As true on most days, Republican Bob Turner jumped out of the gate first today, criticizing his Democratic opponent David Weprin for, as he put it, refusing “to say whether or not he would have voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on last Wednesday’s vote to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.”

“David Weprin is not just a career politician, he is a squishy politician who can’t seem to give a straight answer on anything,” said Turner campaign spokesman William O’Reilly. “We understand that last week’s vote in Washington was a tough one to make, but at the end of the day one has to step up, take a position, and live with it.  Mr. Weprin has been caught talking out of both sides of his mouth for the past two weeks. “

A couple things to note here: Firstly, the grammarian in us has to point out that it’s either “whether or not he would have voted yes…” or it’s “whether he would have voted yes or no…” Secondly, while it’s true Weprin has definitely said which way he would vote, he did sound like a no vote, citing the cuts to Medicare and Social Security.

On a related note, Weprin met with seniors at the Howard Beach Senior Center and the Peter Cardella Senior Civic Center in Ridgewood, and according to a campaign release said, “It’s outrageous that Congressional Republicans are choosing to balance the federal budget on the backs of seniors while protecting tax breaks for millionaires and Big Oil. I’ll fight tooth and nail against the Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it.”

People close to the Weprin camp have told The Politicker that they expect him to sharpen his attacks against Turner as election day approaches.  Today did mark the first release we have seen on this race from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who slammed Turner for hosting a fundraiser tomorrow night with Staten Island Congressman Michael Grimm.

“Bob Turner and Representative Michael Grimm are cut from the same cloth, Tea Party favorites who are pushing a radical agenda to try to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and the middle class,” said Josh Schwerin, spokesman for the DCCC. “If Bob Turner’s teaming up with Representative Michael Grimm now, there’s no doubt that Turner would join Grimm’s effort in Congress to cut Medicare and protect tax breaks for Big Oil.”

And speaking of fundraisers, we have asked the Weprin campaign if they intend to attend Charlie Rangel’s big event at the Plaza tomorrow night. Last year, attending the annual Rangel-fest was a political hot potato tossed at Democrats who had to duck into the Plaza to pay their respects to the dean of the delegation. The heat is off a little bit this year, but Weprin’s team told us that the schedule for tomorrow hadn’t yet been finalized, and a follow-up phone call/email was not returned.

Tomorrow we will at last  get our first poll for this race, which should tell quite a bit about where it is headed.

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