It's Kuhl by a whisker
Kuhl outlasts challenge by newcomer Massa
By ROB PRICE, THE COURIER-ADVOCATE KATHRYN ROSS, LYNN BRENNAN, STEVEN HERNACKI, ROB MONTANA and ANDY THOMPSON THE WELLSVILLE DAILY REPORTER AND HORNELL EVENING TRIBUNE

PHOTO BY KATHRYN ROSS/WELLSVILLE DAILY REPORTER U.S. Congressman John "Randy" Kuhl thanks supporters Tuesday night as his son and campaign manager James Kuhl looks on. Kuhl defeated Democratic challenger Eric Massa for a second term in Congress.

U.S. Congressman John "Randy" Kuhl last week beat back a challenge from political newcomer Eric Massa of Corning to hold onto his seat in the House of Representatives.

Kuhl's base of conservative Southern Tier supporters re-elected the Hammondsport Republican to another congressional term by a close margin. At week's end, Kuhl led Massa, 100,674 to 92,661, with about 9,000 absentee ballots still to be counted.

The absentee votes gave Massa a chance to close the 8,000 vote gap, but Kuhl staffers noted Massa would have to collect almost every absentee vote to beat the incumbent.

Still, Massa held out hope to his supporters, saying he would not concede the election until the absentee votes are counted sometime this week.

Kuhl dominated Massa in the counties that make up the Southern Tier, while Massa trounced Kuhl in Monroe County, even leading Kuhl during the minutes after polls closed.

But when the results from Cattaraugus County - 11,324 to 8,957 and Allegany County - 7,732 to 4,818 rolled in, and finally Steuben County at 17,391 to 10,065, all in favor of Republicans, the 29th Congressional seat was in Kuhl's pocket for another two years.

But the night was still suspenseful for both camps. "This is a nail biter and it's obviously too close to call," claimed Massa, addressing his supporters in Corning late Tuesday evening.

"This election is far from being over. We have to make sure every vote is counted. We concede nothing. Let's learn from elections past, we have a team coming in to make sure every ballot counts. I'm a fighter and the fight just began"

Massa talked with supporters for just five minutes, then left the Market Street campaign headquarters for the night.

The scene at Pleasant Valley Wine Company Reception Center in Hammondsport was a homecoming of sorts for Kuhl and more than 200 supporters gathered to watch returns. The crowd was silent as Massa's Monroe county results showed him ahead of their candidate. When Allegany County Legislative Chairman Curt Crandall showed Kuhl the county's results in his favor, the congressman replied, "You put Allegany, Steuben and Catt. Counties together and you have a district."

At the end of the night, acknowledging he had won the election and commenting on Monroe County's blue streak, Kuhl explained, "There's a big split in the enrollment there. There are more unregistered voters, we call the block voters. They aren't Republican. They aren't Democrats and they are not independents. We have to get them the information on what we've done... I'm kind of an unknown quantity up there. There's not much media coverage. They're never on the weekly media calls." Kuhl addresses the local media in a special conference almost every Thursday the House is in session. "We just have to educate the people in Monroe County," he said Tuesday night.

Kuhl added he didn't expect Massa to concede defeat.

"Maybe if we were here until 1 o'clock my opponent would concede, but we're going to wake up in the morning and I'm going to be representing you in Congress," he said.

"He (Kuhl) did well countywide. He took Hornell and our Democratic chairman lives there. We worked hard and got the voters out," Steuben County GOP Chairman William Hatch said.