The fact is that other than the city of Ithaca, it is a moderate district. There are as many registered Republicans as Democrats, and several rural, highly Republican counties in the district. This is not NYC, it's upstate NY! Bob Moppert would have won the district in 1994 if he had carried his own home county, but Hinchey spents hundreds of thousands on an intense smear campaign in Moppert's home town.