating costs, as well as tight credit markets” as reasons for the closing.

“Regrettably, it was more politics as usual from Rep. Kuhl,” said Massa in a statement on Friday. “On July 24 of this year, Randy Kuhl voted against the ‘use it or lose it’ Consumer Energy Supply Act of 2008, which would have released 10 percent of the strategic oil reserve for consumer use. This would have lowered and stabilized gas prices within a matter of weeks.”

Rep. Kuhl refused to help families and American businesses struggling to afford high gas prices and now 100 hard-working Americans have lost their jobs in our district,” Massa added, referring to the closing of the Farmington company.

The convention and Palin announcement have overshadowed the most important story of the month in the 29th. With a little more than two months left in the race, Eric Massa is out-raising and out-spending Randy Kuhl.

In July and August, Massa took in almost twice Kuhl's haul. He spent that money on TV ads and office staff. Massa spent almost three times the amount that Kuhl did on advertising. He has double the staff on his payroll.

Massa's fundraising was aided by a fundraiser held for him and other New York candidates by Charlie Rangel [NY-15]. He also benefits from netroots involvement via the Act Blue fundraising network.

Kuhl has relied on his standby funding channels: individuals in and around the district, and corporate PACs. About half of his haul came from PACs. He received no obvious help from his colleagues in Congress, presumably because things are tough all over.

Having and spending a little more cash than the incumbent doesn't guarantee anything, but in this district, it's a significant accomplishment that shouldn't be lost in the noise being made by the national contest.

Apparently, Dale Sweetland hasn’t filed his preprimary FEC summary.  The Maffei campaign pounces (from a Maffei campaign press release):

Congressional candidate Dale Sweetland has violated federal election law by failing to file required financial disclosure forms in advance of the September primary election. Federal election law stipulates that all candidates for federal office file specific financial disclosure forms in order to provide a transparent election process.

Though neither Sweetland nor Dan Maffei face primary opponents, they are still required to file financial disclosure reports prior to the primary, including “48-hour Reports” that detail contributions in excess of $1,000. Maffei has filed all the required reports, including several 48-hour Reports. Sweetland has filed neither the required disclosure report nor any 48-hour Reports.

According the Federal Election Commission (FEC), candidates who fail to follow the law face fines and penalties, and since this report is considered “election sensitive” Sweetland faces stiffer sanctions. Sweetland’s fine will be based on the level of activity on the report when he eventually decides to follow the law.

“It’s hypocritical for Dale Sweetland to on one hand criticize Dan Maffei for raising money and then to turn around and blatantly violate a simple election procedure that allows the public to see who is paying for elections,” said Maffei campaign manager Dan Krupnick. “Apparently he doesn’t believe in transparency, because the FEC is very direct with candidates and they are serious about making sure all candidates are completely truthful when it comes to election financing.”

Kuhl just filed his first pre-primary report, for the period July 1 — August 28. He raised 116K, a little more than half of what opponent Eric Massa raised. Here’s some things that stand out:

• 1. He spent a lot of money on fundraising, about 25K if you add it all up.  About 16K of that went to one group of fundraising consultants: Hammond and Associates.  That seems like a lot, given how money Kuhl raised in total.
• 2.  He spent $453 at a 7-Eleven in Gettysburg, PA on July 28.  Assuming that not more than $150 or so of that could have been for gas, that seems like a lot of Slim Jims, my friends.  (I’m not alleging any impropriety here — just a fun fact).

The D&C has a good piece on fundraising in NY-26.:

Democrats Jack Davis and Jon Powers each have raised more than $1 million in the 26th District primary election battle.

In campaign finance reports filed this week, Powers reported raising nearly $1.1 million since his campaign began, much of it from political action committees and donors who live outside the district, which spans seven counties, including Monroe.

Davis has raised $1.3 million from a single donor: himself.

[....]

Powers, 30, raised $211,137 over the same six-week period, according to campaign manager John Gerken. Kryzan, 60, raised $27,337 over that time, according to her report. Both campaigns have joined Davis in airing television ads.

Gerken said about 4,000 donors have given to Powers’ campaign.

Massa posted strong numbers for the period July 1 — August 20:

Earlier today, Retired Navy Commander and Congressional candidate Eric Massa filed his pre-primary FEC campaign finance report. During this period, which ran from July 1st - August 20th 2008, Massa raised $207,025.46.

The Massa Campaign has a strict policy of not accepting corporate political action committee (PAC) money and has refunded $3,000 in contributions given by Corporate PACs in this filing period. The FEC report shows $210,025.46 for Massa’s total amount raised for period ending August 20, 2008, however the $3,000 refund will appear on the next FEC report. After subtracting the refund, the final amount raised is $207,025.46 this period and $1,403,747.97 total for the 2008 election cycle.

This period is almost exactly half as long as a quarter. So this is roughly the equivalent of 400K for a quarter, which is very strong for this area.

The business history of Republican candidate Christopher Lee is being called into question by local Democrats. The company Lee helped manage and his father founded was sold for $395 million less than a year after the buyer, an international conglomerate, pleaded guilty to two felony charges related to sensitive defense technology that had been sent to [...]

The Buffalo News reports that Democrat Jack Davis has given $1 Million dollars to his campaign over the last six weeks, helping to fund an already strong media campaign against rivals Alice Kryzan and Jon Powers. According to the article Davis has spent $657,000 on advertising during the month of July and thus far in August and is making good on his promise to spend $3 Million of his own money on this, his third bid for the seat.

Look what’s the top post at Atrios right now.

Christopher Lee, who is running for Congress in NY-26 on the Republican side, is facing some serious financial questions, reports Jill Terreri:

The sale of a company that made Republican congressional candidate Chris Lee millions of dollars is being questioned by his Democratic rivals.

The company Lee helped manage and his father founded was sold for $395 million less than a year after the buyer, an international conglomerate, pleaded guilty to two felony charges related to sensitive defense technology that had been sent to China, Britain, Singapore and Japan. The conglomerate, ITT, also paid $100 million in fines.

[...]

The fine is believed to be the highest sanction levied against a defense contractor involved in an export violation in U.S. history.