New York Rep. Timothy H. Bishop, a four-term Democrat from eastern Long Island, has a well-funded challenger on his hands. Randy Altschuler, an entrepreneur touted by Republican officials as a promising challenger, reported $659,000 in campaign receipts for the third quarter, including $450,000 from his own pockets.
Altschuler -- who is hoping to put the GOP back into competition in the 1st District after three comfortable re-election wins by Bishop -- ended the quarter with $538,000 in remaining cash on hand. The challenger got a reporting jump on Bishop, who like all other 2010 candidates must file his report electronically with the Federal Election Commission by the deadline of midnight tonight.
The Suffolk County Democratic Party quickly responded with a release noting that just one of Altschuler's contributions, for $2,300, came from a district resident. Many of his donors are based in New York City.
Bishop had just more than $300,000 in receipts and $516,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, the end of the second quarter reporting period.
Altschuler, who launched his campaign in August, has personal wealth after founding two successful start-up business services companies: OfficeTiger and CloudBlue. He also has extensive connections in the investment community, which he tapped into for the brunt of his individual donations.
Democrats are already attacking Altschuler for basing OfficeTiger's operations in India, accusing him of outsourcing jobs. But Altschuler has denied his company eliminated jobs in the United States and instead actually created hundreds of jobs from scratch both in the U.S. and India.
That debate is certain to play out in the campaign, which could be Bishop's toughest re-election race yet. Altschuler could be his first challenger yet with equal or superior financial resources.
Yet Bishop, who won the seat in 2002 by ousting one-term Republican Rep. Felix J. Grucci Jr., has shown strong fundraising abilities even in his relatively routine previous re-election contests. In 2008, he won by 58 percent to 42 percent over Republican Lee M. Zeldin, whom he outspent by nearly $1.5 million to $865,000.
CQ Politics currently rates the race as Likely Democratic, though the contest will be watched closely for signs that it is becoming more competiitive.
To see how all of the 2010 House races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.
![[RSS]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/rss_icon.gif){kind=icon}
![[ARCHIVES]](http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/templates/images/archives_icon.png){kind=icon}
Post A Comment