Earlier this year, one of the primary concerns about congressional candidate Michael Arcuri is that he would not be able to run a successful campaign and work full time as a District Attorney at the same time. It now seems that this concern was justified. So, New York State’s 24th District race, what was once one of the Democrats’ brightest hopes for 2006, is now rapidly fading from view.

Mike Arcuri’s campaign seems to be struggling just to keep up the appearance of activity. “Breaking news” from the campaign is typically one to two weeks old. The campaign’s calendar is nearly empty. Relevant issues come and go, but Michael Arcuri doesn’t seem interested in talking about them. He’s been too busy with his work as Oneida County DA to even make it out to most of the district’s communities for a brief visit. In a recent online poll at a progressive blog, everyone responding said that they wanted Arcuri to win, but didn’t think he could pull it off.

Michael Arcuri wants to keep his position as Oneida County District Attorney because he was just re-elected to the job half a year ago. It’s a good fallback job if he loses the congressional campaign. But, in this year of all years, Democrats deserve candidates who can put all their energy into their campaigns. In a district that leans slightly toward the Republicans, anything less will enable the GOP to hold onto the seat, even though the Republican incumbent, Sherwood Boehlert, is retiring. Who knows when the seat would open up again? It may be another 20 years before Democrats in the area have another chance to escape Republican representation. Let’s hope that, next time, the candidate is willing to make a real effort.