[BN] Politics Now 📩: Notes from the campaign trail 2 weeks from Election Day

Interesting political nuggets from the campaign trail as we pass the two week mark to Election Day:

• The Buffalo News is trying something different this election. We did not host a debate, but we are ramping up our efforts to make the use of video more prominent in our coverage. Last week, I sat down with Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Chrissy Casilio, his Republican challenger, for video interviews about policy, politics and some of the controversies that have dominated campaign coverage for the last few months. Stay tuned in the coming days as we roll out these videos on Buffalonews.com. 

• It’s not every day that you see supporters of Poloncarz spreading the opinions of WBEN radio host David Bellavia. But that’s what happened last week when Bellavia, the former Army veteran and Medal of Honor recipient, made this statement after the St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute debate: “Mark Poloncarz absolutely wiped the floor with Chrissy Casilio.”

I listened to the segment and it was hard to determine why Bellavia felt that way. I was at the debate and it did not seem like Poloncarz dominated, as he did in a Buffalo Niagara Partnership forum in late September. As I noted in my story, Casilio has markedly improved in her ability to talk about salient issues and she hit the three-term county executive with a number of zingers that drew loud reaction from the crowd. But Poloncarz knows the issues well (as he should) and seemed largely unflappable.

Bellavia seemed to be venting his broader frustrations with the Erie County Republican Party, Chairman Michael Kracker and, by extension, Rep. Nick Langworthy. That’s understandable and stems from the party’s inability to produce a more experienced candidate than Casilio, who has never run for office before. Kracker brushed away the criticism, telling me late last week that taking such arrows are simply part of the job. 

• Casilio’s campaign has been running…