Scoping out primaries for LI's congressional seats

It was probably inevitable that the Republican campaign to face Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop would become a nasty political battle.

Since last summer, when Bishop's town-hall-style meetings drew shouting protesters, the GOP has targeted the four-term congressman, tying him to President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whom they view as unpopular in the district that covers the East End and Brookhaven Town.

The perceived vulnerability of the Southampton Democrat drew three Republican candidates - Randy Altschuler of St. James, Chris Cox of Westhampton Beach and George Demos of Ronkonkoma - who differ little on substantive issues, leaving the campaign to be waged largely on biographical grounds.

The fact that each has limited roots in the district only added to the primary's harsh tone. Altschuler voted in Suffolk for the first time in 2008. Cox, raised in Manhattan, voted in Suffolk for the first time in June.

Demos claims the deepest district roots among the three. He registered to vote on Shelter Island in 1995, when he was 18. But between then and 2008, when he was in college, law school and working at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Manhattan, he voted absentee in all but two elections, Suffolk Board of Elections records show.

Altschuler, 39, a millionaire businessman who made a fortune as chief executive of Office Tiger, a firm that supplies back-office jobs from Asia to American companies, has borne the brunt of attacks. Cox, 31, and Demos, 33, have tried to paint Altschuler, who has loaned his campaign $1.56 million of his own money, as a carpetbagging jobs outsourcer.

"It's telling the truth about his past," Cox spokesman Jim Teese said. "The company won awards for outsourcing. That is an issue that is resonating with voters. It's resonating with voters in Suffolk County who are struggling to keep jobs and find jobs."

The campaign's tone seemed to hit a nadir last week with two Web videos. One featured a man speaking with an exaggerated Indian accent thanking Altschuler for sending American jobs to Asia. Another, posted by the Demos campaign, showed Altschuler being ambushed by a hidden camera in his office at a time his campaign said he was too busy to debate Cox and Demos.

Rob Ryan, spokesman for Altschuler, also the Conservative Party's designee, said the attacks leave Altschuler as the only candidate who can "really point to a real record of achievement on which to run - it's that simple."

Primaries in other Long Island congressional districts:

3rd District: Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) faces a GOP primary from perennial candidate Bob Previdi of Manhasset, who has waged a primary against King in each of the past 10 elections. Howard Kudler is the Democratic candidate.

4th District: Republican Francis X. Becker of Lynbrook is trying to reclaim the family's congressional mantle. His grandfather, Frank Becker, was in Congress from 1953-65 and his brother, then-Assemb. Greg Becker, lost a 1998 race to Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), who still holds the seat. For the GOP nomination, Becker faces tea party candidate Daniel Maloney of Baldwin and Frank Scaturro of Hempstead, a visiting law professor at Hofstra University.

5th District: Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Roslyn Heights), seeking his 15th term in Congress, faces a primary challenge from Patricia Maher of East Meadow. Maher has been running unsuccessful maverick campaigns for Nassau County Legislature since 1997, when she was a Republican. She has run against McCarthy on the Liberal Party line.

In the GOP primary in the district, attorney Elizabeth Berney of Great Neck is vying to make her second general election run against Ackerman. Her rival in the primary is James Milano, of Oyster Bay, an emergency-room physician who opposes the national health care plan.