The desperation is strong in 518 Republicans

 12 days before election day, and the desperation in the Republican party has hit close to home.

In radio ads, state assemblyman Phil Steck's campaign, while not saying his opponent's name, is tying Republican challenger Jeff Madden to Ohio junior senator and GOP VP wanna-be JD Vance, stating that Madden is parroting GOP falsehoods in an effort to malign Steck.

Steck and his campaign won't say Madden's name to avoid giving him any free publicity. In other words, the challenger has to earn his bones, if you will. Much like Marc Molinaro's campaign is smearing challenger Josh Riley, Madden reportedly has accused Steck in relation to illegal immigrants entering the country.

The immigration issue is exaggerated. This country was built on immigration, remember, but today's GOP wants you to think that all migrants crossing from Central or South America are bad. They're not. 

And, then, there is Joe Mastroianni.

Mastroianni is also looking to unseat a veteran assemblyman in Angelo Santabarbara. It was on the news overnight and this morning that Mastroianni had taken a campaign flier mailed by Santabarbara's campaign out of a prospective voter's mailbox, subbing in one of his own, pocketing the rival flier, and walking off, ignorant of the fact that this was caught on video.

This case has gone national, as Jesse Dollemore will explain.

Let's be clear. Neither Madden nor Mastroianni has even a shooter's chance of winning in 12 days. This is desperation in its purest form. Mastroianni is lying and deflecting. Chuck Miller's take on this earlier today is worth a look:

Hey! Real “election interference” in the Capital District, caught on video! – Chuck The Writer

And Donald Trump and his flacks want to whine about "election interference" when it isn't happening? That's become boring. The real interference is from Mastroianni, resorting to a form of voter suppression, basically trying to force the voter to vote for him. That ain't happening, especially now that this case has gotten mainstream attention.

Steck & Santabarbara will be just fine. In four years two more wanna-bes will try to topple them. Life will go on, and Madden & Mastroianni will be footnotes in history.