we may be looking at around May 1st. No primaries. NY29 is in western upstate New York. Elmira and west along the PA border.
DEM Lifton may run:
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20100305/NEWS01/3050393/Lifton+considers+running+for+Massa+s+congressional+seat
Maggie Brooks:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33991.html
Tom Reed (R)
http://www.citizens4reed.com/
The special election isn't going to matter as regards the health care vote. It will come too late. A recent thread explains Pelosi's strategy - don't worry about YES votes, just change the number required to have a "majority"!.
With Massa gone, the House will have 431 members, meaning a majority is just 216 not the 218 usually required. Because Massa opposed the House-passed healthcare reform bill and hadn't given any hints that he would change his vote when the final version comes up in the next few weeks, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) just caught a break. Not only does Massa's impending resignation take one more vote out of the "no" column -- he was one of the 39 House Democrats voted against the bill in November -- it also changes the denominator. For two days this week, the goal had gone down to 216 because Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), who is running for governor, said he was resigning. But Deal quickly reversed his decision, citing his desire to help kill the healthcare bill and raising the threshold back to 217. Massa, who is leaving Congress amid an ethics investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, changed it back.
She has 30 to 45 days to bring it to a vote and now needs less votes to pass it. Talk about Chicago thuggery! What's next? Dead horses on beds!