COLLINS BEATS BELLAVIA 69-31%…WHY WOULDN’T CH. 2 CALL IT?…HASIOTIS GRABS GRASSROOTS ENDORSEMENT

No offense to our friends at WGRZ, but we thought it was funny that on their fine 10pm Ch. 8 broadcast, they flashed the news that former Erie County Executive Chris Collins was leading former war hero David Bellavia by a 69-31% margin with 53% of the precincts in without calling the race for Collins. It only shows that there needs to be more political expertise on display on local TV stations.

In any case, the results set the stage for a Nov. 6 showdown between the Conservative Guy and the Woman Next Door in Cong. Kathy Hochul. He will have the party registration and the ideology on his side, but she could grab the woman’s vote with her nice guy smile and relentless coffee shop campaigning.

Look for Hochul to try hard to pin Collins down on his position on issues such as Medicare, the Ryan budget, and the auto bailout among other subjects.

Finally, some thought June 26 should have been the primary date for all elections in NY this year. But, instead, the Legislature decided to have separate dates for federal and state primaries. The result is that we’ll do this all over again on Sept. 11 or maybe the 13th.