The lack of a Republican candidate could make it impossible to have the needed review of Byron Brown's record as Mayor.

It would take a near miracle for Kearns to win the Democartic line.

Has he sought any third party line? Running as an independent would make his dark horse status virtually insurmountable.

Apparently newcomer Matthew Ricchiazzi has also not been successful in getting any party to back his candidacy.

Does that mean that Byron Brown will walk into a second term virtually unopposed?



http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregio...ry/740834.html

BUFFALO
Republicans may not field candidate for mayor, won’t back a Democrat

By Robert J. McCarthy, NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER, July 22, 2009, 7:06 AM

Unless some mystery candidate emerges in the next few days, Buffalo voters may not find a Republican candidate for mayor on the November ballot.

Richard M. Gattone, the Lovejoy GOP chairman who had circulated petitions and appeared to successfully qualify for the ballot, said Tuesday he has declined the party’s nomination.

“While this was a difficult decision, I realized that the resources were not there to support the kind of campaign this city deserves and the kind of campaign I know I was capable of running,” Gattone said.

That means city Republicans— outnumbered approximately 112,000 to 16,000 — have only until Friday to find another candidate.

“I have a couple of possibilities,” Buffalo GOP Chairman Dennis V. Ryan said late Tuesday. “We’ll talk to a few more people before we give up the ghost.”

The chairman emphasized, however, that the party will not endorse a Democrat. And that decision appears to rule out the GOP nod for Michael P. Kearns, the South Common Council member opposing incumbent Mayor Byron W. Brown in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary.

“No one in our party or our committee is interested in endorsing a Democrat,” Ryan said. “We don’t want to go there.”

Kearns had expressed interest in the Republican line.

Former University Council Member Kevin M. Helfer waged an aggressive campaign against Brown on the Republican line in 2005 but was badly beaten. This year, the tiny city GOP committee has so far found no one willing to face what appears to be the same fate.

rmccarthy@buffnews.com