Now Clinton is targeting donors who donated the maximum $2300 to her general election campaign fund to allow her to keep those funds to transfer over to her 2012 fund.  She’s sending letters to each of the donors saying:

“Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I’ll never forget it. I hope you’ll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe in by filling out the enclosed form in support of Friends of Hillary.”

Once the form is filled out, it allows Hillary to transfer the money.  With fundraising beginning this early, she may ward off any potential contenders to her seat in the 2012 election.

The Democratic party on the other hand has collected what is thought to be a record breaking 10,000 signatures for their ballot acces.  Surely more than enough protection if anything is contested.  With the Democratic party showing such strong support, the scandal with current GOP congressmen Vito Fossella, and no official nominee yet, the GOP may just lose their seat come November.

The Staten Island (13th District) seat is currently occupied by Vito Fossella since 1997; he is finishing out his 6th term.  Earlier this year, Fossella announced he would not seek re-election, but would finish out his term.  This announcement came after he was arrested for drunk driving in Alexandria, Virginia on May 1st, 2008, in addition a week later he confessed that 3 years earlier he had fathered a child out of wedlock.  This announcement left the race for the congressional seat wide open.

Frank Powers was seeking the GOP nomination; with Vito out of the picture it should have made things easy.  Though Frank Powers has never run for office, he is a retired wall street executive and has been closely involved with GOP fundraising for many years.  His wife Dianne currently serves as the GOP borough treasurer.  His fundraising power, along with his promise to use 500,000 of his own money on his campaign made Frank Powers an attractive candidate for the GOP.

To complicate the race a bit, Fran powers, son of Frank Powers announced he was seeking the Libertarian nomination.  There were fears that a father-son rivalry in the congressional race would distract from covering actual issues, making it easier for a democratic challenger to gain the seat.

In the “end”, Frank Powers received the GOP nomination.  His son Fran however, did not succeed in getting the Libertarian nomination.  Former ABC Radio employee Susan Overeem won the Libertarian nomination by a large margin, receiving almost three times the number of votes as Fran Powers. The story however is far from over.

Sunday, June 22^nd, 2008 Frank Powers age 67 passed away in his sleep. His sudden death would throw the congressional race into turmoil. Supposedly most if not all of the signatures for ballot access have already been collected. Most other potential GOP candidates have already decided against running.

After Frank Powers’ unexpected death, the two most widely discussed potential candidates announced that they would not seek the nomination. Matthew Mirones, a former Assemblyman who operates a prosthetics company, said that he has decided to sit out this race. And Lisa Giovinazzo, a lawyer and part-time journalist with the cable network NY1, also said she had decided against running. Deadlines are closing in, and the GOP still has no nominee. The Republican party may have to look to other parties for a nominee.

Carmine Morano, a businessman who is a member of the Independence Party is being eyed as the latest potential GOP nominee. Mr. Morano said that, although he is a collecting signatures to run on the Independence line, he is hoping to be selected by Republican leaders, too.

Others with a little hope are collecting signatures for the nomination. Jamshad Wyne, a cardiologist who is the finance chairman of the Staten Island Republican Party, is also a candidate for the seat. Dr. Wyne said that he has already collected 2,000 signatures and that he plans to continue getting more until the filing deadline.

But he has little support among the party’s leaders. They point to the fact that Dr. Wyne was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for three years in 2003 by the state Health Department’s Board for Professional Medical Conduct. The board said that he had practiced “with negligence on more than one occasion.”

There is also a chance that Libertarian nominee Susan Overeem, having already defeated Fran Powers, might seek the Republican nomination.

Regardless of who gets the nomination, a decision needs to be made soon. Deadlines are nearing, and the longer the GOP is at a standstill, the more time is given to the Democratic congressional campaign.

John McCain spoke at a town hall meeting in NYC Thursday in what was supposed to be a town hall featuring both Jonh McCain, and Barack Obama.  McCain invited Obama to a series of 10 Town Halls between now and the November election.  The proposal was rejected by the Obama campaign saying 10 was just too many to fit into his schedule.  They did have their own offer of 5 joint appearances, only one of which would be a town hall.  It would also have 3 debates, and 1 in depth debate on foreign policy.  No agreement has been reached.  The town hall proposed by the Obama campaign would take place on Independence day.  Arguably a town hall on a holiday would get less attention, while people are celebrating.

McCain’s solo appearance at the town hall is not without criticism.  The audience was supposed to be people chosen at random.  Since Obama rejected the proposal, McCain stocked the audience with people more sympathetic to his views.  Fox News aired the town hall, which without Obama’s participation made it more like a McCain infomercial.

According to a new poll conducted by Quinnipiac University from June 3 – 8, Obama is polling ahead of McCain in New York State in almost all demographics.  Overall Barack leads John McCain 50 – 36.  When Clinton was still a factor the polls had Barack leading 47 – 39 when put head to head with McCain.  Historically New York has voted democratic in presidential elections, 2008 seems to be no exception.  The more comfortable lead is thanks to Clinton for backing her former opponent.

Not all the republican opponents are backing McCain however.  Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has repeatedly refused to endorse John McCain, though now running a slimmed down campaign Ron Paul has not officially dropped out.  The Texas congressman has now announced his plans to hold his own convention in Minnesota simultaneous to that of the Republican National Convention this September.  In an election year where unifying the party is an important issue John McCain faces an uphill battle.