Democrats to aid Arcuri with fundraising, strategy

After a tight race for re-election last year, U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri may be getting some extra help holding on to his seat from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Arcuri, D-Utica, is among 40 Democratic representatives on the organization’s Frontline Program list who will get early help laying the groundwork for the 2010 election cycle, a DCCC spokesman said.

At the same time, Arcuri said he has stepped up his efforts to meet a better cross section of constituents and find places to hold town-hall style meetings with residents. And he recently kicked off an informational cable television show about government issues, which will begin airing Friday.

Arcuri said he had held his own in the Republican-dominated 24th Congressional district in 2008 and called the DCCC’s help “a mixed blessing.”

“It’s good to get help with fundraising, but I understand my district and I prefer to have control over how we do things and try to keep it that way,” he sad.

Washington analysts said they weren’t surprised the Democrats were targeting the district after the tight race against Republican businessman Richard Hanna.

Josh Kraushaar of non-partisan online publication Politico.com called the race, which Arcuri won with about 52 percent of the vote, “one of the top two or three surprises of 2008.”

“The fact that Michael Arcuri barely won reelection in a year when Democrats across the country did exceptionally well shows he could face a tough challenge in 2010 and that one of the more endangered Democratic members,” Kraushaar said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee confirmed it had Arcuri in its sights for 2010.

“After scraping together a narrow victory in 2008, Mike Arcuri remains a top target because he has yet to connect with voters in upstate New York,” spokesman Paul Lindsay said in an e-mail. “The fact that Democrats in Washington are embracing him is a realization on their part that he will face yet another daunting re-election.”…

… Hanna said Wednesday he was enjoying spending time with his two young children and hadn’t given 2010 too much thought yet. Still, he said, he’s keeping his options open.

“I don’t think Arcuri will go uncontested,” he said, adding that he’s heard other people might be interested in the seat as well.

Representatives selected for the Frontline Program get assistance raising money and also with political strategy, a DCCC spokesman said.

If they still are deemed to need help as the election nears, a separate branch of the organization runs ads on television and radio and sends out mailings related to the campaigns.

In 2008, 34 candidates were in the Frontline program and just 10 were deemed to need all-out assistance at the end. Arcuri was on the initial list, but in the end, the DCCC spent nothing to support him that year, a spokesman said.

In exchange for the early help, the representatives must sign a memorandum of understanding that they will reach certain fundraising goals, step up efforts to get volunteers and boost their online networking.

Three other New York representatives are on the Frontline list. They are Dan Maffei of Syracuse, Eric Massa of Corning and Mike McMahon of Staten Island and Brooklyn. All three are in their first terms, while Arcuri is in his second.

Like Kraushaar, David Wasserman of the non-partisan Cook Political Report said it was no surprise Arcuri was on the Frontline list.

“It’s a reflection of his performance in 2008,” Wasserman said. “There are plenty of second-term members from comparable districts who are not on the list.”

Arcuri needs to do more than raise money if he’s going to be safe in 2010, he said.

“He needs to prove that he can connect with voters and expand his appeal beyond the district’s Democratic base,” he said.