Friday, January 8, 2010

Watertown Times Slow to Respond to the News Cycle

The Watertown Daily Times finally caught up with the news that William Barclay is running for Congress today at 2:18 pm, about three-quarters of a day after everyone else already heard.

But they did at least manage to get a quote from the candidate that I thought was worth checking out. State Assemblyman William A. Barclay, R-Pulaski, said Friday that,

Over the past several weeks, I have been honored to have been approached by numerous friends and supporters urging me to run for Congress,” said Mr. Barclay in a statement. “While I didn't run during the special election due to family reasons, I am deeply disappointed with the outcome of that race and feel that this time I should more thoroughly investigate running. To that end, over the next couple of weeks I plan on traveling throughout the congressional district to meet with party officials and various constituencies to discuss my potential candidacy. I am excited about starting this process and again I am honored to be urged to run.

Here are a few interesting pulls from the candidate's statement. First, he pointed out his patience in skipping out the special election last summer. Good for him to disassociate himself with that mess right off the bat! Second, he is planning on traveling the district over the next several weeks (something no other potential candidate is doing to our knowledge). Third, it looks like Barclay picked up a key political operative in Michael Backus, Dede Scozzafava's former campaign manager, who visited the Watertown Times office with the candidate recently.

3 comments:

  1. It is quite absurd that the Watertown Daily Times is so slow and unfocused. It's almost like they don't even have a good sense of what is going on in the community anymore. It's not really their fault though. The old news media is dying quickly.

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  2. I like that Barclay is going to be traveling the district to meet with voters to hear their concerns. I hope he comes to the eastern end of the district which largely gets ignored. We can beat Owens, but we need to start by building support in his backyard.

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  3. Actually, I (I guess you could call me a "party official") met with Doheny in December and from what I hear from others in the party he has been traveling across the district to meet with various people since the day Owens won (he also had that fundraising/awareness event in mid-December). It is a very good idea for Barclay to do the same. I liked what Doheny had to say but I am also anxious to hear from Barclay. I approve.

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