Charlie Cook has this race listed as "toss up" so this is great news, locally and may indicate things are less bad than expected nationally.
Of course, Arcuri is a "blue dog" so ...
Michael Arcuri leading in rematch against Richard Hanna for 24th District seat
Published: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 5:00 AM
Updated: Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 6:18 AM
Mark Weiner / The Post-Standard
Washington, D.C. -- A new poll shows U.S. Rep. Michael Arcuri has an 8-point lead over Republican challenger Richard Hanna in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most tightly contested House races this fall.
The Siena Research Institute poll released Monday is the first independent assessment of voters in the 24th Congressional District to be made public this year. In the 2008 election, Arcuri, D-Utica, squeaked by Hanna, an Oneida County businessman, 52 percent to 48 percent.
The Siena poll released Monday found likely voters favor Arcuri over Hanna, 48 to 40 percent, and prefer the second-term Democrat on four of six issues: jobs, health care, the war in Afghanistan and education. Hanna was favored on one issue — the federal budget deficit. Voters were split evenly between Arcuri and Hanna on the sixth issue: taxes.
Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg warned against reading too much into the poll, because neither candidate has topped the 50-percent mark among likely voters.
“This rematch figures to be just as intense and just as hard fought as the race two years ago,” Greenberg said in a statement. “While Arcuri has two more years of a record in Congress, it’s hard to know whether that will help him or hurt him in a year where voters are unhappy with Washington.”
He added, “This race is getting national attention, and we can certainly understand why.”
Most Washington political handicappers consider the second round of Arcuri-Hanna to be among the top 50 competitive House races in a year when Republicans are expected to make a serious bid for control of Congress.
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http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/09/michael_arcuri_leading_in_rema.html